Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders

Do you have any idea how wretched a film has to be for me to consider it the worst "true" serial killer-themed movie ever? Well, this one gets that honor. How it was humanly possible to make a movie worse than SPECK boggles my mind. But this crew did. Oh wait, I know why: 1. Here's a movie whose title suggests it will only appeal to true crime buffs. So let's alienate the only possible fan base this movie could have by changing EVERYTHING factual about the case. Nevermind the fact that the real Ken Bianchi was a slick BS artist. Nope, this movie turns him into Kevin Spacey from THE USUAL SUSPECTS. And what's with that title, you ask? Weren't there two Hillside Stranglers? Yes. Yes, there were. But Angelo Buono is a minor character in this piece. Forget the fact that he was the actual brains behind the crimes and was in effect Ken's mentor in murder. Angelo gets one brief scene and then falls off the face of the earth. Interestingly, Angelo's criminal trial was the longest in United States history up to that point. Do they even see fit to give us little slices of information like that in the closing credits? Nah. Because research is hard.

2. There's this wonderful new invention out there called a tripod. It allows a camera to be placed in a fixed position for a steady, undistracting shot. Our cinematographer hasn't heard of this invention. Therefore, he shoots every scene in a circular dolly shot. No, seriously. EVERY scene. Sometimes to break the monotony of the circular dolly shots, we get a circular dolly shot superimposed onto ANOTHER circular dolly shot. Yay.

3. Our psychiatrist Samantha is such a model of professionalism that she keeps candid nude pictures of herself hanging on the wall in her study. I guess this is to provide a conversation piece to visiting patients and law enforcement personnel. She's also apparently so absorbed in her casework that she can never seem to fasten the top 6 or 7 buttons on her blouse. It's impossible to give a tinker's squat about Samantha because her only character development consists of her having increasingly half-hearted sex with a parade of drugged-out strangers.

4. When the story lags, cut to another drug-fueled orgy! Not that you'll be able to see much, because for these sequences they seem to have strapped a camera onto a hummingbird. A hummingbird with a penchant for annoyingly long dissolves. And because recutting a film to meet an R-rating costs money, let's just digitally fog certain props and naked characters that the MPAA finds offensive. Ah, digital fogging. It's not just for Japanese pornos anymore! Classy.

In conclusion, this movie fails as a serial killer biopic. It fails as a character study. It fails as a procedural. It fails as a horror film. It fails as a suspense film. But if you look at it as an Impassioned Plea for Tolerance and Acceptance of the Circular Dolly Shot, you'll find no better example.

"Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders" could've been so much better.

The plot is: Dr. Samantha Stone (Brittany Daniel) gets a case that involves accused murderer Kennenth Bianchi (Clifton Collins Jr.) She gets into his head, and eventually he does the same to her.

The main problem with the film is that there too many camera and sound tricks. It's very distracting and headache inducing. The camera goes around in circles every two seconds.

What's good about this film is the performances. Clifton Collins Jr. is great as Kenneth. If you watch his other performances in "187" or "Mindhunters", you can see the immense talent he has. Brittany Daniel does a decent job. Yes, she takes off her clothes, but she has acting ability. In the end: This movie is a misfire, but thankfully it does boast two good main performances, without that, it would have been a disaster.

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This film is totally a waste of time unless you are looking for a few tits and ass scenes. The acting is second rate and the script was horrible. I was starting to root for the bad guy just because I hate the good guys so badly. Whoever sees a psychiatrist busy at orgies and getting high in the evenings, meanwhile during the day its all business interviewing alleged serial killers while she prances around bra-less with her boobs half exposed and the 'kicker' is when she insists on having the killer's handcuffs removed while she interviews him. The psychiatrist in the film needs a shrink. The script is terrible and the acting is just so-so. Second rate film that looks like it was a made for TV. This film was way off the mark.

As an genre fan and director is somewhat as old as I am, I had some hope to see new talent to show off here. Sadly that didn't happen.

First thing what kicks in is noticing that these kids have seen that french movie Irréversible. What means dizzy camera rotating around and buzzing sound from lights. Too bad this doesn't serve any purpose on this movie and shows off the low budged and lack of talent of filmography and editing. On Irréversible all that well done camera trickery served an purpose to tell story from end to beginning seamlessly, but on this its just to cover dull story whit "exotic" 70s' setting (clothing) and predictable story. On acting wise, only one who shows any talent on this flick is Clifton Collins Jr., who seems to be stuck in 2nd class movies since his last notable appearance on mindhunters (and it's director has too, who was called in to remake original unwatchable Exorcist: The Beginning to proper old school horror). Not to mention, this has some lame "blurred out" scenes, where people are having sex and one injection, is as annoying like wathcing some mtv show where all the official logos are blurred out. Haven't seen this on "movies" ever. I guess the only kicker in this one is to see "Dawson's Creek" appearance star butt naked coupe of times (amazing they didn't blur that out), what I never missed because I have only seen that series only couple of times by force. Showing off complete lack of talent, she kind of reminded me of Paris hilton on House of Wax.

So shortly: Lack of talent on movie-making and acting, arty low budged crap, what struggles to be full lenght film. Only question is how could somebody waste money to release this kind of *bleeeeb*. Perhaps this would have been acceptable in 1980 but...

What seems to be a sort-of follow up to 2004's "The Hillside Strangler", in this one, "Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders" begins with the suspected Strangler, Kenneth Bianchi (Clifton Collins Jr.) captured and brought in for questioning from Dr. Samathan Stone (Brittany Daniel). The film tells the story of Dr. Samantha Stone and what she goes through during her time on the Strangler case. Not only does she deal with sexism from male detectives, but an abusive boyfriend, and of course Kenneth Bianchi and the is-he-or-isn't-he question that she must ask herself. Her only confidant is a former friend, the District Attorny Jillian Dunne (Lake Bell).

"Rampage" is an interesting film: Fantastic performances from Clifton Collins Jr. as Kenneth Bianchi, and the lovely Lake Bell is terrific as Jillian Dune. However it is almost hard to take Brittany Daniel seriously as a psych doctor, though she gives an admirable performance. Some of the camera techniques are very unusual, particularly at the drug-using party scenes. They add something to the film to liven it up I suppose, which is needed, because the film plods at times, and the pacing seems a little off - the first interrogation for example was far too long. The 70's outfits are fantastic though. The standout performance is obviously Clifton Collins Jr., and the way he pulls of the "personalities" of the Strangler are worth watching this film for, even if it is unfortunately disappointing.