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
|
