I watched this film with a mix of dread and anguish. At more than one point I was shouting at the screen; 'No, no! Oh Lord! Don't kill her! Oh let her go!'And other pointless instructions. The victims were tragic specially victim number two, the addle brained young hooker who, on being fooled into believing she was being arrested was taken to the cousins home and started to realise something was wrong, quietly begged Kenneth Bianchi 'you aren't gonna hurt me, are you, Mister?'While Angelo Buono was in the bedroom preparing her death bed. According to the sleeve notes in the UK DVD version, the genius level producer Mr Hamish McAlpine wanted to make clear that these two men were not role models, after being accused of making Ted Bundy and Ed Gein, the other two serial killer subjects of his films too sympathetic. Well, he succeeded! Evil swines, both of them. Mr Buono died of a heart attack a bit back but Mr Bianchi is still in prison, lying and fooling those around him that he is a changed man! My favourite scene was when that black pimp and his gang threatened the twosome with guns and Ken was begging for his life, even though sparky little Angelo stood up to them. One slight niggling complaint; Mr Nicholas Turturro who portrayed Mr Buono was far too handsome and clever in a cocky posturing macho way. The real Mr Buono was an ugly slow witted low life who didn't kill before or after Mr Bianchi came into his life. Also, I think there should have been some kind of sequel made, where Mr Bianchi took on the whole forensic psychological profession with his faked tale of Multiple Personality Disorder and held them to a draw for a good while, till he was seen through. THAT would make a whole film in itself. All the same - whenever two men come to repair anything in my home, I always make sure neither of them can get behind me with a rope, just in case!

I suppose it's a bit trendy to do so, but Tartan films certainly does take advantage of the direct to DVD/late night cable market. The books recounting the ill deeds of Gein, Dahmer, Gacy and Buono/Bianchi are well documented. Cram as much shock into 90 minutes as possible and if you can effectively capture the pathos and motivation of these grandiose sickos all the better. I love a challenging film, one that leaves me a bit mentally drained without long-term ill effects.I'd say this is one of the better ones, due mostly to the benefit of having two protagonists with anti-social manias to capture instead of one. And the casting of fairly well known actors doesn't hurt either, although the roles actually could have been reversed physically speaking. What I remember from the book's photos is that Bianchi was much more vital and really did look like a cop, not the skinny smarmy John Watersy used car salesman-y figure Howell presents. And Angelo Buono was tall and lean and the book described him as incredibly fastidious and anal, whereas Turturro is a bit too cliché Italian. Either way, the formula works and I think their chemistry is still effective.This is definitely the hardest of this series of movies by the producers. The language, the real-time realism, the fear of the victims are all very palpable.

This film turned out to be much more than I thought that it was going to be, most notably, it was extremely disturbing and at times I found myself not able to watch - particularly the rapes and deaths of the poor women. The Hillside Strangler(s) played their roles well, both utterly convincing and rather frightening. Allison Lange was fantastic as the long-suffering Claire. I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone who is faint-hearted. It was a good film, but so disturbing. There was plenty of nudity, offensive language, drug use and violence splashed throughout the movie, but the treatment of the women was so shocking. For that reason, I cannot give this film a rating.

If you've seen the other serial killer movies by Tartan films, you'll get exactly what you expect from this film: actors you haven't seen in awhile steeped in extreme violence with not a whole lot of emphasis on the facts. There are some gruesome scenes here, though tamer than the actual crimes of the Hillside Stranglers. Pretty good performances all around, but not excellent. Some interesting camera work, better than you'd expect from a film with so low a budget. I was concerned by the casting of Turturro and Howell, having had a fondness for the earlier portrayals by Dennis Farina and Billy Zane. Plus, C Thomas Howell just seemed too cute to play Ken Bianchi. But once I got a look at him, I was shocked by his gaunt, creepy appearance. I sincerely hope he looks better than that in real life.To conclude, this is by no means the movie of the year, but if you liked Tartans Gein, Gacy or Bundy, give this one a watch.