I just saw this on TCM this morning. I agree that the other actors were quite wooden and some of the things the police overlooked (or the scriptwriter conveniently left out) were ridiculous, but Victor Buono was perfect as the killer and that is the reason to watch this film. They got much right about serial killers and their MO and "type" and Buono's ability to move from tenderness to arrogance and hatred creepiness and craziness - all with his face - was quite a thing to see. Just watch it for his portrayal. Ellen Corby as the harridan of a mother is quite fine too. The women who worked at the arcade were a bit dense, though I was glad to see the mother's nurse and the woman who worked with Buono in the lab were not. The movie is of its time, but Victor Buono is so good in this, it shouldn't be discounted.
40 Reviews
The nurse strangler
TheLittleSongbird15 October 2018
Was very intrigued by the story for 'The Strangler', being a fan of murder/mystery/psychological films this was the sort of story that would have appealed to me straightaway, and have liked Victor Buono in other things. The racy content that 'The Strangler' has been referred to as having was another interest point.
'The Strangler' turned out to be a nicely done, entertaining and intriguing film that does much more right than it does wrong. Not great or a masterpiece but well above average and worth a watch, would say too that it deserves more attention than it gets. It is very rarely seen now and it deserves better than that.
It does lack finesse visually, with it looking like it was made hastily. Occasionally the pace creaks in spots.
Other than Victor Buono and Ellen Corby, the rest of the cast don't really stand out, not because they're awful but their characters are nowhere near as interesting. Would have liked a slightly clearer motivation for what drove Kroll to target nurses perhaps and why he chose the methods.
Buono however is the main reason to see 'The Strangler'. He clearly has a ball here and while he is often chilling Buono succeeds in making Kroll more than that and gives him a sympathetic edge. Corby is suitably beastly as the dominating mother figure. The direction is more than capable and much of the script is taut and thought-provoking. The music is haunting without being intrusive.
From start to finish, the story is compelling with lots of suspense, especially in the build ups to the killings, and it is hard to not admire the film's raciness in its unconventionally (at the time) brutal tone, that provides some genuine unsettlement, and the ahead of its time content. The pace is mostly both controlled and tight and the investigative/procedural approaches are fascinating.
On the whole, well done. 7/10 Bethany Cox
'The Strangler' turned out to be a nicely done, entertaining and intriguing film that does much more right than it does wrong. Not great or a masterpiece but well above average and worth a watch, would say too that it deserves more attention than it gets. It is very rarely seen now and it deserves better than that.
It does lack finesse visually, with it looking like it was made hastily. Occasionally the pace creaks in spots.
Other than Victor Buono and Ellen Corby, the rest of the cast don't really stand out, not because they're awful but their characters are nowhere near as interesting. Would have liked a slightly clearer motivation for what drove Kroll to target nurses perhaps and why he chose the methods.
Buono however is the main reason to see 'The Strangler'. He clearly has a ball here and while he is often chilling Buono succeeds in making Kroll more than that and gives him a sympathetic edge. Corby is suitably beastly as the dominating mother figure. The direction is more than capable and much of the script is taut and thought-provoking. The music is haunting without being intrusive.
From start to finish, the story is compelling with lots of suspense, especially in the build ups to the killings, and it is hard to not admire the film's raciness in its unconventionally (at the time) brutal tone, that provides some genuine unsettlement, and the ahead of its time content. The pace is mostly both controlled and tight and the investigative/procedural approaches are fascinating.
On the whole, well done. 7/10 Bethany Cox
Chintzy and creaky in spots, but eerily realistic and unsettling.
guanche10 April 2002
Warning: Spoilers
Victor Buono is an overaged momma's boy whose hypochondriac "mom" later became Grandma Walton. Buono is quite interested in women but momma never hesitates to remind him that he's too fat, boring and poor to gain any woman's interest. He therefore, rather predictably, reacts by strangling women who conveniently strip down to their skivvies before the event. Eventually he meets a girl he truly cares for, which turns out to be the downfall of both he and his mother.
It's hard to rate this movie. The strangulation scenes are not overly graphic but the sexual aspect and the killer's apparent gratification in that regard were pretty risqué for the time. While the direction and production are cheap and at times poorly done, this seems to give the film an oddly realistic, almost documentary style that contributes to its disturbing qualities. Too undeveloped to be a first class thriller yet not quite dumb enough to be funny, it's still an interesting film that's sick enough to upset the sensitive.
It's hard to rate this movie. The strangulation scenes are not overly graphic but the sexual aspect and the killer's apparent gratification in that regard were pretty risqué for the time. While the direction and production are cheap and at times poorly done, this seems to give the film an oddly realistic, almost documentary style that contributes to its disturbing qualities. Too undeveloped to be a first class thriller yet not quite dumb enough to be funny, it's still an interesting film that's sick enough to upset the sensitive.
Buono Showcase
dougdoepke12 May 2013
It's a Buono showcase. His restrained portrait of an unattractive, mother-hating serial killer is a grabber. No wonder he loathes his bed-ridden mom. Obviously, she's brow-beaten him his whole life, taking what little self-esteem he ever had. Now, at thirty, he lumbers around like a fat rhino among sleek gazelles, picking off single women one-by-one and leaving cheap arcade dolls in their place. Somehow in his twisted mind, however, she won't stay dead. No matter how many times he kills her, there she is back again in her bed, making whining demands. He's almost a figure of pity as much as loathing, and it's to actor Buono's credit that he manages to create the difficult mix.
I like the cops here, especially Sgt. Clyde (Barron). They come across more like real cops than the usual. At the same time, their interviews with suspect Kroll (Buono) are little gems of thrust and parry. Director Topper films in straightforward fashion, without the sinister lighting that might be expected, but with good judicious use of close-up. This is not a slasher-type movie. In fact, despite the lurid material, the movie comes across more like a dark psychological study than a horror film, thanks mainly to Buono's shrewdly calculated performance and Topper's refusal to play up the violence.
I like the cops here, especially Sgt. Clyde (Barron). They come across more like real cops than the usual. At the same time, their interviews with suspect Kroll (Buono) are little gems of thrust and parry. Director Topper films in straightforward fashion, without the sinister lighting that might be expected, but with good judicious use of close-up. This is not a slasher-type movie. In fact, despite the lurid material, the movie comes across more like a dark psychological study than a horror film, thanks mainly to Buono's shrewdly calculated performance and Topper's refusal to play up the violence.
Oddball but quite good low budget thriller about schlubby serial killer Victor Bruno
a_chinn29 April 2018
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.
Slick serial killer thriller with a great lead performance
Leofwine_draca1 January 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Victor Buono gives an excellent performance in what is otherwise a straightforward crime movie. In fact it's a safe bet to say that Buono's acting elevates this film as a whole and makes it worthwhile. As crime movies go, it pretty much plays by the book and doesn't offer up much in the way of surprises or shocks. Indeed, the format of the film is simple, a scene of stalking and murder followed by police investigation, repeated over and over.
