Machete

From the belly laughs of “Hot Tub Time Machine’’ to the body count of “The Expendables,’’ movies have lately been a feast of winking retro overkill. Just as the trendlet is getting tired, here’s Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete’’ to show us how it’s done: with wit, moviemaking skill, and a cast to die for. The movie’s an unexpected end-of-summer tonic: a trash guilty pleasure with a healthy (if really violent) sense of outrage. It’s also Rodriguez’s freest movie yet, and possibly his best.

Boston police said yesterday that officers have arrested one man and are looking for another who allegedly used a machete and a hypodermic needle to rob a Brighton man in his home Wednesday night. Mark Lidsky, 22, of Brighton, was arrested on charges of armed assault in a dwelling, home invasion, armed robbery, and assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, police said. The victim was taken to St. Elizabeth's Medical Center after his chest was scratched by the machete and his hand was punctured by the needle during a brief scuffle with the robbers, said police spokesman Dave Estrada.

Police in Springfield arrested two men accused of using a machete to rob and attack another man. Sergeant John Delaney said the victim, whose name was not released, was discovered late Friday night in front of a home on Calhoun Street with injuries to his head and arms from the machete. The man was treated at a hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening. Delaney said police later pulled over a bright yellow car described by witnesses and arrested 28-year-old Roblero Perez and 24-year-old Alejandro Reyes.

At least one man invaded a home armed with a machete late last night in Brighton, Boston police said. Officers responded to 136 Chiswick Road shortly before 11 p.m. for the home invasion call, said Officer Nicole Grant, a police spokeswoman. She had no information on the number of suspects involved and could not say whether anyone had been injured.

Robert Rodriguez waited until Comic-Con to announce that he's planning sequels to "Sin City" and "Machete. " He says a script for "Sin City 2" is being refined, and he hopes for two sequels to last year's "Machete" — at least one of which will bring the blade-slinging star into space. "Even if we don't get to three, I'm at least making the trailer for three because it's so good. I would put it even before part two," Rodriguez said. "Machete goes into space! It's like 'Moonraker.

NASHUA — A woman hacked to death with a machete and knife in her home was alive for all 32 slash and stab wounds that split open her skull, sliced through bones and pierced organs, a medical examiner testified yesterday. Both the prosecution and defense in the murder trial of Steven Spader, 18, have rested. The defense called no witnesses, ending speculation that Spader might take the stand. Jurors will begin deliberating Monday, after final arguments. They heard from 45 witnesses during the nine-day trial.

At least one man invaded a home armed with a machete late last night in Brighton, Boston police said. Officers responded to 136 Chiswick Road shortly before 11 p.m. for the home invasion call, said Officer Nicole Grant, a police spokeswoman. She had no information on the number of suspects involved and could not say whether anyone had been injured.

NASHUA — The defendant in a deadly New Hampshire home invasion and machete attack testified yesterday that he fantasized about torturing and killing his mother from age 14 on because she abused him. Christopher Gribble, 21, surprised courtroom observers by taking the witness stand on the heels of his mother’s testimony. He told jurors he was agitated because his mother, Tamara Gribble, had lied when she denied abusing him. Christopher Gribble has admitted stabbing Kimberly Cates to death and trying to kill her daughter Jaimie, then 11, in their Mont Vernon home in October 2009.

Boston police said yesterday that officers have arrested one man and are looking for another who allegedly used a machete and a hypodermic needle to rob a Brighton man in his home Wednesday night. Mark Lidsky, 22, of Brighton, was arrested on charges of armed assault in a dwelling, home invasion, armed robbery, and assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, police said. The victim was taken to St. Elizabeth's Medical Center after his chest was scratched by the machete and his hand was punctured by the needle during a brief scuffle with the robbers, said police spokesman...

The machete murder of a mother in her bed shocked New Hampshire’s governor and House speaker into supporting legislation making fatal home invasions punishable by death. But their backing alone does not ensure success in New Hampshire, where lawmakers have been more inclined over the years to repeal the state’s death penalty law than to expand it. A bill sponsored by House Speaker William O’Brien is named for Kimberly Cates, who was killed in a 2009 burglary in her home.

