Abel Ferrara’s feature debut (if you don’t count a porno flick he made under a pseudonym in ’76), The Driller Killer, is like most of his other films — gritty, unconventional, and at times, unpleasant to watch. Lacking the hypnotic style that’s more evident in Ferrara’s later efforts, like Ms. 45 and King of New York, this low-budget slasher has still managed to amass a loyal following.

Telling the story of a struggling artist who goes on a power tool killing spree, Driller Killer does manage to break the norms of traditional horror films and has been interpreted by some as a cinematic indictment of New York Bohemianism. While there are flashes of cultural awareness in the movie, it still has the basic nuts and bolts of the grindhouse slasher genre, including several bloody killings, some obligatory nudity, shoddy camerawork and a good helping of bad acting. 

Despite not being a huge fan of this movie, I do recognize its cultural significance and can appreciate its depiction of late-seventies NYC (even if a lot of the imagery is dark and murky). Plus, I was informed by a reader that there wasn’t much information out there on its specific filming locations… so far be it from me to pass over an opportunity to power through some location mysteries. 

 

Church

Artist Reno Miller enter the Holy Crucifix church at 378 Broome Street where he discovers bearded derelict.

 

The man appears to be his father, which freaks him out and causes him to bolt out of the church.

 

Going into this, there wasn’t a whole lot of specific information out there, other than the rumor that Ferrara filmed inside his real life apartment in the Union Square area of Manhattan. And upon viewing the movie, it became clear fairly quickly that most of the movie was shot in that area, with a few exceptions here and there (this church being one of them).

A lot of these spots were found with help from my research partner, Blakeslee, where he and I would tag-team discoveries and theories to each other until the mystery was solved.

A still from the movie’s opening scene, featuring a small church and what looks like a 2025’s David Letterman teleported back in time. (The bearded man was actually played by Irish-American actor James O’Hara, brother of actress/singer, Maureen O’Hara.)

When it came to this church location, it was found by doing a reverse image search using Google Lens. It took several attempts, cropping in on specific elements and using different keywords, until Blakeslee finally got the right combo and hit a match.

A still from the movie compared to a c 2010 photo of the Chapel of San Lorenzo Ruiz.

This scene was shot at the Chapel of San Lorenzo Ruiz (formerly the Church of the Most Holy Crucifix) on Broome Street, whose exterior was briefly seen in the 1950 noir, Side Street. Sadly, the mid-block chapel was torn down in 2019 and a new unsightly building went up in its place.

Looking at the exterior of 378 Broome Street, from 1950, 2018 and 2025.

In 2024, the ground floor, where this apostolic scene was filmed, was taken over by record label Victor Victor Worldwide as a pop-up store.

What was once a humble Roman Catholic chapel is now a trendy retail space with outrageously overpriced merch and Tweetable paraphernalia.

 

Nightclub

Freaked out by the bearded man, Reno and his girlfriend Carol go to Max’s Kansas City, a club formally located at 213 Park Avenue South.

 

The annoyed cab driver tells the artist that they’re at their destination.

 

Inside the club, which is now a vacant retail space, Reno and Carol listen to some “no wave” music.

 

This was easy to find since you can see the club name outside its entrance (although I did have to brighten the image a bit to read it clearly).

Max’s Kansas City was a pretty unique nightclub and restaurant that was known as a gathering spot for musicians, poets and artists during the sixties and seventies.

Musicians Iggy Pop and Lou Reed hang out at Max’s, taken sometime mid-1970s.

Starting off as an art gallery in 1965, Max’s quickly became a hangout for artists of all kinds, especially those from the nearby New York School. It was also a favorite hangout of Andy Warhol and his entourage, including the avant-garde band, The Velvet Underground.

American actress and Warhol superstar, Andrea Feldman, poses in front of Max’s. in 1972.

During its lifespan, the club went through several different phases, hosting a variety of musical fads that came and went through the city, and even served as a campaign headquarters for NYC Mayor Ed Koch in 1974.

David Johansen and David Bowie stand on Park Avenue S with other Max’s Kansas City regulars during a Halloween party in 1974.

After briefly closing down, Max’s reopened in 1975 as a music venue for punk bands — one of the first in the country. However, by the time Driller was filmed there, the line-ups were more eclectic, booking all types of underground musicians, including the experimental new wave band, Devo.

Since Max’s Kansas City’s closing in 1981, the Park Avenue space has seen a variety of retailers, most recently a gourmet deli called Fraiche Maxx. However, when I visited the site in the spring of 2025, the store was gone and the space was completely gutted.

 

A Threesome’s Apartment

A groggy Reno wakes up in his 9th floor apartment at 16 E 18th Street which he shares with his girlfriend, Carol, and her girlfriend, Pamela.

