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      The Strangler

      1964 1h 29m Mystery & Thriller List
      Reviews 57% Audience Score Fewer than 50 Ratings Released at the height of the Boston Strangler killings, this film revolves around lonely and disturbed hospital lab worker Leo Kroll (Victor Buono). Though he's a meek technician while at work, he leads a double life as a deranged killer of young women -- particularly nurses. But a chance meeting with Tally (Davey Davison), a young lady who works at an amusement park, influences him for the better, curbing his homicidal impulses and restoring for him some semblance of a normal life. Read More Read Less

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      Critics Reviews

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      Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews It's a modest lurid pic, that gets off on young attractive women strangled to death in their undies by a madman. Rated: B May 15, 2013 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      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 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 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 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 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Boy,That Victor Buono can really squeeze a neck--Entertaining and different!! Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Not too bad for an older movie. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      The Strangler

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis Released at the height of the Boston Strangler killings, this film revolves around lonely and disturbed hospital lab worker Leo Kroll (Victor Buono). Though he's a meek technician while at work, he leads a double life as a deranged killer of young women -- particularly nurses. But a chance meeting with Tally (Davey Davison), a young lady who works at an amusement park, influences him for the better, curbing his homicidal impulses and restoring for him some semblance of a normal life.
      Director
      Burt Topper
      Screenwriter
      Bill S. Ballinger
      Production Co
      Allied Artists Pictures Corporation
      Genre
      Mystery & Thriller
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Sep 9, 2016
      Runtime
      1h 29m
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