The Hillside Strangler (2004) is a biopic of the serial killers in LA known as the hillside strangler, Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono. It comes from writer/director Chuck Parello, who also brought us Ed Gein and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Part 2. It is his style to remain pretty close to the real incidents, while trying to somewhat lightened the story with black humor, and inject some ideas as to what made the characters become serial killers. He relies on the enormity of the events to provide the punch in his films.

My take on this one is basically the same on his other two serial killer efforts. Victims are introduced then promptly dispatched without allowing me time to develop any emotional attachment. A narrative style more like airplane disaster films, where we meet the victims and learn about them long before the killers do might solve that problem. These films are a reasonable historical reenactment, but as they are relating a history I remember well, there is little educational value for me. IN short, I just don't find them at all engaging.

We have nudity from 4 actresses, two of them victims, one forced into hooking, and the fourth in a live sex show, then having sex with Buono. Kyle Rachel, as the live sex performer, shows breasts and buns, as do Jessica Allegra as the hooker and Natasha Melnick. Brandin Rackley gives a three B performance. 25 IMDb voters have it at 5.3. The BBCi calls the films misogynistic and awards one star. Bianchi and Buono were misogynistic, but the film doesn't glorify their attitudes or actions, and hence is pro woman, so the criticism is unfounded. On the other hand, it is a seedy trip into rape, murder, very nasty treatment of women. One must wonder what, if anything, this journey accomplishes for viewers. The film must have merit for those who are fascinated by this particular form of deviance. There is nothing technically wrong with he film, and it was a fair portrayal of the facts. So, as a serial killer biopic, it is a C+. My only question is, is this a good reason to make, or to watch a film.

OTHER CRAP:

Other Crap archives. May also include newer material than the ones above, since it's sorta in real time.

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MOVIE REVIEWS:

Words from Scoop.

.avi's from Shiloh.

.wmv files made by Scoop from Shiloh's .avi's.

NOTE: because of a unique combination of circumstances with the Windows media player and some substantial bandwidth theft, we will have to do all of our movie files in zip format. Left click on the files as you normally would to view a picture. When you get a choice, click on "save", and put it on your hard drive in the directory of your choice. UnZIP and play from there.

I know this is not especially convenient, but it allows the film clips to continue. I can protect .zip files from hot-linking in the same way I can protect still images. For some reason, if I protect .avis and .wmvs from hot-linking, they will not play in the Windows media player, and I can't get a satisfactory work-around. Perhaps I will find a better solution, but for now this new policy allows you to continue getting the movie clips you want to see, which is much preferable to my abandoning the clips altogether.

Perhaps these tips will help if you have trouble with the codecs for these movies:

Shiloh says:

FYI when I hypercam vids to make the file size smaller I use DivX MPEG-4 Fast-Motion for the video compressor, then I use virtualdub to compress the audio. The properties for the vids says the video codec:  DivX Decoder Filter & audio codec:  Morgan Stream Switcher which I'm not familiar with. When I compress the audio with virtualdub I use MPEG Layer-3.  A friend of mine told me about compressing the audio about (6) mos. ago. Like I said previously, only been capping for a year & a half & I'm no expert. Hopefully this info will help members with the proper codecs for my vids.

 

When I cap big brother's I use hypercam mostly & sdp & asfrecorder if the set up allows me. I stopped using camtasia cause the file sizes were always too big, could never figure out the process, over my head lol, plus it cost too much to buy in my opinion.

A reader says:

You mentioned that some users were having trouble with the videos on your site. There is a tool designed to determine what codec is needed for a video. http://www.headbands.com/gspot/ Hope this is useful to you or your users.

Scoop says:

I made the .wmv versions of each video. The codecs for these: Windows Video V8, Windows Audio 9. The upside of these is that you know the codecs, and they'll play in the Windows Media Player. The downside is that they are slightly larger, and slightly lower quality.

Words, pictures, and vids from ICMS
 

A few more clips from Club Wild Side 2-

Brande Roderick plays a stripper. The kind of stripper we all dream of. She not only shows off the goodies, she does the nasty... on stage. With that in mind you have to figure the folks who made this movie watched Pretty Woman way too many times. Their basic message is that to be a worker in the sex industry is just another career choice. Anyway, the clips come from one of three on-stage scenes. With Zorro.

• Brande Roderick zipped divx .avis (1, 2, 3)

And here's a couple of clips with Ahmo Hight. She also plays a stripper-humper at Club Wild Side...where anyone can walk in and the place never gets raided. In L.A., not Amsterdam.

• Ahmo Hight. zipped divx .avis (1, 2)

First up from the Ghost today....'caps and vids from the UK movie "The Wicked Lady" (1983), starring several big name actors including: Faye Dunaway, Alan Bates, John Gielgud and Denholm Elliott.

However, the really important thing about this movie is that it also stars Star Trek TNG's Marina Sirtis topless in one of her very first roles.

• Elaine Ashley and Louise English, both topless. English is the more famous of these two for appearing on "The Benny Hill Show" from 1978-1986.
• Elaine Ashley and Louise English zipped .wmv

• Glynis Barber bares breasts and bum and gets felt up a bit in a slow and lame sex scene. (1, 2)
• Glynis Barber zipped .wmvs. In #2 we also see a brief flash of the third B. (1, 2)

• Lisa Mulidore, another Benny Hill Babe. She bares all 3 B's while running nekkid through the village. (1, 2)
• zipped .wmv

• Marina Sirtis topless in all 3. (1, 2, 3)
• Marina Sirtis zipped .wmvs. In #1 we also see far off full frontal nudity. In links 2 and 3 she is topless while having a bull whip fight with Mommie Dearest. (1, 2, 3)

• A couple of topless unknowns
• Unknowns, zipped .wmv

Christina Ricci

Theron and Ricci
(1, 2)

COKE AND PEPSI USED AS PESTICIDE
Dr. Pepper Is The Bug Dr. Kevorkian - Farmers in Chhattisgarh, India, have hit upon an alternative to pesticides: Coke and Pepsi. They say the colas cost one-tenth as much and are just as effective. Agricultural scientists say the carbohydrates and sugar boost the plants' immunity to pests. Not surprisingly, local bottlers disagree that their product is a pesticide. They say the sugar just attracts ants that eat the other insects.