I honestly don’t know how a screener copy of this film arrived on my front doorstep. Yesterday (Oct. 8th, 2004) I just got a e-mail from a media company I deal with announcing it’s limited theatrical release. Needless to say, I’m kind of happy I got the screener if that’s the case.

The Hillside Strangler is one messed up no holds barred film. There are supposedly two different versions of the film, a rated R version and an unrated version. I think I got the unrated one, cause it was gruesome.

I don’t want to get to much into the story, but it’s one of those films that will make any female that sees it run to their nearest martial arts dojo and sign up for self defense classes. The realism portrayed in this film brings you right into the minds of the madman who committed these acts, although the film is pure fiction and based on real events, you will feel the terror and horror of this film. I felt helpless watching it as each women was raped and killed all different ways. We had girls strangled, beat, electrocuted, injected with poison, and so on.

The acting is really good and the film keeps itself alive with the great performances, The directing is top notch, and the production value is perfect, setting you right back in the times that these killing actually took place. The script places you right into the lives of the killers and the people around them. It shows what scum they really were. The effects were pretty good too, and the pacing of the story was good enough to keep my attention.

Overall it’s probably one of the better films out there based on a serial killer, I highly recommend checking it out. It’s a film that will make you think twice about letting your girlfriend or wife walk around alone at night.

-Horror Bob