THE HOLLYWOOD STRANGLER MEETS THE SKID ROW SLASHER - André Brummer - "You're My Love" (1979)

It's time for Saturday's Steckler Strangler Slasher Splatter Special, and what could be more appropriate than the 1979 flick, "The Hollywood Strangler Meets The Skid Row Slasher!" It was written by Christopher Edwards (Ray Dennis Steckler), and directed by Wolfgang Schmidt (Ray Dennis Steckler)!

What we have here is a failure to communicate!

This is Pierre Agostino as he-man stud Johnathan Click, the strangler himself! Pierre didn't make many movies, but he did reprise this strangler role 7 years later in Ray Dennis Steckler's "The Las Vegas Serial Killer!" I don't know why, but you will find both of these films streaming free in their entirety on youtube! Whatever happened to only 10 minutes and no nudity? I guess those rules are now ancient history!

"The Hollywood Stranglers Meets The Skid Row Slasher" (This is not a great copy, but you get the idea; to see it in all it's glory, go to Netflix or buy a copy!)

"The Las Vegas Serial Killer" (This looks great, but there are commercials!)

On the left is Ray Dennis Steckler's Wife from 1963 to 1973, Carolyn Brandt, as The Slasher! You know right out of the box who The Strangler is, but Ray keeps the identity of The Slasher hidden for 15 or 20 minutes to build suspense, although suspense is never actually a factor in this film!

Pierre is a photographer without a studio, so he always goes to the girl's homes to photograph and strangle them! This gal had a roommate, so this outing turned into a double homicide half price sale! The names of the various victims are Lori Morris, Snowy Sinclair, Bonnie Smith, Joanne Hiatt, Jean Roberts, and Denise Alford! For most of them, this would be their only film ever!!

Carolyn Slasher runs a used book store. Here's a good example of why Ray Dennis is one of our heroes and how efficient he could be with his money. The checkout area of the store is nothing more than a folding table, they didn't even bother with a cash register! Carolyn was in almost all of Ray's films in some capacity, and also had the role of Fishman's girl in "Eegah!!"

The Slasher's victims number four, and ranged from Chuck Alford and Jim Parker, to Forrest Duke and John Leeman!

"The Hollywood Strangler Meets The Skid Row Slasher" is not a very good movie at all, and makes some of Ray's other films look like real masterpieces, but there is a lot of footage of topless girls, if that's what you're looking for in a movie!

90% of the time there is not even any dialogue! Imagine how much easier it is to put sound back in during post production than setting up all those microphones out on the streets. The only problem is that it makes the movie even that much more boring, so when he's not strangling, he's thinking to himself a lot!!!

I love this shot, and it makes great wallpaper!

Ray Dennis liked this shot so much that he used it again in "The Las Vegas Serial Killer!" If I'm not mistaken, Pierre never changes clothes once in the whole movie!!

This shot right here is the epitome of what this film is all about, stark and sparse! Stark and Sparse sounds like the name of a vaudeville comedy team!

The Strangler's pad is a wonder to behold from the cheapass 70's paneling to the Marilyn Monroe serving trays hanging on the wall! What a guy!!

For the major portion of the movie, the two killers work independent of each other, but they have chance run-ins at the bookstore, and both know that there is something special about the other one!

The cinematography was done by Sven Christian, AKA Ray Dennis Steckler! Give Sven some credit for having a good eye, and making a great shot like this happen from nothing!

In retrospect, It's not too difficult to imagine how great this film could have been if they were actually a married couple like in some 70's TV sitcom named something like "Choking With The Cleavers!"

Carolyn looks pretty good when she gets all gussied up, but she's got a real mean streak!

The two killers finally meet on their own terms, and it's true love! As he strangles her, she is ripping a knife into his gut!!

Ray Dennis Steckler was one of the only guys who ever was able to kill off his ex-wife legally! What a freakin' genius, he even did it more than once, and got her to pay for it, because on top of all that, Carolyn Brandt produced this film as well!

The amazing soundtrack was created by Dungeon Hall of Famer André Brummer, working once again as Henri Price! André's credits include films on our all-time favourites list, "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?" and "Eegah!!" This was his last film! I have no idea who is singing that crazy song!

THE RETURN OF THE MONSTER / Filmadora Méxicana S.A. - 1959

It's Friday Night Monster Theater with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our featured flick is one nut-brained weirdie to be sure, a horror-western! It stars el Zorro Escarlata, defender of good, and, one of the strangest looking monsters ever, up there with THE BRAINIAC. That nice lobby card is still in my collection! Click on the pic to see it larger, and, you can notice the cool device they plugged into that lady's head in the insert!

Check out the excellent Mexicano theme and eerie transformation chills in the soundclip Eegah!! made for us! Sooo, you can push that big red 'GO' button, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here are some sounds from... THE RETURN OF THE MONSTER!

A deranged scientist is searching for the secret of eternal life. In order to help him in that quest, he employs the aid of an old, skeletonized witch! You can see her sitting there in the background. Here, the scientist tries to control one of his creations, The Monster!

Here's a pretty good close-up of the make-up... Sheesh!!

