The Night of the Strangler

When college student Denise (Susan McCullough) announces to her brothers that she's dropping out of school to get married, oh and she's also pregnant, oh and the husband-to-be is black, their reactions are somewhat different. Younger sensitive brother Vance (Mickey Dolenz) is shocked yet supportive, while older brother Dan (James Ralston) is enraged, spewing out virulent racist comments between swings of his fists. After Denise's fiancee is shot by an assassin, a whole series of murders begin to occur, leaving the police baffled. Maybe recently returned priest Father Jessie (Chuck Patterson) can put an end to it.

Former Monkee Mickey Dolenz will be the main draw for curious viewers these days, but I warn them: this very low budget effort is a chore to sit through. The acting is bad, the script is worse, and the filmmaking comes in dead last. The film seems to want to shine a light on the destructive power of racism, but it's done in such a stupid, incoherent manner as to minimize any messaging that was intended. That would be perfectly fine if either the mystery or thriller elements were well handled, but they're not. The mystery's resolution is dumb and a cheat, while the suspense is non-existent, since you don't care if these people live or die. I've seen this movie listed in horror books over the years, but it's not a horror film at all, so don't expect one. Oh, and no one is strangled, either.

I was always kind of curious to see this 70s horror thriller with Micky Dolenz from The Monkees top-billed. Well, it's more bad thriller than horror, and Dolenz is the worst actor in the cast-which is saying something. "Strangler" has plenty of other problems, too, perhaps the least among them being that nobody gets strangled. It's a murder mystery set in the South, yet none of the characters who are supposed natives has a regional accent-not even the bad guy who talks about Black people and those damn "Yankees" like he's in "Mandingo."

That guy is Dan (James Ralston), the supercilious terror of a wealthy family who's stolen his fiance from his brother (Dolenz), and unleashes both the racist invective and the slapping machine when he finds out their sister (Susan McCulloch) is pregnant by an African-American boyfriend she plans to marry. Soon those last two people have been murdered, and the trail of corpses keeps extending because rageaholic Dan, who ordered at least one of them killed, neglects to pay his hired-assassin bill. So eventually various people are killing various other people.

In mood and (lack of) style more like a bad low-budget 70s cop thriller than a horror movie, "Strangler" (which had a lot of other titles before they settled on this utterly irrelevant one) lacks atmosphere, tension, and even the zest to make much of its fairly lurid plotline. Indeed, the bad-movie fun we should be having is further dampened by the film's linguistically dated anti-racism message, which feels pasted-on for a long time, then turns out to be the labored whole point here.

To put it kindly, this isn't a good or serious enough movie to pull off that kind of moral lecturing. In the end, "Night of the Strangler" doesn't prove anything more than that earnest but misplaced good intentions can kill whatever enjoyment is to be had from a cheesy movie. Well, and also that the over-the-top mugging that made Micky Dolenz a good Monkee makes him a very bad dramatic actor.

"Night of the Strangler" obviously isn't the type of movie to win prizes, but I would like to hand out one special kind of award, though, and that is the prize for the film with the most inaccurate and misleading title ever! Admittedly it sounds cool, as well as appealing to horror fanatics, but not a word of the title makes any sense. Night? The events in the film take place in a span of more than a year! Strangler? There's shooting, drowning, death by venomous snake bite, stabbing and a bizarre sort of arrow-shooting device, but not a strangulation in sight! If I had to give an apt title, it would probably be something like: "The random slaughter of a whole bunch of innocent people". Come to think of it, that actually sounds awesome!

Enough with the ranting already, because I honestly enjoyed this obscure and extremely low-budgeted horror/thriller quite a lot! The plot is very original, truly unseen, and - with a healthy dose of imagination - can even be considered as a Blaxploitation effort! Set in New Orleans, homestead of director Joy N. Houck Jr. And one of the most beautiful cities in the world (at least according to yours truly), the film starts with a rich white girl announcing her engagement with a black man to her two brothers. The oldest brother, Dan, is a filthy racist pig and threatens to kill both her and her boyfriend. The younger brother Vance tries to defend his sister, but without much success. Shortly after, the black fiancé is shot dead by a sniper in New York. A year later, and back in New Orleans, the girl - Denise - is drowned in her bath by a vicious killer dressed in black, but he makes it look like suicide. From then onwards, "Night of the Strangler" turns into a bizarrely compelling and unusual type of slasher/murder mystery. While the black town's priest attempts to make peace between the estranged brothers Dan and Vance, a number of vicious murders plagues the community.

What makes this movie so harsh, and simultaneously so intriguing, is that the murder victims are all innocent and very sympathetic people, while the loathsome ones remain alive! Vance (played by none other than Mickey Dolenz of the pop band "The Monkees") is a jealous and aggressive guy, and Dan is the most hateful and disgusting racist thug I've ever seen. But they remain standing, whereas all the friendly characters die painful and cruel deaths. The identity of the killer can be guessed, if you are an experienced slasher-fanatic, but the mystery around his/her persona and motivations are elaborated quite effectively, I must say. The pacing is occasionally sluggish, but the film never gets boring. Definitely recommended.

The biggest reason I had for wanting to see this film is the fact that it stars Micky Dolenz of the Monkees. As anyone could tell by watching it, Night of the Strangler is pretty low-budget but has a good (and, for 1972, very controversial) plot. It centers around a white girl who falls in love with and gets pregnant by a black man. When the two are mysteriously killed, the investigation focuses on the girl's two brothers, Vance, who is kind and was supportive of his sister, and Dan, an arrogant racist who would rather have seen his sister have an abortion than have a black man's baby. A black priest who tries to console the two brothers throughout the film also adds to the increasingly obvious tension. Sort of a "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" meets "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane." A really good film if you're lucky enough to find at your local video store.

The Night of the Strangler (1972)

** (out of 4)

A woman starts off a wave of murders when she returns home to announce that she's getting married. Her older brother Dan (James Ralston) isn't too happy but he goes balistic when he learns that she's also pregnant with a black man's baby. Soon her baby daddy is dead and the sister is too shortly after. Soon the entire family gets wrapped up in a murder plot.

THE NIGHT OF THE STRANGLER was sold as a horror movie but it's really not one. I guess you could say it was an attempt to tell a detective story based around some racial events but THE BIG SLEEP or GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER it's not. For the most part this will appeal to fans of low-budget films that were made without too much thought, money or talent.

I guess the most notable thing about the picture is that Micky Dolenz plays the younger brother. His performance is certainly lacking and especially during a crying scene he has. Ralston is at least entertaining enough and especially early on with some of his racist rants. The rest of the cast ranges from decent to poor. There's some mild nudity and violence thrown in but nothing overly memorable.

THE NIGHT OF THE STRANGLER somewhat works as the mystery of who is doing the killings is handle well. There are a couple nice scenes but most just fall rather flat.