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.

Thats what this movie really takes. A big piece of cheeze. This movie is about a sister and brother Bonnie and Clyde type of duo that creates their own party line in order to lure their victims in and trap them and kill them. But for what reason? Just for the fun of getting away with it? In comes Richard Hatch who comes across as a wishy washy ladies man. A real BAD version of a ladies man. And he gets involved with finding who's behind all the killings across LA. He finally meets a teenager who helps him find the killer and rest is for your fun and amusement. But there are parts in this film that really get me going like the scene with Lief Garret dressed in his mothers wedding gown acting like a sissy in front of his sister telling her that he needs her and can't live without her and watching as she slaps him across the face dominateing him. I can't believe that was Lief!!! Well, I guess I could. But it's worth watching but only to see one of Garrets worst films that he ever did.

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.

A hard to find movie, Party Line can be found in some video stores in the Mature Audience section. The reason being for the nudity. Still, don't look forward to seeing Richard Hatch in the buff in this film. In fact, Party Line is a debut film for Hatch where he is not dressed in tight pants! Unlike past roles, Hatch plays a more dark and complex character that has no ties with space ships or robots. Hatch plays the role of a bad ass detective who is determined to find a serial killer. With a six shooter, a pair of baggy blue jeans, and long hair, Hatch remains loyal to his roots but begins to make a dramatic change in the roles he takes as an actor.

Highly recommended for Richard Hatch fans.