Raw Nerve

Plot synopsis:
A series of grotesque murders plagues the city of Mobile, Alabama where an unknown serial killer is killing women with a pump-action shotgun. A young race car driver, named Jimmy Clayton (Ted Prior), goes to the police where he talks with Lt. Detective Bruce Ellis (Jan-Michael Vincent) and his superior Captain Gavin (Glenn Ford) claiming that he has been having visions about the killer. Unfortunately, the police do not take him seriously, and Jimmy gets locked up as the suspect. A lady reporter named Gloria Freedman (Sandal Bergman), who happens to be Ellis's ex-wife, falls in love with Jimmy and sets out prove his innocence and find the real killer.
Meanwhile, a rogue biker named Blake Garrett (Tex Cobb) learns about the murders and that Jimmy may be a suspect. He follows and accosts Gloria; telling her to stay away from Jimmy. Then Blake kidnaps Jimmy's younger sister Gina (Traci Lords) and attempts to leave the country with her, claiming that he is "protecting her". When Lt. Ellis begins to believe Jimmy's claims of innocence, he has Jimmy released and has him followed to find Blake who takes Gina to a local airport who is attempting to leave the country with her. Thinking that Blake is the serial killer, the police chase him through the airport and in his pickup truck through the city where they corner him on a top ledge of a parking garage. When Jimmy attempts to talk to Blake, he releases Gina but drives his truck off the ledge and kills himself. When Captain Gavin finds a shotgun in Blake's truck which forensic tests prove it to be the murder weapon, the case of the "shotgun slayings" is closed. Or is it?
In the final scene, Gloria goes to Jimmy's house one evening for them go out on their first date when Jimmy begins acting strange toward her and suddenly attempts to kill her. It is revealed here that Jimmy really is the killer all along and that he committed the murders under a split-personality. Jimmy's alter ego, whom is named 'Billy', murdered his and Gina's parents years earlier after they found out that Jimmy has dissociative identity disorder resulting from physical abuse by both his mother and father. Blake knew the whole time about Jimmy's D.I.D. and protected him out of blind loyalty. When Jimmy apparently discovered the truth, 'Billy' completely took over and he attempts to kill Gloria (A very similar plot twist and setting is used several years later in the 2005 thriller Hide and Seek.) After a chase through the house, just when Gloria is about to be killed, Lt. Ellis runs in and saves her by shooting Billy/Jimmy dead.

Tags: paranormal, cult, murder

Review:
Gritty crime drama.
Raw nerve is an awesome gritty crime drama with a big name cast starting with Glenn ford(Gilda,blackboard jungle)Traci lords(not of this earth,Rosanne)Jan Micheal Vincent(air wolf,damnation ally)sandahl Bergman(all that jazz)Randall Tex Cobb(raising Arizona)and Ted prior.
women are being murdered,all were wearing red high heels before they were killed,a tough detective(Vincent)and his gruff boss(ford)are on the case.while a race car driver played by Ted prior deals with his younger sister,played by sexy Traci lords.there's plot twists and red herrings,its a great b-movie and for the most part Glenn fords last film appearance.i recommend it to anyone who likes action crime melodramas.8 out of 10..
Protecting a suspect.
A journalist (Sandahl Bergman of 'Conan' fame) believes Jimmy (Ted Prior), suspected of several murders, is innocent.
The cop in charge (Jan-Michael 'Airwolf' Vincent) doesn't believe her, but he has personal reasons, while his boss (Glenn Ford) never trusts anyone, anyway.
So it is a difficult job for her, and also she needs to keep an eye on Jimmys younger sister Gina (Traci Lords) who is in danger to become the next victim of the killer, whoever that is.Well, despite the famous cast, this could as well be episode 99 of a good quality TV series.
It is OK to watch, but not outstanding; I don't think I'll remember it next month, especially since movies about psychopathic killers are 'a dime a dozen'.
It's rather mild for this kind of subject, by the way: no nudity, minimum violence which is over very quickly, could almost pass for PG instead of R in my opinion..
Strictly for box office name.
