THE HOLLYWOOD STRANGLER MEETS THE SKID ROW SLASHER (1979) Directed by Wolfgang Schmidt (Ray Dennis Steckler)
Media Blasters/Guilty Pleasures DVD
THE FILM
As a fly on the wall peek into the seedier side of late 70s Hollywood, The Hollywood Strangler Meets The Skid Row Slasher remains somewhat captivating. As an actual film, it’s utterly pointless. Just keep on walking past “Le Sex Shoppe” and try not to get too depressed.
With the backdrop of Santa Monica Boulevard, a nameless photographer calls up escort girls, shoots a few topless lingerie photos, then strangles the babes in long, drawn out sequences. He’s the Hollywood Strangler and he likes to whisper “Die garbage!” in reverbed narration while he’s doing the deed. Afterwards, he fondles pet pigeons. The girls are compared to someone “pure” named Marsha, but we never learn why. Consequently, drunken hobos with paperbag liqour cabinets are being picked off in artsy gore fashion by a whispy woman (Caroline Brandt). She’s the Skid Row Slasher and she likes to take jogs on the beach after putting away her switchblade. The Strangler visits a bizarre S&M rollerskate sex club with some of the grossest boobs I’ve ever laid eyes on. Several scenes of everyday happenings repeat endlessly (drinking in the basement, opening up the bookstore). Our two leads cross paths in the Slasher’s bookstore a couple of times, finally meet up, and face off to the death. Finis.
Regardless of the subject matter, you can usually bank on two successes in a Ray Dennis Steckler film: excellent cinematography and effective editing. Everything from Wild Guitar to Rat Pfink A Boo Boo looks unique. That’s quite a feat, given the norm of his nonexistent budgets. While Hollywood is no different in that respect, the allure of style can only go so far without a stitch of substance. This is a 62 minute day-to-day diary of psycho voyerism, ultra slimy in its locales and pointless in its motivations. The film was billed as some kind of demented love story. There’s absolutely nothing on screen that can lead us to believe that, save for the Strangler’s cryptic mumblings. Instead, we get a series of non-plotted events stuck on repeat, an obvious negative slant towards women (both verbal and literal; we never hear the male victims being referred to as “another piece of garbage”), and lots of docu-styled footage of XXX theaters and shops. Since the film was shot silent, there’s a heavy reliance on bouts of stupid narration, which only weakens the build up of gritty momentum.
At the end of an hour that felt like three, I was left bored and bummed out. This is a bleak entry into the slasher/serial killer field, filmed with flare, but lacking in just about everything else. The seedy footage of a pre-90s, cleaned up Hollywood was intriguing, but I won’t be back for a return visit.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
Like the other films in Media Blasters’s Steckler collection, Hollywood looks really nice. The widescreen print is nearly perfect in its presentation, with bulging colors and zero imperfections. A couple of scratches show up here and there, but that’s barely noticeable. The mono sound follows suit. Despite the great looking print, there’s a slight hiccup that’s worth mentioning. Due to some kind of authoring flub, the DVD inexplicably cuts out a section at 49 minutes. While this is only apparent to owners of the film on its original VHS format (humorously, the movie plays fine without that chunk), it’s still a crummy mistake. Semi-related, the menus on this disc are nearly impossible to navigate.
EXTRAS
There’s a 9 minute interview with Ray Dennis Steckler, which features a few clips from the film mixed in with his remarks. He offers up some interesting comments related to the film (“It plays better with the sound off”), but mostly discusses his attitudes towards filmmaking. Next is a 9 minute interview with actress Carolyn Brandt. She answers questions from an off-camera Steckler and covers the beginnings of her career, meeting ex-husband Ray, and almost touches on their divorce. Very down to earth. Four trailers (actually, just clips with fake title screens) for other Media Blasters releases are also included.
Now for the commentaries. First up is the quirky Mr. Steckler. I admire Steckler as a filmmaker, but I’m not going to beat around the bush. This is one of the top five most tedious commentary tracks I’ve ever heard. Mostly a jumbled mess of self-congrats and literal descriptions of on screen action (“He’s closing the door now...going to lock it...oh, there he goes, pushing in the lock!”), it was really hard to make it through this one. Ray does a great job of naming all of the actors, but offers up next to nothing regarding the ins-and-outs of the film. Watch the interview and skip the commentary.
Let’s have a hand for author/genre brainiac Joe Bob Briggs; he contributes some much needed personality to this release. Joe Bob’s commentary offers up tons of facts (Steckler’s 70s porn career), hilarious annecdotes, and a really knowledgable contextual insight into this film’s production. The track is tight and always enjoyable, filled with facts that I was curious about. Mr. Briggs seems to know more about Steckler’s film than the director himself. Joe Bob also provides a five minute video introduction to the film.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Shorn of the spazzy fun of Ray Dennis Steckler’s 60s output, Hollywood is bitter and bleak, but not in a good way. If you must see all of Steckler’s films (like me), no review is going to stop you. In this case though, a rental is the only way to go.
— Joseph A. Ziemba, 04.13.05 | 
The Strangler
The Slasher
Out in the street
It gets pretty thick in tinseltown
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