JOS, Nigeria - Religious rioting in the central Nigerian city of Jos has killed at least 21 people in recent days, as authorities appeared unable to curb rising violence. An Associated Press journalist counted 21 bodies awaiting burial at the city's central mosque yesterday. At Jos University Teaching Hospital, doctors collected at least 12 bodies with gunshot and machete wounds, while another 82 were wounded in fighting in the city, said Dr. Stephen Yohanna, the hospital's chief medical director.

Police in Springfield arrested two men accused of using a machete to rob and attack another man. Sergeant John Delaney said the victim, whose name was not released, was discovered late Friday night in front of a home on Calhoun Street with injuries to his head and arms from the machete. The man was treated at a hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening. Delaney said police later pulled over a bright yellow car described by witnesses and arrested 28-year-old Roblero Perez and 24-year-old Alejandro Reyes.

Robert Rodriguez waited until Comic-Con to announce that he's planning sequels to "Sin City" and "Machete. " He says a script for "Sin City 2" is being refined, and he hopes for two sequels to last year's "Machete" — at least one of which will bring the blade-slinging star into space. "Even if we don't get to three, I'm at least making the trailer for three because it's so good. I would put it even before part two," Rodriguez said. "Machete goes into space! It's like 'Moonraker.

NASHUA — The defendant in a deadly New Hampshire home invasion and machete attack testified yesterday that he fantasized about torturing and killing his mother from age 14 on because she abused him. Christopher Gribble, 21, surprised courtroom observers by taking the witness stand on the heels of his mother’s testimony. He told jurors he was agitated because his mother, Tamara Gribble, had lied when she denied abusing him. Christopher Gribble has admitted stabbing Kimberly Cates to death and trying to kill her daughter Jaimie, then 11, in their Mont...

The machete murder of a mother in her bed shocked New Hampshire’s governor and House speaker into supporting legislation making fatal home invasions punishable by death. But their backing alone does not ensure success in New Hampshire, where lawmakers have been more inclined over the years to repeal the state’s death penalty law than to expand it. A bill sponsored by House Speaker William O’Brien is named for Kimberly Cates, who was killed in a 2009 burglary in her home.

NASHUA — A 21-year-old man admitted in court yesterday that he hacked a mother to death and seriously wounded her young daughter during a 2009 home invasion, but said he was insane at the time. Christopher Gribble of Brookline, N.H., waived his right to a jury trial on whether he killed 42-year-old Kimberly Cates and seriously wounded her 11-year-old daughter, Jaimie. The burden now shifts to Gribble’s lawyers to prove he was insane during the Mont Vernon home invasion.

NAIROBI - Several people were beaten and hacked to death with machetes in a Nairobi slum yesterday in renewed ethnic fighting over Kenya's disputed election, residents said. Elsewhere, police managed to quell more than two days of fierce fighting around a Catholic monastery that killed 22 people and left 200 homes burned in the Rift Valley, 190 miles northwest of the capital Nairobi, officials said. The reelection of President Mwai Kibaki has tapped into a well of resentments that resurfaces regularly at election time in Kenya.

AUGUSTA, Maine - A father and his 11-year-old daughter recovering from a vicious machete attack in Pittston are speaking out for the first time. After spending eight weeks in the hospital following the May 27 attack, William Guerrette Jr. said he wants to know "how any human being does what they did to my child. " Guerrette's daughter, Nicole, has been in the hospital twice since the attack. She has to wear a helmet to protect the spot where her skull was fractured and bone was removed after an infection.

NASHUA — A woman hacked to death with a machete and knife in her home was alive for all 32 slash and stab wounds that split open her skull, sliced through bones and pierced organs, a medical examiner testified yesterday. Both the prosecution and defense in the murder trial of Steven Spader, 18, have rested. The defense called no witnesses, ending speculation that Spader might take the stand. Jurors will begin deliberating Monday, after final arguments. They heard from 45 witnesses during the nine-day trial.

NASHUA — A teenager who was in the room during a deadly home invasion acknowledged yesterday that he wrote a poem saying he liked to cut up women with an ax but insisted it was two codefendants, not him, who hacked the victims with a machete and knife. Despite a withering cross-examination, William Marks, 19, maintained at Steven Spader’s trial that Spader attacked Kimberly Cates and her 11-year-old daughter, Jaimie, with a machete in their Mont Vernon home in October 2009.