The black and white photography is sharp and clear, so no problems there. The police investigation is kept interesting as we watch how the police work, piecing together their clues and the like, and gadgets like bugs and lie detectors are brought into play. The acting of the supporting cast is adequate as well, and the two women working in the ring booth are particularly sympathetic and believable. This is a fairly racy film for the time, as it shows each victim stripping off her clothes before the murder, and implies that Buono gets sexual gratification from the act, themes that would become more explicit as the years passed.
The real drawing point of this film is Buono's character, and his portrayal. Leo Kroll is a sympathetic murderer, whose psychology has been warped by a cruel, oppressive mother who has stopped him ever having any friends in his life (shades of PSYCHO here). He is unable to kill her directly, and so instead takes his anger out on the various women he murders. Of course, this is only part of it, as he's obviously a bit of a pervert too, so what we have is a pretty disturbed and complex guy. Buono's performance is an alternatively smug and twitchy one, and he does just the right job of being realistic, likable to the audience (his is the leading role, after all) and tragic in a way. There are no two ways about it, THE STRANGLER is nothing more than a low budget B-movie through and through. Yet Buono's acting and the professionalism of the film make it suitably entertaining and interesting in its own right.
The black and white photography is sharp and clear, so no problems there. The police investigation is kept interesting as we watch how the police work, piecing together their clues and the like, and gadgets like bugs and lie detectors are brought into play. The acting of the supporting cast is adequate as well, and the two women working in the ring booth are particularly sympathetic and believable. This is a fairly racy film for the time, as it shows each victim stripping off her clothes before the murder, and implies that Buono gets sexual gratification from the act, themes that would become more explicit as the years passed.
The real drawing point of this film is Buono's character, and his portrayal. Leo Kroll is a sympathetic murderer, whose psychology has been warped by a cruel, oppressive mother who has stopped him ever having any friends in his life (shades of PSYCHO here). He is unable to kill her directly, and so instead takes his anger out on the various women he murders. Of course, this is only part of it, as he's obviously a bit of a pervert too, so what we have is a pretty disturbed and complex guy. Buono's performance is an alternatively smug and twitchy one, and he does just the right job of being realistic, likable to the audience (his is the leading role, after all) and tragic in a way. There are no two ways about it, THE STRANGLER is nothing more than a low budget B-movie through and through. Yet Buono's acting and the professionalism of the film make it suitably entertaining and interesting in its own right.
Entertaining and different
planktonrules13 August 2011
Warning: Spoilers
In the 1960s and 70s, Victor Buono made a niche for himself playing crazy guys or playing in films with other crazy folks--much like Anthony Perkins did. This is the fourth such Buono film I've seen and I am sure he did more. And, believe it or not, his crazed strangler in "The Strangler" is not among his weirdest and sickest roles--in one film he played a butcher who made sausages out of his neighbors!!
"The Strangler" is a film obviously inspired by the Boston Strangler, though the stories are quite different in many ways. Buono plays a man who absolutely hates his mother. However, instead of killing her, he displaces his anger on innocent women--many of whom are nurses who take care of his horribly nasty mother (Ellen Corby) in a nursing home. Eventually, however, his crimes come back to haunt him in an exciting finale.
The film is amazingly blunt for a mid-1960s film. The movie uses the word 'rape' (a rarity for the time) and shows some brutal murders. Some might think this is a bit salacious but I appreciated how the story was direct and unflinching. About the only thing I did not like about the film was the doctor's description of schizophrenia--much of it was wrong--even for 1964. Still, it's a small complaint and another successful sicko film for Buono.
"The Strangler" is a film obviously inspired by the Boston Strangler, though the stories are quite different in many ways. Buono plays a man who absolutely hates his mother. However, instead of killing her, he displaces his anger on innocent women--many of whom are nurses who take care of his horribly nasty mother (Ellen Corby) in a nursing home. Eventually, however, his crimes come back to haunt him in an exciting finale.
The film is amazingly blunt for a mid-1960s film. The movie uses the word 'rape' (a rarity for the time) and shows some brutal murders. Some might think this is a bit salacious but I appreciated how the story was direct and unflinching. About the only thing I did not like about the film was the doctor's description of schizophrenia--much of it was wrong--even for 1964. Still, it's a small complaint and another successful sicko film for Buono.
Too-Real-Feel
LeonLouisRicci13 May 2013
Straightforward and with very few frills this one has almost a too-real-feel that makes it a rather disturbing Movie. The Acting and production look fine and it all unfolds at an even unsettling pace. The murders are quick but quintessentially quirky and there is very little restraint on the Sexual-Psycho aspect.
Keeping with the post Psycho (1960) theme that it's all Mother's fault, this is another Boy who was dominated and ridiculed from birth by his MaMa and that means trouble. This is quite heavy handed here even throwing in a significant Doll that says Mama, Mama. But most of the Psychological aspects and Police procedures are done with some attention to detail.
Overall, with a great performance from the rotund Victor Buono with his expressive face and brightly shining eyes, and some fine work by the production staff this is an above average entry in the popular Genre of Serial Killers that really got going in the 1960's.
Keeping with the post Psycho (1960) theme that it's all Mother's fault, this is another Boy who was dominated and ridiculed from birth by his MaMa and that means trouble. This is quite heavy handed here even throwing in a significant Doll that says Mama, Mama. But most of the Psychological aspects and Police procedures are done with some attention to detail.
Overall, with a great performance from the rotund Victor Buono with his expressive face and brightly shining eyes, and some fine work by the production staff this is an above average entry in the popular Genre of Serial Killers that really got going in the 1960's.
Excellent Psychological Thriller
Greatornot22 November 2009
This film was a pleasant surprise. I bought this on DVD with another film on same DVD because I liked the description, at a very fine price. I was not disappointed. Victor Buono of Batmans King Tut fame and Ellen Corby of Waltons fame were excellent as son and overbearing crippled mother. The scenes where Ellen Corby verbally abuses her son were as important to the film as the actual murders taking place. It truly does give the viewer somewhat of a sense as to why the killer turned out the way he did. I thought the police investigation and interrogation scenes were wonderful as well and truly stood the test of time to modern day film experiments such as Law and Order or CSI . The writers of this movie really did their homework to bring out an exceptional film in all facets, covering all bases. The film is timeless for the most part, except for smoking in the hospital. I thought that was strange lol. I surely recommend this film with an eerie soundtrack though very simple stage set. Victor Buono very underrated actor, probably because of his girth. Enjoy this film ASAP.
