Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders

When I first picked this movie up I feared it to be another cheap, poorly written real-life serial killer movie such as 'Gacy'. I was happy to find while watching it that it was actually a well done movie. Clifton Collins Jr. delivers a strong performance as Kenneth Bianchi, one of the two men responsible for the 1977 murders of many young women. His eerie resemblance to the real Bianchi really gives the film an extra boost of realism. Brittany Daniel gives a convincing performance as well, playing Samantha Stone, a psychiatrist who specializes in determining if a suspect is truly insane.

The movie lacks, though, when it tries to add an additional sub-plot in the story. This being Samantha's troubles with her partying, druggie, cheating boyfriend. This non-conclusive aspect of the story tends to use up time that could have been better used to develop Clifton Collin's character. Also, a factor that I felt was unneeded was the amount of nudity and sex in the film. Many shots of naked Daniel and other random couples having sex got a bit excessive at times, and tended to become redundant.

Over-all, the film was not badly done. I enjoyed a few neat filming effects and techniques in the beginning and other parts of the film. Good dialog, clever ending, and a good plot. 7/10.

*Word of warning- If you're looking for historical accuracy in this film you are not going to find it. It's very loosely based on the Hillside Strangler. The timeline is very far off and the events that occur are mostly made up for dramatic reasons.*

After seeing that a film of the tag team killers of B & B was now released, I was hopeful that someone had made use of this fertile crime history, and Bianchi's lame MPD defense could have been interesting if made by someone who HAD A MODICUM OF TALENT...and had a real script..I was just stunned at how far dramatic license could be utilized...and still use "actual" names with no actual history to back it up. This is the WORST serial killer flick ever, and possibly a contender for worst film ever. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with the Hillside case, except that we see the comical appearance of the multiple personalities of Bianchi in the last 15 minutes(permanently damaging the career of this young guy that was in "Traffic"). In the end, the flick is a failing grade at a CC Film School. I don't know much about the "writer/director", but it really makes you wonder how anyone, with just a MiniDV handicam and a loosely written script gets "known" actors to appear in this horrible mess. I felt the pain of these actors (especially Lake Bell, she's fine!) throughout...and the cute blonde from "Joe Dirt" was forced to chain smoke and go bra-less throughout, for what reason ??? Not even that can keep any interest up after the first 5 minutes. This is nothing more than a failed, male sex/murder fantasy, and is the most amateurish film that I've seen in release possibly ever...it should be burned, the MiniDV master should be burned !! Take some Dramamine before you TRY to watch it, it makes the Blair Witch camera work look like Lawrence OF Arabia. Most amateur porn flix have higher production values than this one. Stop making movies Herr Director, even if your daddy owns a studio...

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.

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 a way to botch a movie. This crew had the money and the know-how, but still they managed to ruin what could have been an OK movie.

The problem is that the story is told from the perspective of the psychiatrist, played by Brittany Daniel. Now they story is supposed to be about a serial killer. The title is quite misleading, as if the movie were about the murders. It's not. They show one kidnapping and murder. From then on it's all about the psychiatrist. What does she do? Interview, meet with, and hypnotize a suspect. So we get 3 or 4 extended boring sequences of that. And they are not particularly interesting at all. The villain here is not one bit scary, menacing, or of interest, although well-performed by Clifton Collins Jr.

Any other movie would have told this story from the perspective of the killers and cops, which would be more fun to watch. What makes the psychiatrist at all noteworthy is that Daniel is pretty and lives with a drug user/dealer who spends his time partaking in drug and sex orgies. She's gets also involved. And those are the only watchable moments in this movie.

There are some short scenes of cops raiding suspects homes, but nothing to get one's attention. Daniel has a friend DA who is running the case. This is rather politically correct anachronistic non-sense. How many young women were at the DA's office in LA in the 70s? Another problem, this person is played by Lake Bell, who is utterly incompetent at re-recording her own voice track. Perhaps because she barely moves her lips when she speaks, but it looks like a foreign-dubbed movie. And her character is not likable or watchable.

On top of that, sometime after 30 minutes, the movie makes clear what is going on with the suspects and who did what and why. So for 55 minutes we have to wait for the movie to work out what we already know is going on- again, this happens through conversations, not even flashbacks.

Another absurd thing is that there are 4 or so scenes where things are censored- blurred- as if we were watching a TV-cut of an R-rated movie. One rarely sees that and it's ridiculous. This is, thankfully, a hard-R-rated movie and they blurred some sex-scenes and drug paraphernalia! One has to wonder what went on in people's mind's as they were editing this thing.

Finally, another non-sensical thing is how this movie is filmed: in constant motion, with the camera circling and rotating, and going in circles at all times- all times. The camera is never still. This is fine for the credits and perhaps during the drug/madness moments. But it becomes nauseating and silly after a while. Again, there's a time for everything but non-stop revolving camera movements are just annoying.

The only reasons to watch this movie are Brittany Daniel and Joleigh Fioreavanti, who starts off the movie beautifully. There's some good acting, too. But otherwise, the movie fails miserably in direction, story-telling, camera-work.