Night of the Strangler
Night of the Strangler | |
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Directed by | Joy N. Houck Jr. |
Written by |
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Produced by | Albert J. Salzer |
Starring |
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Cinematography | Dennis J. Cipnic |
Music by | Jim Helms |
Production company | Howco International Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 90 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Night of the Strangler is a 1972 American blaxploitation mystery film[1] directed by Joy N. Houck Jr. and starring Micky Dolenz and James Ralston. It depicts the story of Denise Roberts and her plans to enter into an interracial marriage with her baby's father; these plans are disrupted by his murder, which begins an escalating series of killings involving her brothers Vance (Dolenz) and Dan (Ralston) and their loved ones.
The film was released under several alternate titles. Its theme of racial conflict attracted criticism at the time, and the film did not perform well financially. More recent critics have expressed mixed opinions of the film's quality.
Plot
In New Orleans, Denise Roberts tells her brothers, Vance and Dan, that she is pregnant. Dan learns the baby's father is black, threatens her and her fiancé, and demands she get an abortion. After returning to New York, Denise tells her fiancé she has lost the child. While she is expressing concern about her brother's threats, an assassin kills her fiancé. Once back in New Orleans, an intruder in Denise's apartment drowns her in her bathtub, then slits her wrists in an attempt to disguise the murder as a suicide.
Weeks later, the long-absent black priest, Father Jessie, returns to the local parish. Dan marries Carol, who had previously been Vance's girlfriend. Several murders follow. After the wedding, Carol is killed by a venomous snake concealed in a bouquet of roses delivered to their home. The Roberts's gardener, Willie, attempts to stab Dan at the local marina, but Dan shoots him to death in self-defense. The assassin returns and prepares to shoot Dan, but is instead shot by a guard at the marina. Vance's wife, Ann, is killed by a
Jessie enters the scene and explains that he is actually Jessie's twin brother Jake; the real Jessie was the man who had gotten Denise pregnant, and Jake had orchestrated the string of murders in revenge for his death. He kills Dan and leaves the scene shortly before the police arrive.[1][2]
The next day Jake has packed up to leave town, but as he starts to get in his car he suddenly screams and leaps out as the two police officers who have been trying to solve the murders look on. Presumably, the police put the venomous snake in his car in order to get him to trip up.
Cast
- Micky Dolenz as Vance
- James Ralston as Dan
- Michael Anthony as Lt. De Vivo
- Chuck Patterson as Father Jessie / Jake
- Susan McCullough as Denise
- Katie Tilley as Ann
- Ann Barrett as Carol
- Warren J. Kenner as Willie
- Ed Brown as Jack Markam
- Harold Sylvester as Jim Bunch (as Harold Sylvester Jr.)
- Stocker Fontelieu as Father Babbin
- Wilbur Swartz as Monsignor Greyson
- Adrian C. Benjamin Jr. as Dr. Labewitz
- George Wood as Guard
- Anthony Buonagura as Mike
Production began with another actor in the role of Vance, but Albert J. Salzer found his performance unacceptable, and stopped production to replace him with Dolenz.[3] This was the film acting debut for both Chuck Patterson and Harold Sylvester.[1]
Production
Night of the Strangler was filmed in
The release date is also unclear. The AFI considers a June 1972 release reported by
Reception and legacy
According to film historian Gerald Butters, this film's showings at a cinema in the Chicago Loop were indicative of the trend toward blaxploitation releases in the early 1970s. However, the film performed poorly, and was screened there for only about two weeks,[6] nor was it profitable elsewhere.[3] Mike Royko criticized the movie's themes of racial violence (especially the advertising phrase “A racist wind blows the dust from a black man’s grave to choke the honkies to death.”) and suggested that this film, along with others like Slaughter, risked contributing to real-world crime.[8]
In a later review of the film for
In July 1983, the British pre-certification video distributor Cinema Indoors released the film (as Vengeance is Mine) on VHS and Betamax.[10] The film preservation and distribution company Vinegar Syndrome restored a print of the film held by the American Genre Film Archive and released it (as Night of the Strangler) on DVD.[9]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Dirty Dan's Women". Catalogue of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
- ^ a b c d e f g Sterritt, David. "The Night of the Strangler". TCM Underground. TCM. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
- ^ a b Albright 2012, p. 139.
- ^ Riggs 2000, p. 109.
- ^ Howard 2008, p. 177.
- ^ a b c Butters 2015, p. 91.
- ^ a b Yamato, Jen (2015-09-27). "Exclusive: Sleazy Trash Movie Posters from Nicolas Winding Refn's 'The Act of Seeing'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
- ^ Royko, Mike (1972-10-20). "Film Makers Hustling Racism, Wholesale Violence To Blacks". The Pittsburgh Press. p. 25.
- ^ a b Mondo Squallido [pseud.] (2015-07-21). "'Night of the Strangler' Review (Vinegar Syndrome)". Nerdly. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
- ^ "Vengeance is Mine". Pre-Certification Video. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
Bibliography
- Albright, Brian (2012). Regional Horror Films, 1958-1990: A State-by-State Guide with Interviews. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-7227-7.
- Butters, Gerald R. (2015). From Sweetback to Super Fly: Race and Film Audiences in Chicago's Loop. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 978-0-8262-2036-3.
- Howard, Josiah (2008). Blaxploitation Cinema: the Essential Reference Guide. FAB Press. ISBN 978-1-903254-37-0.
- Riggs, Thomas, ed. (2000). Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television. Vol. 31. Gale / Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0-7876-4636-3.