The dolls made him do it!
trouserpress15 February 2006
Warning: Spoilers
When I first discovered that this was an AMC Monsterfest release a shiver went down my spine. Not because of their commitment to supply us with scary films that chill the blood, but because my experience with AMC has been of terrible print quality, hissy sound and, well, that's bad enough. I was also nervous to discover that Victor Buono was playing a serial killer. I have only seen him in his Oscar nominated performance in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, where he seemed to be channelling Oliver Hardy. It was with some trepidation that I finally slipped the DVD in and turned down the lights.
My worst fears were confirmed right from the beginning. I'm grateful to AMC for making these films available to us at such a low price, but a little care in the transfer process wouldn't go amiss. The opening title sequence reveals it has been cropped on the sides, leaving you to guess what some of the words are supposed to be. However, once you get into the film itself this becomes less noticeable. But enough of my whining about the print, what about the movie? The Strangler is purported to be based on the case of the Boston Strangler (also the basis for a Tony Curtis movie of the same name), but how true to life it really is I couldn't say. Buono plays Leo Kroll, an overweight, single man who until recently lived with his overbearing invalid mother, played by Ellen Corby. She is now in a hospital, and berates and nags him every time he visits, reminding him that he is unattractive to women and only she can love him. It is this dominating, controlling mother that presumably led him down the path of serial strangling. He is a pleasant, unassuming lab assistant by day and a meticulous murderer by night, whose method involves strangling women with their own stockings. This conveniently means he has to wait until they've stripped down to their underwear before he moves in for the kill. It is here that the filmmakers reveal their true intentions, that titillation is the order of the day, rather than a revealing insight into the schizophrenic mind of the serial killer.
Much of the film time is spent following the police efforts to catch Kroll, who manages to elude them despite being interviewed twice as a suspect, once with a lie detector test. They also manage to miss him during a stakeout, as the police man takes an ill-timed coffee break. They also allow their chief witness, and potential next murder victim, to go home unprotected with Kroll still at large. You would not want this police force protecting you.
One of the most interesting story elements is Kroll's obsession with china dolls, which he collects and then strips after each murder. This is somehow used to signify Kroll's disturbed mind and his sexual thrill from killing these women, as the victims themselves are untouched. Unfortunately more is not made of this predilection, perhaps for fear by the director of presenting him as too perverted for audiences to relate to. We do pity Kroll, particularly when he visits his mother, and is rejected by the woman he loves/ has an unhealthy obsession with. We even view the murders through his eyes, making us complicit voyeurs in his nocturnal activities. It is as though we are meant to be on Kroll's side, and you do begin to feel concern for him that he might get caught if he's not careful.
So despite my initial misgivings and complaints about the print (yes it is over-scanned, scratched, and occasionally missing frames), I would have to recommend this film to those interested in low budget crime and thrillers. It is worth it just to ask the question "How does such a large man (and he really is) manage to break into women's apartments without being heard, or getting stuck?" The filmmakers use their low budget creatively to draw you in to the complex mind of Leo Kroll, and although there are shortcomings, particularly the convenient ending, it is definitely a good example of what can be done with a couple of cheap sets and a lot of imagination. Buono also puts in a great performance, demonstrating his immense capabilities as an actor that would also be put to use in such roles as King Tut in Batman and, er, Fat Man in Beneath the Planet of the Apes.
My worst fears were confirmed right from the beginning. I'm grateful to AMC for making these films available to us at such a low price, but a little care in the transfer process wouldn't go amiss. The opening title sequence reveals it has been cropped on the sides, leaving you to guess what some of the words are supposed to be. However, once you get into the film itself this becomes less noticeable. But enough of my whining about the print, what about the movie? The Strangler is purported to be based on the case of the Boston Strangler (also the basis for a Tony Curtis movie of the same name), but how true to life it really is I couldn't say. Buono plays Leo Kroll, an overweight, single man who until recently lived with his overbearing invalid mother, played by Ellen Corby. She is now in a hospital, and berates and nags him every time he visits, reminding him that he is unattractive to women and only she can love him. It is this dominating, controlling mother that presumably led him down the path of serial strangling. He is a pleasant, unassuming lab assistant by day and a meticulous murderer by night, whose method involves strangling women with their own stockings. This conveniently means he has to wait until they've stripped down to their underwear before he moves in for the kill. It is here that the filmmakers reveal their true intentions, that titillation is the order of the day, rather than a revealing insight into the schizophrenic mind of the serial killer.
Much of the film time is spent following the police efforts to catch Kroll, who manages to elude them despite being interviewed twice as a suspect, once with a lie detector test. They also manage to miss him during a stakeout, as the police man takes an ill-timed coffee break. They also allow their chief witness, and potential next murder victim, to go home unprotected with Kroll still at large. You would not want this police force protecting you.
One of the most interesting story elements is Kroll's obsession with china dolls, which he collects and then strips after each murder. This is somehow used to signify Kroll's disturbed mind and his sexual thrill from killing these women, as the victims themselves are untouched. Unfortunately more is not made of this predilection, perhaps for fear by the director of presenting him as too perverted for audiences to relate to. We do pity Kroll, particularly when he visits his mother, and is rejected by the woman he loves/ has an unhealthy obsession with. We even view the murders through his eyes, making us complicit voyeurs in his nocturnal activities. It is as though we are meant to be on Kroll's side, and you do begin to feel concern for him that he might get caught if he's not careful.
So despite my initial misgivings and complaints about the print (yes it is over-scanned, scratched, and occasionally missing frames), I would have to recommend this film to those interested in low budget crime and thrillers. It is worth it just to ask the question "How does such a large man (and he really is) manage to break into women's apartments without being heard, or getting stuck?" The filmmakers use their low budget creatively to draw you in to the complex mind of Leo Kroll, and although there are shortcomings, particularly the convenient ending, it is definitely a good example of what can be done with a couple of cheap sets and a lot of imagination. Buono also puts in a great performance, demonstrating his immense capabilities as an actor that would also be put to use in such roles as King Tut in Batman and, er, Fat Man in Beneath the Planet of the Apes.
Not exactly chilling...
JasparLamarCrabb13 May 2013
Warning: Spoilers
While not as psychologically insightful or as creepy as PSYCHO, this is still a fairly entertaining movie. Portly mamma's boy Victor Bouno can't stop himself from strangling women (in fact he soars into cosmic ecstasy when performing the deed). He finds himself smitten with pretty Davy Davison, who works at the local penny arcade. Director Burt Topper puts together an OK chiller that is frequently more silly than scary. Still, Buono excels in this type of role and Ellen Corby is pretty outrageous as his hard hearted mother. Diane Sayer is funny as one of Davison's opinionated coworkers. The script is by Bill Ballinger. The whole thing feels like a William Castle production but it's not.