Although given first billing for his box office name Glenn Ford is a strictly a supporting character in Raw Nerve.
He plays a police captain and superior officer to Jan-Michael Vincent who is part of a triangle involving himself, former wife Sandahl Bergman who is an investigative reporter and stock car driver Ted Prior.
And Prior is a chief suspect in a string of brutal murders of some pretty young women.In Peter Ford's recent biography of his father he says that Raw Nerve was his father's final big screen appearance.
All I can say is after seeing Raw Nerve it's a good thing for posterity that Glenn Ford did the made for television film Final Verdict after this one got inflicted on the public on the big screen.
And what really surprised me is that Peter Ford did not mention Final Verdict at all in his book.
That was a work his father could have been proud of.Prior who is on the surface sunny and affable and a good guardian for sister Traci Lords down deep has a whole lot of issues, really big issues.
He also gets visions of the various murders and they seem to point to his mechanic Tex Cobb.Raw Nerve is trashy and exploitive and certainly not a film I'd like to be remembered for..
Just horrid.
This is an incredibly bad movie.
I didn't expect anything of it and I still felt short changed.
Not the worst £1 I ever spent but it's close.
Ted Prior has to be the worst actor i've ever seen.
I have to say the ending was a surprise but it still dumb.
Traci Lords was okay for a while but her performance goes downhill.
Anyone else think Jimmy and Gina were a little too 'close' for family members?
It's a shame Sandahl Begman and Traci Lords had to make movies like this.
They'd both been in far better movies than this (Conan and Cry-Baby, respectively).
I wouldn't watch it again and wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Not bad, but not great either.
I'd read somewhere that David Prior was a bad director, but I find he falls somewhere in the middle.
His films are made well enough, star people you've heard of, but it's the stories themselves that make you do a double take and think 'that doesn't make much sense'.This one stars Glenndon Fordham, Sandy Bermanster, Traci Lordy Lordy, Micheal Vincent Van, and Tex 'Randall' Cobb.
Them are all folks caught up when a crazy killer type person starts going around shooting women in the face with a shotgun.
Don't expect gore here though, because there's none.
No boobs either.Ted Prior is Jimmy, a stock car driver who starts getting visions of the killings.
His sister is Traci Lords, whom he's overly protective of (no wonder!).
When Jimmy starts seeing the visions and goes to the police, they don't believe etc etc.As this is a David A Prior film, there ain't much action but there are plenty of twists, so I never found myself bored throughout.
Loads of interpersonal drama threaten to sink the film, but Prior knows when to speed things up a bit.
Not too bad..
Great Suspense B-Movie Masterpiece!.
Jan-Michael Vincent did it again, playing a superb cop, who was right the whole time!
He knew that the so called "Loverboy" Guy was the killer the whole time, great movie!.
AIP is a company that produced a treasure trove of low budget  direct-to-video films that specialized in action movies, as the company  name implies.
Being a low-budget production company, you would think  they would have been familiar with their forebear "American  International Pictures" the original AIP.
Why they used that name is a  bit puzzling.
Even though they made other types of genre movies, it was  with action that they hit their stride.
Although they ceased production  in 1994, they left behind a legacy of VHS gems such as: "White Fury",  "Alien Seed" (with Erik Estrada), and "Shredder Orpheus" (Maybe they  weren't all gems) More AIP reviews will be forthcoming.
"Raw Nerve" is another supremely silly entry in the AIP canon.
"Raw Nerve" is another supremely silly entry in the AIP canon.
It was  trying to be a serious contender with other suspense thrillers  cluttering video store shelves at the time.
There are too many missteps  in its execution, star power notwithstanding.
At the local county fair, a woman is murdered in the Hall Of Mirrors.
Meanwhile, local yahoos Jimmy (Prior) and slovenly alcoholic Blake  (Cobb) are gearing up for a car race.until Jimmy sees visions of the  murder from the "prior" evening.
He sweats profusely and freaks out in  an exaggerated manner.
It jeopardizes his racing ability and he almost  dies.
The couple of yokels in the stands were hoping for a fiery death.
Despite the fact this race is at 9am on a weekday, the stands are  packed.
