Shocktober 2024: Las Vegas Serial Killer (Ray Dennis Steckler, 1986)

Jonathan Klick, the serial killer known as The Hollywood Strangler, is released from prison. He heads to Las Vegas, where he roams around, mutters to himself, and strangles women, primarily models or sex workers. Meanwhile, two mysterious men are listening to the radio when they hear news of Klick’s release. They too make their way to Las Vegas. Are they vigilantes or fellow travellers? Who can tell. The men spend their time in Vegas going to museums and strip clubs, robbing people, and eating fast food.

 

This might be a sequel nobody asked for, but I’m glad it exists — as it expands and deepens my understanding of Ray Dennis Steckler’s universe. He operates very well in Las Vegas, truly a perfect place for him. If you’ve seen The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher (1979), a lot of the plot will feel familiar — it’s basically the same story, murder setups and victims are reused, etc. But at the same time, it’s a much richer film, mainly because of the setting. This is the shitty Vegas they complain about at the end of Scorsese’s Casino, all grimy, disgusting, bloated.

 

This is, surprisingly, something of a hangout movie, low on action, even lower on dialogue. The way Steckler fills the running time with ‘environmental ambience’ where nothing really happens — shots of the strip, a random rodeo, Klick’s job at a pizza place — is almost hypnotizing. As in the last movie, cops are nowhere to be found, criminals do what they please, you can get mugged, stabbed or killed anywhere, anytime (and you probably will be). The city is even more depraved than LA. The kills are as disturbing as ever but they are also more mundane and sad. Steckler is definitely in conversation with Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, which came out the same year.

 

At this point in Steckler’s career he was clearly not as vital as in the 60’s, but there’s enough here — moreso if you’re a hardcore auteurist — to make it a fascinating watch. The abrupt final freeze frame is one for the history books, one of the most outrageous endings to a movie I’ve seen in quite some time. Dr. Runtime approved (76 mins).