Surprisingly Good
mercury422 April 2002
This movie is actually based on the Boston Strangler. There are many hints to it such as; women setting up bottles in front of their door so they can hear the strangler coming in, the stocking tied around the victim's neck and the fact that most of the women killed were nurses. At the time of the murders, they also believed the Boston Strangler was mother fixated, as Leo Kroll is in the movie. There are many things I like a lot better in this movie than The Boston Strangler with Tony Curtis. I love the plot, the score, and of course, the great acting by Victor Buono. Although it is hard to say whether Buono is better than Tony Curtis. You never really see Curtis strangling in his movie. You barely see Tony Curtis at all in The Boston Strangler. That's probably because no one is absolute certain that Alberto DeSalvo was the Strangler. The interesting thing about this movie is that the real Boston Strangler could've very well been a guy like the one in this movie.
After seeing this movie and a couple other movies of Buono, I think he is a great actor. The black and white cinematography is also very good. One thing that definitely sets the mood is the eerie music while Buono is hiding from his victims in the dark. There's even an incredible point of view shot through the Strangler's eye in the beginning. One thing that is very realistic is the fact that Buono gets pleasure while he is strangling, like a real serial killer. Buono also got me to sympathize with him in the movie. Even up until the very end. One of my favorite parts in the movie is when there is a sudden burst of violence when Buono strangles his mother's nurse. Especially great acting by Buono in that scene. At first I thought this would just be another B movie, but it wasn't. It was very well made. See this movie. You won't be disappointed.
After seeing this movie and a couple other movies of Buono, I think he is a great actor. The black and white cinematography is also very good. One thing that definitely sets the mood is the eerie music while Buono is hiding from his victims in the dark. There's even an incredible point of view shot through the Strangler's eye in the beginning. One thing that is very realistic is the fact that Buono gets pleasure while he is strangling, like a real serial killer. Buono also got me to sympathize with him in the movie. Even up until the very end. One of my favorite parts in the movie is when there is a sudden burst of violence when Buono strangles his mother's nurse. Especially great acting by Buono in that scene. At first I thought this would just be another B movie, but it wasn't. It was very well made. See this movie. You won't be disappointed.
Forgotten Thriller
thomandybish-1511410 April 2021
This low budget effort with Victor Buono ought to be some sort of cult classic but somehow has fallen off the radar. While not quite a proto-slasher, the film's protagonist has several of the tropes that distinguish the genre: psycho-sexual disfunction with an Oedipal basis; social awkwardness/sexual frustration with the opposite sex, and a kinky fetish, this time out for carnival-prize dolls. No blood or gore (that's why the film is called "The Strangler" instead of "The Slasher"), but there is an approach to the sexual element of what Buono's character does that must have been daring at the time: Buono's climaxing as he undresses one of the dolls he won at the arcade is no less shocking for the fact that we only see his reaction in close up from the neck up. There's also a police procedural element that gives the hint of a giallo, although the film hardly suggests that genre in style or design. An intriguing character study of a disturbed individual operating in broad daylight that deserves a bigger audience than it has.
I love Victor Buono
Lloyd Flanagan23 July 2000
While this is not by any stretch of the imagination a good film, because of the slow pacing, the inane police sequences, and the thuddinmg obviousness of much of it. It still has it's imaginative stretc hes. For example, showing that the killer has an orgasm every time he kills is unusual and quitye ahead of the time. Several of the strangling scenes where suspensilly paced, but weakened by how quickly the victim usually died (it only takes him about 10 seconds to strangle each woman with a silk stocking!) and also weakened by having every woman changer into her underwear before she gets killed. Basically much of this is saved by Victor Buono's performance which is not his best, is still quite menacing and one of the more realistic serial killers on film. His exaggerated false smiles of respectability brought to mind similiar ones I had seen on the faces of John Wayne Gacy. And the scene where he trashes the apart ment the hole time his mouth workingh inadvertenly was magnificent.
Terrific Buono madman matinée
Chase_Witherspoon28 January 2017
Very watchable thriller featuring the rotund funny-man Buono in a decidedly unfunny portrayal of an unhinged mummy's boy and daytime lab scientist whose over-bearing mother leads him to commit a series of murders of young women placing the city in the grip of fear. Buono essentially reprised the role several years later in the Italian black comedy "The Mad Butcher", his MO virtually identical albeit in a more farcical manner.
Rugged Marlboro Man David MacLean is the tired, dairy devouring (was the milk drinking scene a product placement ad?) detective under pressure to make the city safe again, whilst a plethora of female victims include Jeanne Bates, Mimi Dillard, Davey Davison and the defiant Diane Sayer set up as bait to lure the killer as his crimes escalate to more brazen opportunism and flagrant audacity. James B.Sikking (Hill Street Blues) has a bit part as a police sketch artist.
The film is nicely photographed in B&W whilst the set decor is detailed and the pace and plot neatly executed. All round, it's a coherent little thriller (loosely inspired by events of the time), taut, economical and well worth watching more than once.
Rugged Marlboro Man David MacLean is the tired, dairy devouring (was the milk drinking scene a product placement ad?) detective under pressure to make the city safe again, whilst a plethora of female victims include Jeanne Bates, Mimi Dillard, Davey Davison and the defiant Diane Sayer set up as bait to lure the killer as his crimes escalate to more brazen opportunism and flagrant audacity. James B.Sikking (Hill Street Blues) has a bit part as a police sketch artist.
The film is nicely photographed in B&W whilst the set decor is detailed and the pace and plot neatly executed. All round, it's a coherent little thriller (loosely inspired by events of the time), taut, economical and well worth watching more than once.
Seen twice on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater in 1974
kevinolzak8 October 2020
1963's "The Strangler" offers screen newcomer Victor Buono rare star billing in a low budget Allied Artists quickie designed to capitalize on the ongoing crimes of the Boston Strangler, who remained at large until after its release. Buono's only other leading roles were also genre efforts ("The Mad Butcher," "Moonchild"), but here he must carry everything on his mountainous shoulders as lab technician Leo Kroll, claiming his 8th victim to open the picture, obviously achieving an orgasmic thrill out of killing young women with their own stockings after first watching them disrobe, leaving each corpse at rest with eyes closed. What drives him is his inescapable fixation on his ailing mother (Ellen Corby), as clinging and demanding as Norman Bates' schizoid mother, alternately assuring her son that she's the only one who ever really loved him, then scolding him for thinking that any woman would go out with a young man who's both ugly and fat (ouch!). Kroll is supremely confident and virtually blase when dealing with the police, and like 1960's "The Hypnotic Eye" the scenes depicting our hard working law enforcement come off as entirely passionless and predictable, while Buono's forcefulness proves to make for a despicable yet fascinating villain. The strangler makes his first mistake when dispatching the nurse who saved his mother's life, using his bare hands in outright anger before throwing a doll against her bedroom wall, repeatedly and silently mouthing its one word message ('Mama') in committing the deed. We know early on about the killer's fixation on dolls as his unerring accuracy tossing rings at a funhouse booth earns him another doll as a prize on each visit (claiming that they go to his many nieces and nephews). He keeps these in a locked desk drawer in his apartment, carefully stripping them nude after each murder, even removing the stockings as he saw his victims do. Reluctantly paying another nightly call on his mother, he cannot resist spilling the beans about the sudden death of her 'vacationing' nurse, delightfully watching her expire from the shock before quietly walking out without a care in the world, convincingly feigning sorrow at the fateful phone call about her passing. Kroll next targets one of the female employees at the booth after she spoke to an inquiring police detective (strangled in the shower), making her coworker next on his short list unless she accepts his sudden proposal of marriage. Ellen Corby became so beloved as Granny Walton during the 70s that few people remembered her lengthy movie career as a nosy busybody, and in just two scenes shows us the depth of the strangler's frustration with her twisting him around her little finger, taking an almost equally perverse satisfaction in watching her die. A cultured gentleman of gargantuan talent, Victor Buono brings more to the table in overcoming the natural pitfalls inherent to a cheap cash-in inspired by real life tragedy, somewhat uncomfortable with the subject matter yet able to deliver a towering performance of genuine depth that even Anthony Perkins might just appreciate.
