Party Line

This film was made by the same people who made a film called The Banker. The makers who did these films seem to want to make a different kind of slasher film. A bit of a more high brow killer on the loose, in The Banker it was a psychopath and in this one it is a brother and sister duo who went through some trauma and now they hunt through the party line. It was entertaining for what it was, nothing great, but an enjoyable time nonetheless.

The story has the aforementioned brother/sister hunting adulterers by talking to them on a party line and luring them to their posh estate. It is up to a investigator who has a problem with the DA to solve the case..along with a plucky 16 year old.

It stars Richard Hatch of Battlestar Galactica fame as the detective. Lief Garrett is the brother who is way more disturbed than the sister. You never hear his stuff on the radio ever. Roundtree is in this one too in pretty much the same role he was in The Banker.

So it was not that good, but it was entertaining because it did have some interesting stuff in it. I thought Hatch was pretty good in this, but Forster was better in the Banker in essentially the same role. They could have done more to spice this up, but you can do much, much worse.

People call a 976 "party line" to talk dirty to strangers, and perhaps meet up for a sexual liason. A deranged, somewhat incestuous sister and occasional transvestite brother use the line to find people to kill, usually married men, but they don't discriminate! A pair of sixteen year old girls also call the line for fun, pretending to be older, of course. One of them works as a babysitter for a married man who's hot for her (or anyone).

Meanwhile, a vice cop is borrowed by homicide when he's the first to discover one of the siblings' victims. He's teamed with a female assistant of the District Attorney.

Nothing too special here. Richard Roundtree has little more than a cameo as the police chief. One of the dirty-talking sixteen year olds is played by an actress who also voiced Peanuts character Peppermint Patty! According to the IMDb, the other died quite young, just several years after this movie: sad.

You feeling lonely, well pick-up the phone call the "Party Line" to live-out you undesirable fantasies as you can talk, or just listen and then maybe hook-up on this single-dating service line. The concept abound can really touch a nerve, because how authentic it is and how a fad so popular and addictive could spin dangerously out of control in not knowing what you're really getting in to. This gimmick is what drives the story, but the low-budget produced "Party line" is something fairly patchy and trashy, as it falls somewhere in between a detective film and seedy slasher outing, and when it's focusing on the former it's quite stodgy but with the latter it's rather riveting… as eventually the two would tie in together.

Two disturbingly crazed siblings (who have a very strange, perverse relationship); like to participate in a chat hot-line, luring their eventual victims to meet up with them. A well-worn, rogue detective happens to come across one of the sibling's murders and then is reluctantly assigned to the case with the aid an aspiring, by the book female assistant of the Distract Attorney.

Whenever the story was dealing with the brother and sister relationship, it brought up some kinky and demented shades of jealousy and affection. Even the past events of their parents intrigues (especially one scene involving Garrett and a wedding dress) -- as this could be the attribution to their murderous impulses, but the script only window-dresses it by never truly balancing it out. Leif Garrett plays it cold, but underneath that persona he's feebly unstable in his fear of being alone as a meek mummy's boy but he's overshadowed by the formidably headstrong, but racy Greta Blackburn. However the sub-plot involving the hard-bitten detective (who wants to be like Eastwood's dirty Harry --- as just look out for the movie poster of "Sudden Impact" in his home) and Distract Attorney assistant is simply black and white. These moments in the film are laboured, despite the best efforts of Richard Hatch and Shawn Weatherly. Also showing up in nothing but a minor role is Richard Roundtree. The script keeps a serious tone throughout, but can go over-the-top and cause some giggles with unusual developments, contrived circumstances and a rushed wrap-up. The direction is predictably textbook looking like a made for TV feature, but killing it is the sluggish pacing and working its way in is an oozing jazz flavoured score.

Watchable, but token stalk n slash thriller at best.

A strange case, this movie. It's at its best when it explores the perverse (past and present) family ties that bind Leif Garrett and Greta Blackburn (and she's has a powerful, sexy presence). But the script keeps intercutting their story with that of a misfit cop (a real Dirty Harry wannabe) and an ambitious female assistant DA who are searching for the killer that is slashing his/her victims' throats with a razor. As you have probably already guessed, the film has too much plot, too many supporting characters (what's Richard Roundtree doing here?) and too many plot coincidences. You could do a lot worse, though. (**)

Leif Garrett stars as a crazed serial killer who kills men that his sister lures back to there home through a party line. Sometimes entertaining mystery/horror film with an intriguing premise, is ruined because of slack direction and a sleazy script not to mention a bad ending. The cast tries its best. Rated R; Violence, Sexual Situations, Nudity, and Profanity.