Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Teenage Strangler (1964)

aka Terror in the Night

How bad is it? It's amateur in the extreme.
Should you see it? Sure. It goes by pretty fast, even though it's padded.

Retitled for video to fit in with a series of releases, this is a rare film from West Virginia. Girls are being discovered strangled with stockings and with an X marked on their foreheads with lipstick. The prime suspects are the local gang, the Fastbacks, who are the least threatening gang in film history. The prime suspect, a kid with a past, has a kid brother who wears glasses, is twitchy, has a girlish voice and is so awkward you feel guilty for laughing at his nerdiness. A lot of characters are townspeople playing themselves, so the acting is non-existent, particularly the sheriff, who is wooden. There's a surprise musical number, "Yipes Stripes," which is a highlight. This was featured by MST3K, but it stands on its own as a funny bad film.

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