Like the factually accurate 2004 film "The Hillside Strangler", this one has had some extremely negative reviews, but this is a largely fictionalised version of the thoroughly documented atrocities of Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono. The worst criticism that can be made of it is the soundtrack anachronism "You Can Ring My Bell". Kenneth Bianchi was arrested in Washington State on January 13, 1979, shortly after murdering two young women in one transaction. "You Can Ring My Bell" by Anita Ward was released later in the year and was a massive hit worldwide reaching number one on no fewer than five US charts as well as in Canada, the UK, and Spain for starters.
Our heroine is a blonde psychiatrist who when she isn't chain-smoking at police headquarters spends most of her time prancing around naked and having three in a bed sessions with her love interest and a girl called...what was your name again? Best not to mention the white stuff.
The Summer Of Love may have been over for a decade, but no one here seems to have noticed.
Also, Bianchi never makes it to Washington State, he is arrested in the vicinity of one of the murders, and is thus a prime suspect. Questioned by our heroine, he points the finger at his killer cousin and a mystery man named Steve. To cut a long story short, she is at first taken in by "Steve", and believing Bianchi to be a genuine double or multiple personality says: "The guy needs help, not the gas chamber".
It remains to be seen why any man who has kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered even one girl needs "help" instead of punishment, and for so many, the ultimate punishment is surely well deserved whatever his state of mind. However, in their final hypnosis session, Samantha Stone tricks the fictional Bianchi the same way Dr Martin Orne tricked the real one, proving he was faking it the entire time. Clearly, the film-makers did their research. The real Bianchi based Steve on a real person, what today would be called identity theft, but this film doesn't go that far.
If you are not averse to female nudity and don't mind a bit of graphic violence including dead bodies, this film has much to recommend it. And bear in mind that although this version is clearly fictionalised, the real crimes of the Hillside Stranglers were horrific beyond belief.
Our heroine is a blonde psychiatrist who when she isn't chain-smoking at police headquarters spends most of her time prancing around naked and having three in a bed sessions with her love interest and a girl called...what was your name again? Best not to mention the white stuff.
The Summer Of Love may have been over for a decade, but no one here seems to have noticed.
Also, Bianchi never makes it to Washington State, he is arrested in the vicinity of one of the murders, and is thus a prime suspect. Questioned by our heroine, he points the finger at his killer cousin and a mystery man named Steve. To cut a long story short, she is at first taken in by "Steve", and believing Bianchi to be a genuine double or multiple personality says: "The guy needs help, not the gas chamber".
It remains to be seen why any man who has kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered even one girl needs "help" instead of punishment, and for so many, the ultimate punishment is surely well deserved whatever his state of mind. However, in their final hypnosis session, Samantha Stone tricks the fictional Bianchi the same way Dr Martin Orne tricked the real one, proving he was faking it the entire time. Clearly, the film-makers did their research. The real Bianchi based Steve on a real person, what today would be called identity theft, but this film doesn't go that far.
If you are not averse to female nudity and don't mind a bit of graphic violence including dead bodies, this film has much to recommend it. And bear in mind that although this version is clearly fictionalised, the real crimes of the Hillside Stranglers were horrific beyond belief.