 

He goes to work on his painting, which he hopes to sell to Dalton, an art gallery owner.

 

In the DVD audio commentary, director Abel Ferrara mentions they filmed the apartment scenes in his real-life apartment at the time on 18th Street. He didn’t give an exact address on the DVD and some contradictory info was floating around the web, but it was eventually figured out by matching up some windows that appear when Reno chucks a telephone out one of them.

A still from the movie where a frustrated Reno tosses a phone out the window of his apartment.

After looking around 18th Street, Blakeslee thought those windows looked like the ones along the side of no. 16, which meant the phone landed on the neighboring firehouse’s roof.

An aerial view of E 18th Street, with a red arrow showing the path the telephone took when it was tossed out the window.

Still not 100% certain the exterior was the same place as the interior, I was able to eventually confirm things by matching up the balustrade railing that appears outside the bedroom windows in a later scene (see “Carol Walks Out” below).

Looking out the apartment window onto the neighboring firehouse (lower roof) where the telephone landed and 12 E 18th (higher roof) where the movie camera was likely positioned.

What was a crappy low-rent loft in 1979 is now a $15,000/month penthouse apartment that has been sectioned off into several smaller bedrooms and bathrooms.

From 2024, looking towards the rear of the 9th floor apartment at 16 E 18th Street.

The apartment still has a second floor bedroom and access to the rooftop (as implied in the movie), and as an added bonus, it now boasts a keyed elevator that opens directly into the living area.

 

Paying the Electric Bill

The scene begins looking at the northeast corner of E 15th and Irving Place.

 

The camera pans south to show we’re at the Consolidated Edison Building at 4 Irving Place.

 

Over at the north end of the nearby Union Square Park, Reno waits in the pavilion.

 

Carol meets him there.

 

She hands him money, supposedly to help pay his bills.

 

This was one of many locations that were easily identifiable, partly due to their close proximity to Union Square Park.

Abel Ferrara, who plays the titular character in the movie, stands in the limestone pavilion at Union Square Park’s north end which used to be a common backdrop for hundreds of labor union demonstrations.

A large demonstration at the north end of Union Square Park, circa 1940, featuring the same pavilion that appears in this scene. (This footage would later be used in the opening “newsreel” sequence in Orson Wells’ Citizen Kane.)

Up until the 1980s, the pavilion also served as a bandstand and an unofficial play space. But today, the nearly century-old structure is used as a Farm-to-Table restaurant, taking advantage of the Farmer’s Market that operates in the park four days a week (although the restaurant’s YELP reviews are far from stunning).

 

Random Man Gets Stabbed

After failing to get a loan from an art dealer, Reno spends his time gazing from a water tower atop his apartment building at 16 E 18th Street.

 

Using binoculars, he looks down at the corner of E 17th and Union Square West.

 

He watches as one man attacks another man, literally stabbing him in the back.

 

Passersby stare as the injured man writhes in pain on the ground.

 

The Roosters Arrive

Latert, a local band called The Roosters parks their car at 17 E 18th Street.

 

They go inside no. 16 where they rent an apartment next to Reno’s.

 

Inside, the band’s loud music slowly starts to drive Reno crazy, unable to focus on his painting.

 

The Bowery

Trying to get his creative juices flowing, Reno goes down to the Bowery, sketching the winos from 14 Prince Street.

 

This location was the last to be found for this movie.

Both in the story and according to the DVD audio commentary, this scene was taking place on Bowery on the Lower East Side. So, I just virtually cruised up and down the street in Google Street View, hoping to find a match. And just in case the building has since-been remodeled or demolished, I also used the interactive 1940s NYC map so I could look through tax photos from circa 1940.

Based on the support post outside the entrance, I assumed the building was on a corner, which I thought would help streamline the process. Unfortunately, after a couple passes, I still couldn’t find a match. Blakeslee gave it a whirl as well, but also came up empty.

We both found several corner buildings with similar support posts, but there were enough inconsistencies that we determined they were not from the movie.

A 1940 tax photo of the northeast corner of Bowery and E 1st Street, which looks similar to the building in the movie, but with some noticeable differences, such as the width of the support pole.

Eventually, I came up with the theory that perhaps Ferrara wasn’t directly on Bowery and that maybe he was one or two blocks away. So, I went back to the 1940s NYC Map and started clicking on corner buildings just off of Bowery, and amazingly, within minutes, I found a promising photo on Prince Street.

A ca 1940 tax pic of 14 Prince Street compared to the building in the movie.

The details weren’t great because it was a fairly wide shot, but I could spot several things that matched up. Not only did the support pole look the same, but so did the brick layout below the window as well as a wooden moulding to the left of the window.

The support pole got removed shortly after this film was made, but if you look at a ca 1984 tax photo of the building, the color looked similar to what appeared in this scene.

