A strangler of women he considers filth and trash not worth living using the disguise of a photographer to seduce young women into accepting him into their homes or apartments. A book store owner stalks drunken bums, waiting until they hide away in back alleys and abandoned dwellings, sticking a switchblade knife into their throats.
Ray Dennis Steckler's The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher has two sadistic killers coming in contact with each other, no words spoken. Forced to add dialogue against his wishes by distributors beleaguered with his desire to release a silent movie(!), Steckler adds a narrative where we hear the thoughts of Pierre Agostino's strangler, yearning for a woman who is not the kind of trash he sees on a daily basis walking the Hollywood streets. Steckler's ex-wife, Carolyn Brandt, is the anonymous book store owner, whose disgust for hobos that frequent her shop, leads to the back alley knife stabbings(..each victim spitting globs of bright film blood). The series of murders by both become repetitious and rather monotonous, but I felt the film is more about the way of life in Hollywood, and we get a feeling of loneliness and despair, it's evident that times have changed "since Clark Gable was alive"(..to quote Steckler from his commentary).
The film has a lot of footage showing Carolyn walking streets across Santa Monica Blvd(..and Las Vegas locations were used as well)and Agostino drinking beer in his house while also looking at newspapers featuring nude girls. There are also several shots of Brandt jogging on the beach, which I think were meant to show the opening of a new day for murder and death. The stranglings, for the most part, are pretty heinous, particularly Jean Roberts(..who was a major babe)who he drowns in a jacuzzi(..owned by Steckler, a pool nearby also his). One scene has Agostino strangling a girl with her scarf before suffocating her friend with a pillow. The knife murders are mostly suggestive. Shiny knife goes out of frame. We see the horrified look on the bum's face. Shiny knife has blood and we soon see the bum victims grabbing at their neck wounds, falling into a heap.
I think Steckler's work will be admired by a small niche audience, but I have a hard time believing something like The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher will engage a larger following. It's pace, even at an hour and change, can test those that have a lack of patience. This isn't as nutty as Steckler's other work and therefore might not grab the crowd who treasure his 60's stuff. Plenty of nude girls showing naked flesh before being disposed of in a not-so-flattering fashion. Agostino's strangler finds solace petting his pet pigeons. While Steckler provides Agostino's character with narration, and the female characters he meets with dialogue(..when we can not see their lips), Carolyn's thoughts are never exposed to us.
Ray Dennis Steckler's The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher has two sadistic killers coming in contact with each other, no words spoken. Forced to add dialogue against his wishes by distributors beleaguered with his desire to release a silent movie(!), Steckler adds a narrative where we hear the thoughts of Pierre Agostino's strangler, yearning for a woman who is not the kind of trash he sees on a daily basis walking the Hollywood streets. Steckler's ex-wife, Carolyn Brandt, is the anonymous book store owner, whose disgust for hobos that frequent her shop, leads to the back alley knife stabbings(..each victim spitting globs of bright film blood). The series of murders by both become repetitious and rather monotonous, but I felt the film is more about the way of life in Hollywood, and we get a feeling of loneliness and despair, it's evident that times have changed "since Clark Gable was alive"(..to quote Steckler from his commentary).
The film has a lot of footage showing Carolyn walking streets across Santa Monica Blvd(..and Las Vegas locations were used as well)and Agostino drinking beer in his house while also looking at newspapers featuring nude girls. There are also several shots of Brandt jogging on the beach, which I think were meant to show the opening of a new day for murder and death. The stranglings, for the most part, are pretty heinous, particularly Jean Roberts(..who was a major babe)who he drowns in a jacuzzi(..owned by Steckler, a pool nearby also his). One scene has Agostino strangling a girl with her scarf before suffocating her friend with a pillow. The knife murders are mostly suggestive. Shiny knife goes out of frame. We see the horrified look on the bum's face. Shiny knife has blood and we soon see the bum victims grabbing at their neck wounds, falling into a heap.
I think Steckler's work will be admired by a small niche audience, but I have a hard time believing something like The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher will engage a larger following. It's pace, even at an hour and change, can test those that have a lack of patience. This isn't as nutty as Steckler's other work and therefore might not grab the crowd who treasure his 60's stuff. Plenty of nude girls showing naked flesh before being disposed of in a not-so-flattering fashion. Agostino's strangler finds solace petting his pet pigeons. While Steckler provides Agostino's character with narration, and the female characters he meets with dialogue(..when we can not see their lips), Carolyn's thoughts are never exposed to us.