See It For Victor
ferbs5423 March 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I might be giving away my age here, but I am old enough to remember, young although I was at the time, the panic and news stories that were attendant during the scourge of the so-called Boston Strangler. Between June 1962 and January '64, no fewer than 13 women, ages 19 all the way up to 85, were slain and, in some cases, sexually molested by the mad fiend. Finally, in October '64, that fiend was apprehended and later confessed; a 33-year-old named Albert de Salvo. The incidents that shocked Beantown and the rest of the country would later be turned into a film, October 1968's "The Boston Strangler," starring Tony Curtis as de Salvo. But that had not been the only film inspired by the dreadful doings. In April '64, a half year before de Salvo's arrest and at the height of the Boston panic, another film was released that perfectly captured the unease of the period. That film was simply called "The Strangler," and a recent watch has reinforced for this viewer what a marvelous entertainment it remains, now more than a half century after its premiere.
"The Strangler" opens with a scene guaranteed to bring to mind the opening sequence in the great 1946 shocker "The Spiral Staircase," as the viewer looks deep into the eyes of a madman as he is gazing at a lovely young woman. In this case, those eyes belong to obese, 30ish-year-old Leo Kroll (Victor Buono), who, when we first encounter him, not only glares at said lovely, but also leaps from concealment in her apartment and throttles her to death, after which he caresses and undresses a child's toy doll in orgasmic release. Kroll, we later learn, has a desk full of naked dolls in his drawer at home, one for each of his previous killings (sexual transference fetishes, as a police psychiatrist later explains), and the young lady whom he has just murdered had been his eighth recent victim! The cops on the case in this never-identified city are mystified, although Lt. Frank Benson (David McLean) quite correctly calls Kroll in for questioning; the latest victim, it seems, used to work as a nurse at the hospital where Kroll is currently employed as a lab technician. Kroll, we also soon learn, is the only child of an invalid mother (Ellen Corby, who had been appearing in films since the early '30s and who would go on to great fame playing TV's Grandma Walton eight years later), whom he reluctantly visits in hospital whenever he can, although that mother is something of a monster who constantly henpecks, nags, badgers and berates her son. But when all is said and done, Kroll will go on to kill no fewer than four more times, before his reign of terror is brought to an abrupt end....
"The Strangler," finely shot in B&W by DOP Jacques Marquette and directed in a clean, no-nonsense manner by Burt Topper, contains any number of fine sequences, those murder scenes being some of the standouts, of course. Kroll's second victim whose slaying we are privy to is the nurse, Clara Thomas (Jeanne Bates), who had previously saved his mother's life, thus extending Mrs. Kroll's miserable treatment of her pitiful son; the third is an indirect but deliberate murder, as he tells his mother that her beloved nurse has been slain, thus engendering a fatal heart attack; the fourth is of a pretty arcade worker at the Odeon Fun Palace, Barbara (Diane Sayer), who the cops had been interrogating, concerning the dolls that the arcade routinely gives away as prizes; and the fifth murder, which might only be an attempted murder, is that of the blonde arcade worker, Tally (Davey Davison), who Kroll has pitifully fallen in love with. (Unlike de Salvo, Kroll does not sexually molest his victims whatsoever; the mere act of murder seems to satisfy his lusts quite nicely, thank you.) All these scenes are suspensefully captured by director Topper and really are well done. But for this viewer, the picture's absolute standout scene is the one in which Kroll is harangued by his dreadful termagant of a mother. Is it any wonder why Kroll has turned out to be the twisted, sociopathic wreck of a man that he is? Just get a load of what his mother tells him from her hospital bed: "...You're not good-looking, you're fat; you know very well yourself that some people think you're funny ... even as a little boy nobody liked you ... and except for me, nobody's loved you ... and you haven't any money, and women want money and don't you forget it. Why, you barely make enough of a salary to keep a good-looking hussy in stockings...." And on and on and on. Not since Norman Bates, possibly, in Alfred Hitchcock's game changer "Psycho" (1960), had audiences been treated to the spectacle of a man turned into a murderous woman hater due to the abuse of a malignant mother. (A word of advice to all parents out there: Talking this way to your kids may very well result in a truly dangerous and twisted personality disorder!)
And speaking of which, Kroll, as shown in this film, truly is a split-personality schizophrenic of the very highest order. His split is so complete that he easily aces a lie detector test administered at police HQ, and after he is told of his mother's death - a death, again, that he deliberately brought about - he alternately laughs and cries as he trashes his mother's bedroom at home. But somehow, the viewer feels sympathy for this serial killer, especially inasmuch as we sense Kroll's loneliness and frustration. And that sympathy is perhaps never greater as we watch the pitiful scene in which Leo proposes to Tally in the arcade, presenting her with his mother's engagement ring ... Tally, of course, being a woman who he barely knows but has secretly lusted after for many months. Buono is simply outstanding at making us feel sympathy for his poor character; his performance here is simply aces. The San Diego-born actor was just 26 when he made this film, but because of his imposing physique, already seemed decades older. He had recently enjoyed a breakthrough role of sorts, two years earlier, playing pianist Edwin Flagg in the legendary Bette Davis/Joan Crawford horror film "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?," and had even received an Oscar nomination for his work therein; later in '64, he would appear in another Davis horror outing, "Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte," and, starting in '66, would play the role of King Tut in the "Batman" TV show, a role for which he is fondly remembered today by a generation of baby boomers. What a terrible loss when Buono passed away on the first day of 1982, at the age of 43; he might very well have gone on to become the Sydney Greenstreet of his era. Anyway, his performance here really makes this film something to cherish. Add in a fine screenplay by Bill S. Ballinger (who had scripted one of this viewer's favorite episodes of "The Outer Limits," the one entitled "The Mice," which had been released three months earlier), and some impressive art direction by the great Eugene Lourie (who had worked on the film classic "Shock Corridor" the previous year, and who would go on to add his considerable talents to "The Naked Kiss" and "Crack in the World" in the next), and you've got yourself a surprisingly efficient and gripping little suspenser. This film is a much smaller one than "The Boston Strangler" would be - that later picture featured a big-name cast, including Curtis, Henry Fonda, George Kennedy and Sally Kellerman, as well as a much larger budget and a largely fictionalized portrayal of the actual events of the case - but yet still has much to commend of itself to today's viewer. As the film's promotional poster declared, "Each of These Girls Suffer [shouldn't that be "Suffers"?] the Most Frightful Crimes Known to the Human Mind," and as is revealed, the mind of Leo Kroll is a very disturbing one indeed. This is a neo-noir suspenser that will long be remembered by any viewer who sits down in front of it, and is most definitely recommended....
