Attack of the Beast Creatures – 1985, US, 82m. Director: Michael Stanley.
The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher – 1979, US, 72m. Director: Ray Dennis Steckler
Stripped to Kill – 1987, US, 88m. Director: Katt Shea.
ATTACK OF THE BEAST CREATURES (1985) (AKA: Hell Island) Survivors of a capsized cruise liner wash ashore a woodsy island in hopes of finding food and shelter. Instead the characters are met with doom in the form of vicious, pint-sized critters that resemble the Zuni fetish doll from Trilogy of Terror (1975). Several people are attacked the first night in a choreographed scene that would make Jim Henson proud. The creatures prove they’re just as smart as the humans by sabotaging the survivors’ lifeboat and stranding them on the island. Filmed in Fairfield, Connecticut in 1983 and barely released in later years, this clever independent production lacks competent acting but delivers plenty of gory delights thanks to energetic direction. The film’s saving graces are its low budget puppet FX, which—considering they were executed in the wilderness—are impressive. B–
THE HOLLYWOOD STRANGLER MEETS THE SKID ROW SLASHER (1979) A woman-hating photographer (Pierre Agostino)—whose babbling voiceover is of the Travis Bickel variety—strangles his pin-up subjects because they remind him of his cheating ex. A man-hating bookstore owner (Carolyn Brandt) slashes vagrants and drunks for bringing down the property value of her not-exactly-thriving business. Eventually, Agostino and Brandt cross paths within their seedy downtown locale and realize they were just made for each other. Yet another primitive opus from Ray Dennis Steckler (The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies), and featuring all of the director’s trademark chintz, including the use of stock music and post-production audio recording. This is about as exciting as watching… well, a Ray Dennis Steckler movie. Which is to say not exciting at all. D+
STRIPPED TO KILL (1987) The murder of an exotic dancer sends a pretty undercover detective (Key Lenz) into the world of stripping in order to catch the killer. Proving she has the body but not the skill, Lenz lands a job at a seedy strip joint operated by Norman Fell and frequented by a creep (Peter Scranton) who leaves origami flowers for the strippers before they meet their ends. The next dancer is strung up on the back of a semi rig and dragged to her death. Lenz believes the victims were part of a lesbian love triangle but is proven wrong. Lenz gets in over her head, but as these movies usually go, is brought back to her senses after getting bedded by a man—the very cop (Greg Evigan) who got her into this mess to begin with. Strong acting and some actual surprises help the film rise above its mediocre screenplay, although the emphasis on naked bodies over blood and guts gives the film a sleazier vibe. Followed by Stripped to Kill 2: Live Girls. C+