A circa 1984 tax photo of 14 Prince Street.

Also, up until around 2020, the vertical moulding was still in place, solidifying my confidence that I found the right spot.

Comparing the movie to a 2011 Google Street View of 14 Prince, with the matching moulding still in place.

But sadly, when Barneys New York moved into the retail space, they remodeled the exterior and decided to take down that moulding, thus removing the one last relic from this scene.

You can briefly see the building at 14 Prince in the 1971 low-budget movie, Who Killed Mary What’s ‘Er Name? (AKA, Death of a Hooker), filmed on location in NYC. The benign but entertaining movie stars Red Buttons, Sylvia Miles, Conrad Bain, and a young Sam Waterston.

 

Teenage Gang

Starting to lose his mind, Reno goes out onto the street and rants to a random homeless man outside 15 E 18th Street.

 

Suddenly. a gang of teenagers run by, chasing another homeless person nd freaking out Reno.

 

Hardware Store

The next day, Reno stares into a hardware store window at 12 W 19th Street.

 

Several tools seem to call out to him.

 

He then decides to purchase a battery-powered drill.

 

Based on the architecture and a comment made by Ferrara on the DDV audio commentary, I knew this hardware store was in the Union Square area, most likely on or near Fifth Avenue. There were a couple clues to go on, including a pair of signs on the neighboring building — one for a “Pillow Furniture Outlet Factory” and another for what looked like, “Jimmy’s Tailor.” Unfortunately, neither of those business signs netted me any promising leads.

A 1981 ad for a Pillow Furniture Outlet on Sixth Avenue, which I briefly thought might be the hardware store’s neighbor.

Blakeslee eventually found this location by digging up a 1997 reference to a “B&N Hardware” on W 19th Street which he determined was the same one from the movie. I verified this by matching up the fire escape and neighboring buildings.

B&N Hardware at 12 w 19th Street, from around 2010, with still a slight step down into the retail space. 

Amazingly, the hardware store was still in business up until around 2014. I’m glad we were able to find this location, but sad to see yet another mom-n-pop store fade away.

 

Subway Mayhem

A homeless man sleeps on the N/R/Q Uptown platform at the Union Square Subway Station.

 

Enraged and armed with a portable power drill, Reno goes looking for a victim.

 

After jumping on and off a subway car, Reno heads for the stairs and exits the station.

 

A small disclaimer: even though I believe I established the basic area used for this subway scene, I could be off by a 25 feet or so. It was hard to find the exact spot because the Union Square Station has been remodeled and renovated since the seventies, including relocating some of the staircases.

But you get the gist of things.

 

Bus Stop Kill

Folks wait for a bus in front of 196 Third Avenue.

 

The bus arrives and everyone gets on.

 

Everyone except for one crazed homeless guy.

 

As the man babbles to himself, Reno approaches the bus shelter.

 

He sticks the drill through a crack in the glass and begins drilling into the man’s back. 

 

The guy screams out in pain.

 

Reno continues to drill, drill, drill.

 

He slowly follows his victim down to the ground.

 

After killing the homeless fellow, Reno takes off north on Third Avenue.

 

There were many clues to help find this location. Right off the bat, I could tell the building behind the bus shelter looked somewhat modern —mid to late century— which meant it probably wasn’t in the Union Square/Flatiron area which has mostly older, Beaux Arts buildings. This was confirmed when I saw the bus that arrived at the stop was the M103, which runs along Lexington and Third Avenues. But I knew it had to be Third Avenue because in the movie, you can see two-way traffic, which only occurs on Third between E 24th Street and Coopers Square.

So basically, it had to be somewhere on Third Avenue between 9th and 24th Street.

First, I looked up old addresses of Sloan’s Supermarkets (whose sign can be seen behind the bus shelter), but I couldn’t find an outlet on Third Ave.

So instead, Blakeslee and I just checked out every bus stop on Third Avenue between 9th and 24th Street in Google Street View to see if we could spot a matching building. But frustratingly enough, we couldn’t find it.

Turns out, the problem was the bus stops have switched around since the 1970s. Once that was figured out, we expanded our search and eventually zeroed in on the building at 196 Third. It no longer has a bus stop in front of it, but thankfully the facade has changed very little since 1979, including the air vents and service doors.

 

Midtown Killing

After drilling the man at the bus stop, Reno heads uptown near the Empire State Building.

 

He runs up Fifth Avenue.

 

He finds his next victim just north of E 38th Street.

 

He drills yet another homeless man at 435 Fifth Avenue.

 

This scene was clearly not filmed in the Union Square area. Based on the view of the Empire State Building at the top of the scene, I figured it took place somewhere north of the iconic skyscraper on Fifth Avenue. My guess was it was somewhere in the high 30s, and I was able to substantiate this when I found a 1940 tax photo that showed a matching building near 38th.

