The Hillside Strangler

I suppose it's a bit trendy to do so, but Tartan films certainly does take advantage of the direct to DVD/late night cable market. The books recounting the ill deeds of Gein, Dahmer, Gacy and Buono/Bianchi are well documented. Cram as much shock into 90 minutes as possible and if you can effectively capture the pathos and motivation of these grandiose sickos all the better. I love a challenging film, one that leaves me a bit mentally drained without long-term ill effects.

I'd say this is one of the better ones, due mostly to the benefit of having two protagonists with anti-social manias to capture instead of one. And the casting of fairly well known actors doesn't hurt either, although the roles actually could have been reversed physically speaking. What I remember from the book's photos is that Bianchi was much more vital and really did look like a cop, not the skinny smarmy John Watersy used car salesman-y figure Howell presents. And Angelo Buono was tall and lean and the book described him as incredibly fastidious and anal, whereas Turturro is a bit too cliché Italian. Either way, the formula works and I think their chemistry is still effective.

This is definitely the hardest of this series of movies by the producers. The language, the real-time realism, the fear of the victims are all very palpable.

This film turned out to be much more than I thought that it was going to be, most notably, it was extremely disturbing and at times I found myself not able to watch - particularly the rapes and deaths of the poor women. The Hillside Strangler(s) played their roles well, both utterly convincing and rather frightening. Allison Lange was fantastic as the long-suffering Claire. I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone who is faint-hearted. It was a good film, but so disturbing. There was plenty of nudity, offensive language, drug use and violence splashed throughout the movie, but the treatment of the women was so shocking. For that reason, I cannot give this film a rating.

This movie is not for the faint of heart. These two men were sadistic, woman hating thugs but it transcends the genre by presenting them as human and bad, not as stereotypical Hollywood killing machines or some victim of uncontrollable compulsions. It was certainly better than earlier flicks that only hinted at their lifestyle. C.T. Howell's Ken Bianchi is a little overdone but he does a good job as portraying him as a liar, geek, sadist, weakling and a con man with a smidgen of humanity. Nick Turturro stole the show with his over-the-top Angelo Buono who was a real goon in the Soprano style of "lovable" Italian sadists. The movie takes a slap at Italian macho man culture but in the case of these two goons, it isn't offensive or unwarranted. Even before they slapped their first women, you got to really dislike them as Nick took his weaker cousin on a journey through the tawdry sexual night life of LA. The way they duped the small town girls with their phony modeling agency spiel then forced them to be whores was a good warm up to their later murder spree. Good late night flick, but definitely not for your date or the sensitive type!

Well, not bad but by no means not great. What is missing from this telling of The Hillside Strangler story is what is usually important to making a good serial killer movie: "police involvement". The fact that what really stumped the LAPD for so long is that they didn't know they were looking for two people was key in the real-life story and not even mentioned here. Also the film makers failed to really show (only in some quick snippets) just how sick and twisted these two were and some of the really gruesome things they did to their victims. I'm not saying it needed to be shown but it should have been at least mentioned. But there again that would call for police involvement. That being said I would mention that C. Thomas Howell turns in a pretty good performance here. With his gaunt appearance, silly thin mustache and pathetic shleprock mannerisms he gives his character, he almost channels the spirit of an icky Willem Dafoe performance. Almost. I'll be kind and give this a C-.

"Hillside Strangler" tries to given a realistic portray of two cousins who became one of the most notorious mass murder duo ever. First up, the actors were quite good - in C. Thomas Howells' case, it's hard to recognize him when keeping his teenage roles from the 80s in mind. But as far as acting goes, he obviously improved. Lots of good looking girls share the scenes, but when the viewer is shown were it all leads to (as if we didn't already suggest from the title), the more disturbing the story becomes. Not only do Kenneth and Angelo rape, torture and kill these girls on the screen - they did it in reality. What we see is, of course, an "alternate version" to the real world, but still one that sticks to the actual events quite closely. Even though many people may feel uneasy when watching both the explicit sexual scenes and the even more graphic murder moments, it seems that some gruesome details have even been left out. Other parts, such as a female writer who fell in love with Kenneth while he already in prison and who tried to commit another murder in order to install arguments for him being innocent, have been changed, though not entirely made up - that woman really existed (and seemingly, still does exist in some jail). In total, the movie gives a very realistic insight in the late 70s Californian suburban atmosphere and it's darker sides, with the Hillside Stranglers minds being the pinnacle of darkness.