"The Strangler" opens with a scene guaranteed to bring to mind the opening sequence in the great 1946 shocker "The Spiral Staircase," as the viewer looks deep into the eyes of a madman as he is gazing at a lovely young woman. In this case, those eyes belong to obese, 30ish-year-old Leo Kroll (Victor Buono), who, when we first encounter him, not only glares at said lovely, but also leaps from concealment in her apartment and throttles her to death, after which he caresses and undresses a child's toy doll in orgasmic release. Kroll, we later learn, has a desk full of naked dolls in his drawer at home, one for each of his previous killings (sexual transference fetishes, as a police psychiatrist later explains), and the young lady whom he has just murdered had been his eighth recent victim! The cops on the case in this never-identified city are mystified, although Lt. Frank Benson (David McLean) quite correctly calls Kroll in for questioning; the latest victim, it seems, used to work as a nurse at the hospital where Kroll is currently employed as a lab technician. Kroll, we also soon learn, is the only child of an invalid mother (Ellen Corby, who had been appearing in films since the early '30s and who would go on to great fame playing TV's Grandma Walton eight years later), whom he reluctantly visits in hospital whenever he can, although that mother is something of a monster who constantly henpecks, nags, badgers and berates her son. But when all is said and done, Kroll will go on to kill no fewer than four more times, before his reign of terror is brought to an abrupt end....
"The Strangler," finely shot in B&W by DOP Jacques Marquette and directed in a clean, no-nonsense manner by Burt Topper, contains any number of fine sequences, those murder scenes being some of the standouts, of course. Kroll's second victim whose slaying we are privy to is the nurse, Clara Thomas (Jeanne Bates), who had previously saved his mother's life, thus extending Mrs. Kroll's miserable treatment of her pitiful son; the third is an indirect but deliberate murder, as he tells his mother that her beloved nurse has been slain, thus engendering a fatal heart attack; the fourth is of a pretty arcade worker at the Odeon Fun Palace, Barbara (Diane Sayer), who the cops had been interrogating, concerning the dolls that the arcade routinely gives away as prizes; and the fifth murder, which might only be an attempted murder, is that of the blonde arcade worker, Tally (Davey Davison), who Kroll has pitifully fallen in love with. (Unlike de Salvo, Kroll does not sexually molest his victims whatsoever; the mere act of murder seems to satisfy his lusts quite nicely, thank you.) All these scenes are suspensefully captured by director Topper and really are well done. But for this viewer, the picture's absolute standout scene is the one in which Kroll is harangued by his dreadful termagant of a mother. Is it any wonder why Kroll has turned out to be the twisted, sociopathic wreck of a man that he is? Just get a load of what his mother tells him from her hospital bed: "...You're not good-looking, you're fat; you know very well yourself that some people think you're funny ... even as a little boy nobody liked you ... and except for me, nobody's loved you ... and you haven't any money, and women want money and don't you forget it. Why, you barely make enough of a salary to keep a good-looking hussy in stockings...." And on and on and on. Not since Norman Bates, possibly, in Alfred Hitchcock's game changer "Psycho" (1960), had audiences been treated to the spectacle of a man turned into a murderous woman hater due to the abuse of a malignant mother. (A word of advice to all parents out there: Talking this way to your kids may very well result in a truly dangerous and twisted personality disorder!)
And speaking of which, Kroll, as shown in this film, truly is a split-personality schizophrenic of the very highest order. His split is so complete that he easily aces a lie detector test administered at police HQ, and after he is told of his mother's death - a death, again, that he deliberately brought about - he alternately laughs and cries as he trashes his mother's bedroom at home. But somehow, the viewer feels sympathy for this serial killer, especially inasmuch as we sense Kroll's loneliness and frustration. And that sympathy is perhaps never greater as we watch the pitiful scene in which Leo proposes to Tally in the arcade, presenting her with his mother's engagement ring ... Tally, of course, being a woman who he barely knows but has secretly lusted after for many months. Buono is simply outstanding at making us feel sympathy for his poor character; his performance here is simply aces. The San Diego-born actor was just 26 when he made this film, but because of his imposing physique, already seemed decades older. He had recently enjoyed a breakthrough role of sorts, two years earlier, playing pianist Edwin Flagg in the legendary Bette Davis/Joan Crawford horror film "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?," and had even received an Oscar nomination for his work therein; later in '64, he would appear in another Davis horror outing, "Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte," and, starting in '66, would play the role of King Tut in the "Batman" TV show, a role for which he is fondly remembered today by a generation of baby boomers. What a terrible loss when Buono passed away on the first day of 1982, at the age of 43; he might very well have gone on to become the Sydney Greenstreet of his era. Anyway, his performance here really makes this film something to cherish. Add in a fine screenplay by Bill S. Ballinger (who had scripted one of this viewer's favorite episodes of "The Outer Limits," the one entitled "The Mice," which had been released three months earlier), and some impressive art direction by the great Eugene Lourie (who had worked on the film classic "Shock Corridor" the previous year, and who would go on to add his considerable talents to "The Naked Kiss" and "Crack in the World" in the next), and you've got yourself a surprisingly efficient and gripping little suspenser. This film is a much smaller one than "The Boston Strangler" would be - that later picture featured a big-name cast, including Curtis, Henry Fonda, George Kennedy and Sally Kellerman, as well as a much larger budget and a largely fictionalized portrayal of the actual events of the case - but yet still has much to commend of itself to today's viewer. As the film's promotional poster declared, "Each of These Girls Suffer [shouldn't that be "Suffers"?] the Most Frightful Crimes Known to the Human Mind," and as is revealed, the mind of Leo Kroll is a very disturbing one indeed. This is a neo-noir suspenser that will long be remembered by any viewer who sits down in front of it, and is most definitely recommended....
Fascinating B movie with Buono outstanding in this psychological analysis of a serial killer
vampire_hounddog1 August 2020
Leo Kroll (Victor Buono) is a lab assistant moonlighting as a serial killer who strangles women with stockings or pantyhose. He seems to get sexual satisfaction from his killing, as well as playing to his mother fixation. His home is like a shrine to her while this domineering mother (Ellen Corby) is ill in hospital with a heart condition.