This scene, where The Monster slides down that steep stone embankment, makes me grimmace to watch it!! As he's quickly sliding down, he loosens up a giant bolder and it freaking lands on his legs after he hits the ground!! I don't know how he possibly got up and hobbled away, you just have to see it to believe it! By the way, this is an extremely hard title to get your hands on.

The Monster goes into this guy's house and steals his daughter out of her bed, then, dares the the guy to shoot at him. Notice in the poster that The Monster's carrying a girl, not a woman.

The Monster tries to hide in a barn, but, el Zorro Escarlata swoops down from the rafters on a rope and kicks the fiend in the chest! During the fight, the father comes and rescues his daughter.

A few bullets in the belly have no real effect on the thing!

Jus' plain Weirdsville!..

Even the old pitchfork in the chest only seems to piss him off...

Because, he throws it back at el Zorro Escarlata, just missing him! Some convincing effects used here!

The old Witch Hag orders the scientist to do her bidding, or, else!!

Jaime Fernández plays the human form of The Monster. Jaime had 171 acting credits and was also in ZONGA, THE DIABOLICAL ANGEL, THE MASK OF DEATH, SANTO vs THE ZOMBIES, SANTO vs THE VAMPIRE WOMEN, THE INCREDIBLE FACE OF DR. B, BLUE DEMON, BLUE DEMON vs THE SATANIC POWER and THE SHADOW OF THE BAT! In the top pic, steam pours off his head during transformation, freaky...

Then, you can hear him changing back in the soundclip, I love that stuff!!

As it should be, in the end, the old Skeleton Witch gets to burn forever in Hell!

FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL - Terrence Fisher's Last Film (1974) - Music By James Bernard

"Frankenstein and The Monster From Hell" is not exactly my favourite Frankenstein film, and as a matter of fact, it's not even close, but then, when you don't get out much, you don't get much!!

Shane Briant is Simon Helder! Dude looks innocent enough, just shows to go you Willie Dixon was right, you can't judge a book by looking at the cover! Simon's got some different notions about science and creation! His hero is Baron Victor Frankenstein! Shane is still working today, and currently has works in production!!

Maybe it's that Simon was deprived of toys as a kid, so he likes to play with body parts instead! He thinks of himself as a forward thinker, everybody else thinks he's a freak!!

Judged by a man who has his hair knitted, you know this isn't going to work out very well for Simon! Do not pass Go, do not collect two hundred dollars!!

It's just damn hard to beat a good painted backdrop!

Just in case you wondered what happened to Lonesome George after he left office!! Wonder no more!!

The head of the insane asylum where they have sent Simon was played by John Stratton, a guy who has more problems that a lot of the inmates combined! John was a staple of British TV, enjoying a long career as characters like Mr. Bott, Shockeye, and Uncle Pumblechook!! His main concern as director of the asylum is his penis!

Peter Cushing as always, puts in another fine performance as former patient Baron Victor Frankenstein, who was supposedly killed off, but returns as the resident in-house Doctor, Carl Victor! Nobody knows but the director of the asylum, and Baron Doctor Victor has enough dirt on him that he'll never tell anybody!

So why is this poor bastard in here? He's a mathematical genius!! Charles Lloyd Park, not to be confused with brilliant jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd, was in quite a few other Hammer flicks, and was The Vicar in "Bedazzled!"

After it looks like he commits suicide, it becomes very evident that Doctor Victor was waiting for access to a good brain! He just didn't feel like waiting any longer!

Well, we knew the kid had a penchant for eyes. This was the last in the Hammer series of Frankenstein flicks, and they spend a lot of time doing stuff like removing brains, enough so to get an 'R' rating! This was also director Terrence Fisher's last film!!

The monster as played by Hammerhead David Prowse is a combination of former denizens of the instituion, so he's got the strength of a muscleman, the hands of a crafty artisan, and the brain of a genius! David had a fair amount of success in his career! He also played the Frankenstein monster in "The Horror Of Frankenstein" before landing the small time role of Darth Vader in "The Empire Strikes Back," and "Return Of The Jedi!"

This is Sarah, the Angel, the one light at the end of an ever darkening tunnel! Of course, she's not really crazy or a deaf mute like she pretends to be! The well endowed Madeline Smith will always be remembered as Miss Caruso in "Live And Let Die!" She was also in some films like "Vampire Lovers" and "Theatre Of Blood!" The Angel is in the asylum because her Father, the director of the joint, raped her when she was a young girl! Until Simon came along, she did all the needlework for Dr. Victor!!

Here's less than two minutes of some very serious music by Hammer workhorse James Bernard to set the mood! It's always a bummer when there's no clubs, bars, inns, or pubs! Too bad all the lunatics never had a party!!

On a cold and stormy night, Frankie decides to go for a walk!

There's probably not a concept much scarier than looking into a coffin, and seeing your own dead body!

Muscleman body, hands of a craftsman, and the brain of a genius, you'd of thought they could have found a neck somewhere! Since this film was set in a time after the discovery of gunpowder, this creature is a lot easier to dispose of than Mary Shelly's original creation! Bang!! You're dead!!!