Movie Review by Nigel A. Messenger
Starring: C Thomas Howell, Nicholas Turturro, Allison Lange, Lin Shaye, Molly Brenner
Director: Chuck Parello
Back in the late seventies a serial killer hit the headlines in Los Angeles known as the ‘Hillside Strangler’. In fact the Hillside Strangler turned out to be two men, cousins who each for there own reasons got off on raping and murdering young women. This movie depicts their killing spree by following these two killers from their first victim to the time they are finally caught by the police.
While the film does indeed show a number of the crimes as they happen and there is some on-screen nudity it is not filmed explicitly as some reviewers would have you believe.
You could also hardly classify this film as a ‘video nasty’ as it is not badly made and the acting and effects are good.
The crimes are of course terrible and if anything what we see simply enforces that aspect. The most shocking though is the way these two men seemed to live in entirely their own world almost as if the police or the possibility of being caught didn’t exist. What is apparent is the media attention they enjoyed plus the killers distorted image of women.
This is an interesting movie and probably an eye opening one with a glimpse of the world of these series killers. It is also without a doubt extremely disturbing.