Loosely based off the recent Boston Stranler murders who murdered 13 women in the early 1960s, this B movie is presented as a procedural thriller which does a decent job looking at both the analysis of the crimes and the psychology behind the killer, with a well formed character and performance from Buono as the troubled and secretive man in what was probably his best film.
Loosely based off the recent Boston Stranler murders who murdered 13 women in the early 1960s, this B movie is presented as a procedural thriller which does a decent job looking at both the analysis of the crimes and the psychology behind the killer, with a well formed character and performance from Buono as the troubled and secretive man in what was probably his best film.
Brilliant and viscerally disturbing
nvasapper30 April 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This is an excellent film detailing the police manhunt for a psychopathic serial strangler of women in a large unnamed city. Based on the case of the Boston Strangler, the film introduces us to one Leo Kroll(VICTOR BUONO), an obese, mother-dominated hospital lab technician with a pathological hatred of women engendered by his lifelong negative relationship with his mother. Watching the interaction between them gives the viewer the insight needed to understand why he turned out the way he did. The respective performances are just amazing to watch-this is as real, believable and lifelike as it gets. ELLEN CORBY gives a wonderful performance as Mrs. Kroll- a coronary care patient confined to a hospital room who berates, belittles and criticizes her son for everything and anything whenever he comes to visit her. And it's obvious that this has been the pattern of their whole relationship from the time he was a little boy. It is quite apparent that Leo, a very large and obese man, feels much nervous fear and trepidation around this small elderly invalid with the critical tongue. But he also feels incredible hatred for her as well. Mrs. Kroll is an angry, embittered, domineering shrew of a woman who has made her son's very existence miserable from Day One. She claims to love him, but we see that it's not true, honest, caring love. It's false and manipulative. In one scene, she tells Leo "You love me and I love you." The way she says it and the look on her face tells us that this is an evil, controlling woman who uses her son for her own devious ends- another version of the Mrs. Bates persona from PSYCHO. When the movie starts, Leo Kroll is racking up his eighth strangulation murder and the police Homicide Division is stumped. The Detective Lieutenant in charge of the investigation, Lt. Frank Benson, is played by The Marlboro Man(David McLEAN). McLean turns in a very believable performance here. He is COP PERSONIFIED. He looks the part and acts it- tired and haggard, yet tough, tenacious and determined. After Kroll is interviewed by the police, they develop more than a passing interest in him. A battle of wits ensues between the detectives and Kroll, with Kroll seeming to upstage them at various points. The most humorous line in an otherwise dark movie is when Kroll tells them that he wasn't able to afford completing his medical school education, but that he has sufficient training to become a policeman! The film explores the psychopathology of the woman-hating serial killer by having the Department Psychiatrist do a profile workup for the Lieutenant. This clinical aspect of the film is quite informative and revealing and the conclusions portrayed herein have been substantiated by experts in the field of abnormal psychology. In addition to venting his hatred for his mother by murdering women(he seems to specialize in young, attractive nurses), strangling these women also gives him a sexual release. By his bodily twitching and shaking and sweaty, perspiring features, it's quite obvious what we're seeing. Obvious though understated. Leo's one glimmer of hope for some happiness is a young woman named Tally Raymond(DAVEY DAVISON), who works at the Ring Toss concession in the local penny arcade. Smitten with her and starved for affection, he mistakes her kindness to him for love. An interesting aside- Tally has a co-worker named Barbara Wells, played by DIANE SAYER. Barbara seems to be quite interested in Leo and she doesn't hide her interest. She comes on to him but he's not interested in her at all. He's brusque with her and treats her in a very perfunctory manner. Here's a guy who has been rejected by women all his life. Yet when he encounters one who wouldn't mind being with him, he summarily dismisses her. This is a man, who, at the age of 30, has never been with a woman or had a normal relationship with one. He has no idea what it involves. All he knows is that this woman Tally showed him some kindness and he's going to propose to her. When he does, offering her his now dead mother's engagement ring, she is understandably alarmed and taken aback and tries to diplomatically turn him down. But this final rejection is the one he can't walk away from. It leads to an ending which is predictable but nonetheless tragic. This is a very well-crafted crime noir thriller with excellent performances throughout. VICTOR BUONO is just perfect in this film. This part was made for him. I think he deserved an Academy Award for his performance. The film has an eerie score which I found to be quite unnerving. It helps create the film's unsettled tone. This is a minor classic and I give it a 10 out of 10.
Daar Strangla
sol121812 May 2013
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** In what turned out to be his signature role and the one he's most identified with Victor Buono is the meek and inoffensive lab technician Leo Kroll by day and the murderous and psycho lady killer, known as The Strangler, by night in this once in a lifetime role, the one we all got to both know as well as love him in, for him. It's not that Leo is a brutal psychotic which he is it's the circumstances that made him into the monster, like the Frankenstein Monster and the Wolfman, that he's become that jumps out at you from the screen and makes you feel sympathetic for him. It's also Leo's nagging and pain in the butt mom Mrs. Kroll, Ellen Corby, who isn't any help either alway putting her son down in how fat and chubby as well as unattractive to the opposite sex he is.
The film "The Strangle" doesn't quite explain why Leo went psycho and on a murder rampage against the women he ended up murdering but it does show his mindset about himself, that his Mom did everything to reinforce, that eventually let him to do the things that he ended up doing. Feeling insecure with women and desperately wanting to strike up a relationship with those, the pretty ones, he came in contact with Leo made them pay with their lives for rejecting him. He also developed this strange doll faddish that he got by going to his favorite hangout the "Fun Palace" and winning a whole bunch of them playing horse shoes.
***SPOILERS*** The final insult that Leo was to suffer was when after his mom, with his help, ended up dying from a fatal heart attack when he told her that her kind and caring nurse, whom she thought was on vacation, Clara Thomas, Joanne Bates, was murdered. The fact that it was Leo himself who murdered Nurse Thomas was kept from his Mom but the news of her tragic death was enough to stop her already weak heart from beating. Now finally free from Momma Leo with his hair slicked back like Elvis Presley and dressed to kill in his new mod looking and checkered sport jacket went to the "Fun Palace" and proposed to the woman he was crazy about, she worked at the horse shoe concession, the pretty blond chick-ado Telly Raymond, Davey Davison. It came quite as a shock for Leo when Telly, who was totally unimpressed by his stylish makeover, turned down cold his request for marriage.
Both hurt and outraged Leo let his true feeling out about how he's been screwed over all his life and thus clued in Telly to his real intentions as well as identity: The mysterious and murderous Strangler. With the cops setting a trap for Leo in him going to Telly's apartment in order to murder her his usual caution, using the night as cover as well as covering his tracks, deserted him. As a hell bent Leo in his wild attempt to strangle Telly instead ended up being blown away by the police as he fell to his death, out of a forth floor window, with the doll that he just won playing horseshoe crashing to the street below along with him!
