The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher

Unapologetically lowbrow sleaze, and pretty potent to boot, "Hollywood Strangler" is an undervalued keyhole-peek at raging lustmord and urban decay. Similar to the 50s classic DAUGHTER OF HORROR in its dialog-free presentation, the film is largely narrated through the inner-thoughts of a diabolical madman...his warped mind surging with rabid hatred of females which drives him to strangle. And strangle again...and again...

By and by, he becomes intrigued by a staunch female bookshop clerk who, unbeknownst to him, is a serial killer as well. With switchblade in-hand, she helps to rid the L.A. streets of the drunks and degenerates she so passionately detests. The eventual collision of these two psychotic personas results in a most unnerving tango.

Ingenious use of dingy backstreet locations is beneficial to the asphalt-and-pavement grittiness of this film, the camera leering voyeuristically upon smut-theater marquees and random profligate sluts tramping about in booby-buster tanktops and cheek-peek short-shorts. Ultra-minimalist cinema defined...a shining star on the index of one of filmdom's most peripheral figures.

7/10

Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher, The (1979)

** (out of 4)

From the man who brought you THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED-UP ZOMBIES comes another film with a rather interesting title. What we basically have is a nutty guy (Pierre Agostino) who hires cheap women to take photos of them but what he really wants is to strangle them, which he does plenty of. We also have the "Skid Row Slasher" who is a mystery person stalking the streets and stabbing homeless men in the neck. For those interested, the Hollywood Strangler has a lot more victims here and I'd say he has about a 3-to-1 advantage, which I'm going to guess is due to the budget reasons. I guess it was a lot cheaper to hire some woman to get naked than it was setting up a special effect where an actor had to spit out blood after being stabbed. So, is this a good movie? Not at all but when you compare it to other Steckler movies I have no problem saying this comes off as a masterpiece. The budget was so low that Steckler actually shot the film silent and later went back and added narration. Some of the dialogue is downright hilarious due to the various things the killer says. The highlight has to be a scene where he suffocates a woman with a pillow while asking if she's seen the Doris Day flick PILLOW TALK. Those who enjoy the sleazy cinema will be pleased to see a wide range of trashy posters hanging up in the various sets. These posters include TEENAGE MASSAGE PARLOR and several other films and we even get a lot of great shots from the sleazier areas of Los Angeles where there's apparently a porn theater showing DEEP THROAT around every corner or a place selling dirty magazines. Seeing these now gone places is a tad bit interesting and especially if you're interested in those type of grindhouse flicks. The film has very little story as all we get is one scene after another of women taking their clothes off and being strangled. Every once in a while we see a homeless man get slashed and that's pretty much it, although the director does go off the deep end towards the end and adds a love story. The identity of the Skid Row Slasher is meant to be a mystery but anyone should figure it out. The amount of sleaze going on in this film is pretty high as there's countless nudity and blood and it's almost enough to make the film worth sitting through. If you're offended by this type of material then it's best you stay away but those looking for cheap entertainment should get a few kicks out of this thing but even at under 70-minutes the thing goes on way too long.

OK you probably know Steckler as the mastermind behind The Incredible Strange Creatures that Stopped Living and Became Mixed-up Zombies!, but this turd is probably without peer in the world of b-movie schlock. OK maybe not. But it's probably the first silent movie to be made in the 70's! Steckler dubs dialogue whenever quote unquote actors are not facing the screen and there's a constant grating monologue by Pierre Agostino running in the background. In the true nature of serial killers, he uses the exact same order of shots every killing! Pure genius. Anyhow watch this with the Joe Bob Briggs commentary on and a six pack, and you'll be pleasantly amused. Trash heaven. Long live Steckler.

Well, what can I say about this one? It follows a serial killer and his killing while he falls in love with a woman that is also a serial killer.

But it is good? 5/10, it's ok to watch but nothing special. There is so many better serial killer movies from the 70s. But it's ok enough to watch one time when you are bored. I like that it follows the killers mind and perspective, gives the movie a little bit more depth why he kills then just random killing. Did I expect more from this? No, not really. I did think it would be a love story but hah, that I totally got it wrong!

The acting is ok, scenes are ok, movie overall is ok.

I slum a lot, impulsively watching cheap movies. Sometimes, I'm pleased to find one that really is interesting or challenging or intelligent almost in spite of itself. "Attic Expeditions" is one such.

This isn't, though I appreciate the idea. Lets suppose all men are stranglers who hate women while being attracted to them. And all women are bitches who see men as insects that need to be killed.

In such a world, men and women do couple. What then?

A small matter of interest is that the woman in this case is both the star and sponsor. One wonders: if you had one movie you could make, what would it be. This is her answer.

The exemplar for this type of movie is the wonderful "Oscar and Lucinda," though it deals with obsessions and compulsions other than death. As with Cate Blanchett, the woman here is redheaded and something is made of that: hair unfurled in beach breeze.

But the execution is dead. They killed it.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.