Comparing a ca 1940 tax photo of 420 Fifth to a still from this scene.

Based on that tax pic, I estimated that the scene took place on the east side of Fifth, on the block between 38th and 39th. Since the ground floor facades have changed a lot over the years, it was hard to match up the exact building where the murder took place. But luckily, I could see a name on the glass next to Ferrara, which said “Ming’s.”

A circa 1984 tax photo of 435 Fifth Avenue.

After a little poking around, I discovered Ming’s was a jewelry shop located at 435 Fifth Avenue.

 

Murder Chase

A pair of winos hang out in front of 31 Union Square West, on the corner of E 16th .

 

Reno jumps out of the shadows and attacks one of the winos.

 

His pal stands up and backs away from the power-tool-wielding maniac.

 

The drunkard tries to escape the drill.

 

He ducks behind a column at .31 Union Square W, but Reno stays on him.

 

They go back and forth around the columns.

 

As the man tries to flee, Reno drills him in the back.

 

Figuring this took place near Union Square Park, I just looked around the area until I found those distinct granite columns at 31 Union Square W.

I already had a feeling this scene was shot on that block, since you can briefly see a McDonald’s awning during the chase (which is still in business at that address today).

It might be noted that this scene contains the infamous “drill to the forehead” kill, which was featured on the cover of most of the home video releases. It’s been purported that the gory cover art is what helped put Driller Killer on the U.K.’s “video nasty” list, getting it officially banned in that country until the early 2000s.

I have to admit, it’s a pretty impressive special effect for a low-budge horror movie.

 

Phone Call

After having an argument with Reno, Carol walks east on E 17th Street towards Broadway.

 

She crosses Broadway from the northwest to the northeast corner.

 

She then makes a phone call to someone named “Steven.”

 

Again, this was found fairly quickly since it was located just northwest of Union Square Park. It was a little hard to confirm since the scene was shot using a long lens (compressing the image a bit).

But I was able to make a positive match-up with a building one block away at 114 Broadway.

 

Carol Walks Out

After failing to sell his masterpiece painting, Reno looks in his bathroom at 16 E 18th Street to discover his girlfriend Carol has slipped away.

 

He runs to the front window to see if he can spot her outside.

 

Down below, Carol exits 16 E 18th Street.

 

He yells down to her, asking her to come back.

 

Reno runs outside, coming from Park Avenue South and onto E 17th Street.

 

He catches up to Carol, with 200 Park Avenue S in the background.

 

He stops her at the north end of Union Square Park.

 

After Carol tells Reno that she’s leaving him, he grabs her suitcase as she storms off.

 

Reno yells at Carol as she strides south towards the subway entrance on Union Square West.

 

Reno continues to berate her as she disappears into the subway.

 

The distraught artist then gathers the clothes that spilled from her suitcase.

 

While Blakeslee and I were able to find the majority of the filming locations from this 1979 flick, there are still a few missing spots, but most of them are nearly-impossible to find without any inside information.

This early murder scene looks like it was possibly shot on a roof with a door leading into the attached building. 
Another early murder scene with what looks like a large derelict apartment complex in the background.
Supposedly shot in the apartment of a friend of Ferrara’s, I’d say this apartment is impossible to find without some sort of inside scoop. 

Even though I don’t love The Driller Killer, there are moments in it that are certainly very fascinating to watch. Not to mention, the movie serves as a nice time capsule of late-seventies NYC, especially since most of the folks that appear in the background are probably real New Yorkers going about their business.

Promotional photo of co-star, Pamela Bergman, credited under her local stripper name, Baybi Day. 

And like I said before, I wholeheartedly acknowledge that there are people out there who are big fans of this bizarre urban slasher which helped launch the prolific career of director Abel Ferrara.

An alternate angle taken of the above missing murder scene.

For many, Ferrara will forever be the master provocateur, filling his movies with tortured debauchery and blasphemous imagery. By their very nature, his movies demand a suspension of our accustomed expectations of the medium, which can be an unpleasant experience.

Admirers of Ferrara’s work give him the benefit of the doubt that the apparently chaotic storytelling and fractured characters are intentional aesthetic choices, designed to shake up our usual complacent presuppositions. And in the case of The Driller Killer, some film scholars see the drill not just as a weapon, but as a metaphorical tool used to invoke a visceral, unsettling feeling. In other words, the murder and mayhem is just a means to get to a bigger, more meaningful message.

This critical viewpoint could be summed up by a quote from famed economist Theodore Levitt, “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!”

All that being said, I personally think Ferrara just likes making wacky and weird movies, and The Driller Killer certainly fits the bill. Bottom line, sometimes a drill, is just a drill.