Northville Cemetery Massacre

I gotta stop watching these types of films………gets a little weird!!!

Made by independent filmmakers in the 1970s, this classic biker movie concerns a group of Hell’s Angels, portrayed by the Detroit Scorpions riding through Missourri. After the assault and rape of a young girl by a crooked cop, they are blamed and hunted down with disasterous consequences.
It puts a surprising new angle on the mythology of the biker gang.
For any fans, this is a must. At 80 minutes long, it is worth watching.

Billed as “The Ultimate Biker Flick,” “Northville Cemetery Massacre” fails to quite live up to that hype, but don’t let that discourage you; it is one of the more interesting independent biker films of the 1970s. Filmed around Detroit and starring members of Detroit’s Scorpions Motorcycle Club, the film has an interesting realism relative to all things motorcycle, but unsurprisingly falls down in the acting and production values departments.

The film opens strongly with a scene in which you suspect the bikers are going to brutalize a stranded elderly couple, but actually end up changing their tire and helping them, thereby establishing them as strong protagonists. If they are the protagonists, it’s almost a given that the cops will be the antagonists, and in that assumption you’d be correct. After an unsavory interaction with the evil sheriff in a barn and a trip through a car wash on their bikes (the bikers really did appear to be having fun in their roles) the lines are drawn. While the final conflict does in fact occur in the Northville cemetery, there’s an especially good earlier scene in an outdoor theater (which made me for a while think more accurate titles might have been “Northville Drive-In Assassin” or even “Northville Bathroom Triage.”)

The compelling action is interspersed with long vistas of Harley-intensive cross-country travel which bog down the pace somewhat. There are also interesting comedic moments in the film (note the house with the periscope in a monk statue which segues nicely to a “Patton”-esque soliloquy in front of a US flag; I will also note that skunk pelts make unusually stylish chapeaus.) The discussion about how you can’t rent hand grenades was especially entertaining to me. The film reaches the cemetery eventually for the big setup for the good versus evil duel, and the biggest production expense (helicopter rental) makes its onscreen debut; it turns out that there is a wily biker plot to ensnare the evil cops, which is surprisingly effective though it leads to an intentionally ambiguous ending.

The film is very low budget and has a real dearth of genuine acting talent, but what the bikers lack in thespian qualities, they make up for in realism in their roles. A highlight of the film is the excellent musical score from Michael Nesmith, which works very effectively with the material. As an artifact of the 1970s, this is an interesting project and I am glad I saw it. Don’t expect a slick film with big name actors, but for historians of the genre or people who just want a bit of low budget biker action, this is an entertaining journey back in time.

Billed as “The Ultimate Biker Flick,” “Northville Cemetery Massacre” fails to quite live up to that hype, but don’t let that discourage you; it is one of the more interesting independent biker films of the 1970s. Filmed around Detroit and starring members of Detroit’s Scorpions Motorcycle Club, the film has an interesting realism relative to all things motorcycle, but unsurprisingly falls down in the acting and production values departments.

The film opens strongly with a scene in which you suspect the bikers are going to brutalize a stranded elderly couple, but actually end up changing their tire and helping them, thereby establishing them as strong protagonists. If they are the protagonists, it’s almost a given that the cops will be the antagonists, and in that assumption you’d be correct. After an unsavory interaction with the evil sheriff in a barn and a trip through a car wash on their bikes (the bikers really did appear to be having fun in their roles) the lines are drawn. While the final conflict does in fact occur in the Northville cemetery, there’s an especially good earlier scene in an outdoor theater (which made me for a while think more accurate titles might have been “Northville Drive-In Assassin” or even “Northville Bathroom Triage.”)

The compelling action is interspersed with long vistas of Harley-intensive cross-country travel which bog down the pace somewhat. There are also interesting comedic moments in the film (note the house with the periscope in a monk statue which segues nicely to a “Patton”-esque soliloquy in front of a US flag; I will also note that skunk pelts make unusually stylish chapeaus.) The discussion about how you can’t rent hand grenades was especially entertaining to me. The film reaches the cemetery eventually for the big setup for the good versus evil duel, and the biggest production expense (helicopter rental) makes its onscreen debut; it turns out that there is a wily biker plot to ensnare the evil cops, which is surprisingly effective though it leads to an intentionally ambiguous ending.

The film is very low budget and has a real dearth of genuine acting talent, but what the bikers lack in thespian qualities, they make up for in realism in their roles. A highlight of the film is the excellent musical score from Michael Nesmith, which works very effectively with the material. As an artifact of the 1970s, this is an interesting project and I am glad I saw it. Don’t expect a slick film with big name actors, but for historians of the genre or people who just want a bit of low budget biker action, this is an entertaining journey back in time.

My husband wanted this movie and he / we enjoyed watching it very much. Thanks very much for having it available.

I love these wonderful old 70’s B or C or probably closer to D movies. If you love these older rather cheesy movies with terrible dialog shot in the 70’s then this will be for you. Honestly some of these movies have THE BEST one liners.