Thursday, November 29, 2018

HALLOWEEN HANGOVER: THE NIGHT OF THE STRANGLER (1972) ** ½


College student Denise (Susan McCullough) returns home to the south to tell her family she is leaving school to marry a black man.  Denise’s younger brother Vance (Micky Dolenz from The Monkees) is supportive, but her older brother Dan (James Ralston) is a full-blown racist, so he smacks her around.  The next day, Denise’s boyfriend is murdered by a sniper, and she is later drowned in her bathtub by a black gloved killer, who makes her death look like a suicide.  Meanwhile, a young black priest (Chuck Patterson) reaches out to the brothers to offer his condolences.  More people close to the family wind up dead, and a pair of perplexed cops are left trying to make sense of it all.

Directed by Joy N. (Night of Bloody Terror) Houck, The Night of the Strangler is surprisingly progressive and modern for a movie from 1972.  It has more on its mind than just being another whodunit, even if the execution is a bit clunky at times.  Houck tries to juggle the various plotlines, which involve multiple killers and (too many) supporting characters with inconsistent results.  It’s not completely successful, but the murder scenes have a moderate amount of kick to them (there’s a neat bit involving a booby-trapped glove compartment), and the twist ending is effective.  

Oh, and nobody gets strangled, so there’s that.  

Another debit is that some of the dramatic scenes veer into heavily into camp.  Ralston especially goes overboard as the sniveling racist brother.  Dolenz on the other hand fares well in a rare dramatic role and makes a memorable impression as the sensitive brother.

Dolenz also gets the best line on his brother’s wedding day when he says, “Beauty and the bigot!”

AKA:  Dirty Dan’s Women.  AKA:  Is the Father Black Enough?  AKA:  The Ace of Spades.

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