Hillside Strangler, The movie review

INFO | REVIEWS(S) | PHOTOS (7) | NEWS | DVDS (1) | VIDEOS

Original Title : The Hillside Strangler

Directed by Chuck Parello

Written by Stephen Johnston, Chuck Parello

With C. Thomas Howell, Nicholas Turturro, Allison Lange, Lin Shea

Year : 2004

Country : USA

Length : 97 min

Rating : 6 / 10

SYNOPSIS

After not being hired by the police, Ken Bianchi decides, with the advice of his adoptive mother, to go to Los Angeles and visit his cousin Angelo. Then would follow a life full of violence and debauchery which would soon end up in the murder of a prostitute...

REVIEW

First, I have to precise that this movie was made out of true facts about the serial killer of the 70's who seems really well known in the United States.
It's really about the daily life of these murderers who kill as a team and as a “family”. The general rhythm of the feature is then a bit slow, above all in the beginning and tends to have difficulties to accelerate.

We really well feel the filthy and crazy atmosphere of the 70's with all the sex, the drugs etc... The characters of Ken and Angelo fit very well in the aspect of the city and decide to get into the prostitute business. After being taken to task by the mafia, they want their revenge out of the indicator.

In the cast, we can find more than convincing actors such as C Thomas Howell ("E.T.", "THE HITCHER", "THE OUTSIDERS") who have the main part and Nicholas Torturro who already made a good performance in "HELLRAISER 5 : INFERNO".
We feel the duality in Ken's character who doesn't only succeeds in keeping a job but also a girlfriend while committing these murders and having a visible fun doing it.
The character of Angelo is a lot darker, very much into sex and being naturally violent, he has all the predispositions for the “job”.

The murder scenes are always shot in slow motion, which underlines not only the killing madness but also the agony of the victims. Just like in "MANIAC", they justify their acts telling that it's normal, that they got what they deserved because they were prostitutes. The movie also reminds of the Henry Lee Lucas / Otis O'Toole tandem in "HENRY, PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER".
All is really loyal to the real facts. There's a deliberate will to show the facts like they're supposed to have happened.
Published on 2005-10-20

Name / Pseudo :
Email :
Website :
Comment :
2 + 3 = ?