Seven years after making The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher, Ray Dennis Steckler returned with this straight to video sequel. Pierre Agostino once again plays the Strangler, who has now relocated to Las Vegas to prey upon more helpless women. Unfortunately, the film is sorely missing the presence of Carolyn Brandt as the Skid Row Slasher. She’s nowhere to be found this time around, so instead, we get two chuckleheads who stumble around Vegas and ogle women walking by, which is a pretty crummy trade-off if you ask me. Occasionally, to break up the monotony, they’ll mug a woman. Although they have just as much screen time as Agostino, these guys don’t make much of an impression. There’s a reason why the movie isn’t called The Las Vegas Serial Killer Meets the Two Dudes That Stand Around Making Lewd Comments to Passersby.
The good news: Agostino strangles lots of women. The most memorable one occurs at a pool party at the home of “Las Vegas movie star, Cash Flagg”! There’s also a nude burlesque number shown in its entirety. Steckler also gives us a WTF close-up of a Papa Smurf doll during one murder sequence that’s good for a laugh. That’s about it as far as the “good news” goes.
The bad news: There is a shit-ton of padding here. There is a bunch of travelogue footage of Las Vegas, along with repurposed scenes from the original film. Remember the scenes of the random rodeo in Blood Shack? Well, I hope you liked it, because there’s even more pointless rodeo footage in this one. There’s also an equally perplexing sequence at an air show that is likewise only there to beef up the running time.
Like the first movie, Steckler shot The Las Vegas Serial Killer silent. Once again, there’s more narration/thoughts of the characters than actual dialogue. The big difference this time out is that a radio announcer gets the bulk of the dialogue (much of which is repeated) to keep the audience up to date on the Strangler’s crimes. The weird thing is it doesn’t sound like a human being, but rather a talk-to-type computer voice.
Oh, and the ending sucks.
As far as director signatures go, there’s a couple things of note. Since Ray had moved his base of operations to Vegas by this point in his career, we get scenic shots of the Vegas Strip instead of Hollywood Boulevard. He also manages to toss in some completely random parade footage, which makes it kindred spirits with Rat Pfink a Boo Boo, as well as the aforementioned rodeo bullshit. Other than Agostino, there aren’t any actors who worked with him previously, although Ron Jason would go on to star in more Steckler productions down the road. Steckler does, however, find some time to put in a little shameless self-promotion as a poster for The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies is seen hanging in a pizza parlor. A character even exclaims, “Cash Flagg! All right!”
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