The Hollywood Strangler

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Audience Member The full title of this film is actually The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher, but Rotten Tomatoes shortened it for some reason. The plot centers around two characters: Johnathan Click (Pierre Agostino) who poses as an amateur photographer taking "adult" pictures of women that he strangles during their shoots, and the unnamed female proprietor of an adult bookstore (Carolyn Brandt) who murders winos with a switchblade. Taking on a more serious tone than his other films, this is director Ray Dennis Steckler's sort of attempt at legitimate drama. Telling the story through spare voice overs and narration allows the visualization of gritty 1970's Hollywood to remain front and center. The violence is still hokey, the dialogue is still goofy (particularly during the photo shoots), and the staring contests between the two main characters aren't so much dramatic as really strange, but the oddly melancholy mood and overall restraint showed by Steckler work in the film's favor. To call it a masterpiece of minimal underground cinema may be a bridge too far, but The Hollywood Strangler is evidence of Steckler's real filmmaking talent and the direction his career could have taken. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Hollywood Strangler

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