P.S The film "The Strangler" is loosely based on the notorious Boston Strangler who's reign of terror, 1962-1964, ended up murdering some dozen women in the Boston Metropolitan area. What most people don't realize is that the person who confessed to have been the Boston Strangler Albert DeSalvo, who was murdered in prison in 1973, was never convicted of any of the Boston Strangler's murders! As of today the Boston Strangler Case is still an open and active murder case by the Boston Police Department much like that of the infamous "Jack the Ripper" case, still open & active, by London's Scotland Yard.
The film "The Strangle" doesn't quite explain why Leo went psycho and on a murder rampage against the women he ended up murdering but it does show his mindset about himself, that his Mom did everything to reinforce, that eventually let him to do the things that he ended up doing. Feeling insecure with women and desperately wanting to strike up a relationship with those, the pretty ones, he came in contact with Leo made them pay with their lives for rejecting him. He also developed this strange doll faddish that he got by going to his favorite hangout the "Fun Palace" and winning a whole bunch of them playing horse shoes.
***SPOILERS*** The final insult that Leo was to suffer was when after his mom, with his help, ended up dying from a fatal heart attack when he told her that her kind and caring nurse, whom she thought was on vacation, Clara Thomas, Joanne Bates, was murdered. The fact that it was Leo himself who murdered Nurse Thomas was kept from his Mom but the news of her tragic death was enough to stop her already weak heart from beating. Now finally free from Momma Leo with his hair slicked back like Elvis Presley and dressed to kill in his new mod looking and checkered sport jacket went to the "Fun Palace" and proposed to the woman he was crazy about, she worked at the horse shoe concession, the pretty blond chick-ado Telly Raymond, Davey Davison. It came quite as a shock for Leo when Telly, who was totally unimpressed by his stylish makeover, turned down cold his request for marriage.
Both hurt and outraged Leo let his true feeling out about how he's been screwed over all his life and thus clued in Telly to his real intentions as well as identity: The mysterious and murderous Strangler. With the cops setting a trap for Leo in him going to Telly's apartment in order to murder her his usual caution, using the night as cover as well as covering his tracks, deserted him. As a hell bent Leo in his wild attempt to strangle Telly instead ended up being blown away by the police as he fell to his death, out of a forth floor window, with the doll that he just won playing horseshoe crashing to the street below along with him!
P.S The film "The Strangler" is loosely based on the notorious Boston Strangler who's reign of terror, 1962-1964, ended up murdering some dozen women in the Boston Metropolitan area. What most people don't realize is that the person who confessed to have been the Boston Strangler Albert DeSalvo, who was murdered in prison in 1973, was never convicted of any of the Boston Strangler's murders! As of today the Boston Strangler Case is still an open and active murder case by the Boston Police Department much like that of the infamous "Jack the Ripper" case, still open & active, by London's Scotland Yard.
Nurses and Dolls
Beware of Buono!
Coventry14 May 2009
This film opens with a written message, announcing that the creators wish to express their gratitude to several police departments and psychiatrists for giving them access to their files and offering assistance with their research. If it weren't for them, the profile of the titular serial killer would never have been this disturbingly realistic and convincing. Now, attention-grabbing gimmicks at the beginning of a horror movie like this can either mean two things. Either it's sincere and the producers had something genuinely ambitious in mind, or it's just a cheap and sleazy trick to mislead unwarily viewers. You know, like falsely claiming a movie is based on true events. Initially I assumed it would be option number two in the case of "The Strangler". Lead star Victor Buono previously already played an obese guy with a strangely eerie mother-fixation, so it would be the ideal occasion to further exploit the success of that classic by revolving an entirely separate film on this concept. Moreover, "The Strangler" came out almost immediately after the apprehension of Alberto DeSalvo – the real life Boston Strangler – and it is prototypical for a low-budgeted exploitation movie to quickly cash in on media hypes. Four years later, director Richard Fleischer presented his version of the factual murder case, starring Henry Fonda and Tony Curtis as the infamous Alberto DeSalvo, and that particular film, and the success of that much more commonly known and widely acclaimed film is presumably the reason why "The Strangler" is a relatively obscure and hidden gem. But let me assure you there honestly isn't the slightest reason to feel skeptical or wary towards this movie. "The Strangler" is a chilling and atmospheric effort, with obvious echoes to Hitchcock's "Psycho" naturally, but also more than enough qualitative aspects of its own. It's rather brutal in tone and execution, with some extremely grim and unsettling moments (especially considering the time of release) and the vivid performance of Victor Buono is undeniably the movie's main trump. Buono depicts the naturally perverted and heavily overweight hospital lab researcher Leo Kroll. Despite of his arrogant wittiness and obvious intellect, Kroll's bed-ridden mother still dominates his life and she uses every opportunity to reassure her son that he's fat and ugly and that no woman will ever love him. Maybe that's the reason why Leo Kroll is a misogynist serial killer who already strangled eight women; all of them nurses. His trademarks are to use stockings and leave broken play dolls at the scene of the crime. The stalk-and-strangle sequences are extremely suspenseful and many of the undertones and sexual insinuations are quite controversial and ahead of their time. Buono's performance is courageous, powerful, stellar and pretty freaking convincing! Buono is authentically sinister, especially when he behaves calm and sophisticated. Great suspense flick, highly recommended!
Not sure how I missed this for so many years
mmillington55423 July 2023
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, the fetishism of semi-naked women in underwear and the mandatory stockings - so useful as a ploy to include scenes where women take them off and as murder weapons, and lastly but not least, the voyeurism of close-up strangulation. Not a perfect film by any means, but still a neglected classic.
Boy,That Victor Buono can really squeeze a neck.
phlflip3 September 2001
The Strangler is an excellent film of its genre.Victor Buono gives an excellent performance as the disturbed lab technician who hates women because of his over possesive,critical and domineering mother.Jeannie Bates who played his mothers nurse would have been better off letting the miserable old bat die than trying to keep her alive.IF ONLY SHE KNEW.Buonos acting was superb,he could act calm and mild mannered at one point and seem like a total nutburger at another.You have to say one thing about Buono,he really put his whole heart and soul into his little hobby of killing.This man would have done "The Boston Strangler" proud. This movie makes "Frenzy" look like "Little Women" The word strangle deserves a definite place in history thanks to buono who gives new meaning to the word.
7/10 Victor Buono steals the movie completely!
kchiefs115 January 2022
Buono has always been underrated as an actor. This movie is a tour de force for him. He plays this serial killer in a very sympathetic way so the audience can understand his motivation for his violence and the root causes.
Watch it when it's on TCM.
Watch it when it's on TCM.
Ed Kemper?
corkidecat30 April 2022
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