L'assassino chiama due volte

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. (**)

'Party Line' is a camp 80's slasher flick that features a dated yet fun premise that involves the adult telephone line, a concept that will be completely lost on the younger generation, but here its used quite effectively as part of the storyline. The movie is pretty standard yet fun at the same time and competently shot with a tight pace and enough entertainment value to keep you interested throughout.

The plot = A pair of rich siblings Seth (Leif Garrett) & Angelina (Greta Blackburn) are crazed killers who use the party line to lure married men to their deaths. While at the same time a detective Dan (Richard Hatch) is assigned to the case with a new partner Stacy (Shawn Weatherly), can they catch the killers in time.

The performances in this are really strong with Leif Garrett stealing the show as the disturbed cross-dressing Seth, he's easily the most entertaining aspect of the movie. The sister played by Greta Blackburn also gives an entertaining performance and the pair have great chemistry together and every time the movie is revolving around these its hell of a good time. Richard Hatch and Shawn Weatherly are fine in their roles, but their characters aren't quite as engaging as the siblings. Richard Roundtree is always a joy to watch and brings a certain spark to the cast of characters.

The only thing that lets things down a bit are the scenes involving the police which can be a bit dull at times, but the party line scenes offer enough fun and nostalgic moments that are very contrived especially with the ridiculous and corny dialogue. There's enough sleaze and nudity to hold your attention most of the time, but the movie could have done with a bit more suspense and more bloody kills. However the movie is still a fun time, despite a few flaws.

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.

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.

Party Line has the weirdest killer couple I've ever seen. They're pathetic brother (Garrett so funny here, and we even see him get to wear a dress) and hot sexy sister (Weatherly) who lures her victims in through a sex hotline. The men, or any man would go crazy for this bit of trim, make out with her and we leave it up to good old Leif, mentally controlled by the sister, to do the killing. Hot on an obsessed tail with another case, cop, Hatch (Ghettoblaster) is teamed up to his disliking, with a woman on this new case, that killer hotline involved. As with these macho cop characters, here's just another one, a rule breaker, who thinks he has style, low key actor, Hatch, so cool in this. In spite of other negative reviews, this movie is a lot of fun, and plays out as not a bad quality b thriller, and Leif and our sultry hot Shawn who may'be love each other a bit too much, are just priceless. A chubby and cute babysitter, an intended victim, helps out our two cops, after the last male victim was an acquaintance of the babysitter, in more ways in one, as trying to come on to this cute girl, sexually. The middle aged guy, should of known better,in both case. One film, worth a watch (don't believe the bad hype) I found, in a quite surprisingly, if quizzical, bad light.