The Strangler

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Ted B 3.0 stars; This movie was released in 1964 during the era of the Boston Strangler murders. I'm sure it thrilled and frightened audiences in those times, but not so much today. The film "Psycho" has raised the bar so high that it's hard to exceed those thrills and chills. Victor Buono did a very good job portraying the psychotic schizophrenic strangler. Ellen Colby did a fine job portraying the possessive mother who socially suffocated her son to the point that it drove him mad. As was pointed out in one of the audience reviews, psychology played a bigger role during police investigations in movies during that period. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/31/24 Full Review Dave S When you consider the fact that Burt Topper was best known for directing and/or producing low-budget B-movies for American International, 1964’s The Strangler, directed by Topper, comes as a pleasant surprise. Victor Buono plays the role of Leo Kroll, a medical lab technician with a Norman Bates-like penchant for killing. Living under the thumb of an oppressive mother (sound familiar?), the police begin to consider him a suspect when nurses begin being targeted by a serial killer. While it clearly pales in comparison to Psycho, it is a surprisingly effective thriller, buoyed by some decent production values, a solid performance from Buono, and some genuine suspense. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/27/24 Full Review Mike M Just discovered this rarely shown gem from the past. It belongs to the period when psychology was at the forefront of detective murder stories, and it clearly owes a debt to Hitchcock's Psycho. The mother/son relationship is really rather chilling and very convincing. The detective parts of the story are straight from film noir - black and white, moody, much dashing about in cars, running up and down stairs in apartment blocks, and lots of scenes with semi-naked women in underwear and stockings. The stockings are fetishized - the film relishes scenes where the characters take them off and then they get used as murder weapons. Lastly, but not least, the film revels in the voyeurism of close-up strangulation. Not a perfect film by any means, but still a neglected classic. Summary: Not sure how I missed this for so many years Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 07/26/23 Full Review deke p saw 1st time on tv3-2020. Cheaply made. And the women were odd, by todays standards. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Oddball, but enjoyable low-budget horror film features Victor Bruno as an overweight, insecure lab technician with an overbearing mother, which somehow drives him to become a serial killer, strangling nurses at the hospital where he works. "The Strangler" capitalized on Bruno's Oscar nominated performance in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" and although this clearly a lesser film, it does have a low rent William Castle type of charm. Bruno carries the film, giving a creepy performance as an unassuming killer along the lines of David Berkowitz or John Wayne Gacy, far removed from the usual more flamboyant of serial killers presented on films (i.e. Hannibal Lecter, Patrick Bateman in "American Psycho," Harry Powell in "Night of the Hunter", etc.). Overall, it's not a classic and is not for all tastes, but if you're in the mood for something along the lines of "Strait-Jacket" or "Homicidal," you'd probably enjoy this low budget chiller. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Victor Buono - what a tragedy he didn't live another decade or two!! And Ellen Corby is such a delight in all her roles. Yes this is a quickie production which was churned out in only a few months, but somehow the many aspects of the film came together under fine direction to make this psychological study well worth watching. Granted some of the characterizations are a bit "textbook psychosis", but that was perhaps a level that audiences best able to relate to the subject matter at the time. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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