In between breakfast beers, Blake doesn't seem too concerned  about his chum's plight.
Jimmy lives with his sister, Gina (Lords) she is a pre-med student and  the "good girl".
She goes to the prom and two strange looking preppies  in their late 30's (and yet still in high school) offer Gina and her  friend "wacky tabaccy".
While Gina is thinking of giving in to peer  pressure, another murder occurs.
Now Jimmy is the prime suspect but no  one believes him, especially the police.
Down at the local precinct, Detective Ellis (Vincent) is assigned to  the case.
His is put in charge by Captain Gavin (Ford).
In addition,  Bergman plays Gloria, a reporter trying to get answers from Jimmy and  in the process strikes up a relationship with him.
Who can resist his  sweaty freak-outs?
Jimmy is naturally suspicious of Gloria.
Also in the  love triangle is Ellis who was previously married to her.
If all this  seems too confusing, it is not.
While out one night soused out of his mind, Blake finds a mysterious  red high heel.
What is the secret of the shoe?
Ellis and Gavin pursue  Jimmy around town for most of the movie, which leads into a final  confrontation on the top level of a parking garage.
Blake with beer in  hand (as usual) guns his truck through a concrete divider to his doom  below.but is that the end?....is there one final twist?
Sadly this was  Ford's final film appearance.
This follows the old saying: "Never have  a last movie." Just look at Raul Julia (Street Fighter), Orson Welles  (Transformers: The Movie (1986)) and John Candy and Peter Sellers as  well.
Now we can add Glenn Ford to this illustrious list.
Randall "Tex"  Cobb is a triumph as Blake Garrett.
He is unshaven, his clothes barely  fit, and he stumbles around drunkenly the entire film.
He adds a lot.
Ford steals the movie despite his minimal screen time: While  reminiscing about his early days with Vincent and what lead him to  becoming an policeman , he mentions to him that he almost became a  florist.
When Vincent asks him why, Ford responds with THE line of the  movie: he angrily spits: "I LIKE FLOWERS!" Your nerves will be raw when  you watch this classic tonight!.
So much bad acting...
(spoilers).
I'm surprised this movie was released in 1991.
It looks much more dated than that, except for the blonde haired sister, Gina, who looks just fitting with the decade.'Raw Nerve' is another one of those thrillers where mild-mannered ordinary joe starts having visions of murders, tries to convince the police that he can sense where their suspect is, and then winds up becoming a suspect himself.
In a small Texas(?) town, there is a killer on the loose.
Seven murder in fourteen days and the cops haven't got a clue or a suspect.
That brings us to Jimmy Clayton, a thirty-something guy who lives with his younger sister, Gina.
Jimmy starts having these painful brief blackouts in which he sees brief moments of the murder which occured moments before, if not days before.Brainiac that he is, he goes to the cops and tries to explain the visions for him, but they don't buy it for a minute, although they probably should've investigated at least something he said (that they didn't already know) because they didn't have any leads anyway.
But, they give Jimmy the boot and basically tell him to stop wasting their time.
Nobody listens to Jimmy.Well, one person does.
An eager investigator (Aka snooping reporter) who thinks Jimmy's story will make great headlines for the local paper.
And Jimmy actually spills his guts about the flashbacks or whatever they are about the murder with the red shoe foot fetish, though he doesn't know he's talking to a reporter (because he's an idiot).The murders are still happening, and it look like Jimmy's said his peace, but nothing is being done about it (and he doesn't seem bothered by it).
So the omniscient, totally credible detective supposes Jimmy is the murderer and now the cops are after him unless he can prove his innocence.
Actually, the captain just calls it a "hunch," a legal term for, we got nothing, so arrest that guy.
Certain things in this dumb story just don't add up, including the good-but-soon-stupid twist at the end.
This might've been at least a half decent movie if the acting wasn't so bad, especially some late timed dialogue by reporter Gloria and do-gooder Jimmy in addition to the stonewall John Wayne School of Acting troupe, Jan Michael Vincent (as the primary detective) and Glenn Ford (as the police captain).
It really stinks up the place.
Thumbs down.