Sally (April Monique Burril) and her brother Ruby (Alec Joseph) had the unfortunate luck to see their parents (the father played by none other than Gunnar Hanson) murdered by a group of escapees from a nearby asylum when they were children. Cut to the present day and the two siblings (Ruby now a cross-dresser!) live together in a trailer out in the sticks and things are going fine until a shady business man, Harvey Benton (David R. Calhoun), decides the wants to buy the land to develop. He tracks down the rightful owner of the land, a man named Steve Kellerman (Mark Redfield), and makes him an offer he can’t refuse – but before he sells, he needs to look into a few things at the local library and it just so happens that Sally works there. 

When Sally finds out what’s happening, she’s obviously none too impressed. While those who know her from her job at the library see her as a meek and shy nerdy girl, Sally’s definitely got a temper that you don’t want to set off. Old memories come back to haunt Sally when it looks like she and Ruby are going to be forced to move, and she more or less dismembers anyone who she feels is deliberately trying to make her life more difficult. The cops are confused and can’t figure out why there are no bodies, not realizing that Sally and Ruby tend to eat her victims when Sally’s done with them. 

If you’re able to accept the movie based on its own merits and not go into it with preconceived notions based on the title (there is actually very little chainsaw action in here!) then this is a surprisingly good little film. While the low budget certainly shows in some scenes and prevents the picture from being as effective as it could have been, Chainsaw Sally is an effective mix of horror and black comedy. The film is very well paced and the main storyline is setup well so that the rest of the movie actually falls into place quite logically. April Monique Barril looks the part of the quaint librarian but also handles the more psychotic edge that her character has with style. There’s a hint of sexiness to her that makes things a little more interesting than they would be other wise and she handles the material and the dialogue without any issues. 

The movie is far from perfect, however. Not all of the effects are very good and a few too many scenes are just poorly lit resulting in a movie that can be too dark in spots. The novelty casting of Herschel Gordon Lewis and Gunnar Hanson will probably get the movie onto more people’s radar than it would have if they weren’t in the movie, but still feels like novelty casting even if they’re both fine in their parts. That being said, the movie works more often than it doesn’t and it’s definitely worth a look.