The Thrill Killers1964

Ray Dennis Steckler was a master of zero-budget, psychotronic filmmaking. Just give him a 16 mm camera and some rolls of film, and he could literally make something out of nothing. “The Thrill Killers” is a classic example of a Steckler shocker, and though it lacks some of the outrageousness of other Steckler monsterpieces like "Rat Pfink a Boo Boo,"or "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies,” Steckler still generates some , twisted, Grindhouse moments in this Psychopathic Showdown.

Ray Dennis Steckler was a master of zero-budget, psychotronic filmmaking. Give him a 16 mm camera and some rolls of film, and Steckler could literally make something out of nothing. "The Thrill Killers" is an excellent example of a Steckler shocker. Though it lacks the over-the-top outrageousness of other Steckler monsterpieces such as "Rat Pfink a Boo Boo" or "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies," there are some inventive, twisted moments in this psychopathic showdown.

“Thrill Killers” may not have the daredevil, pizzaz of films by his peers –say, Herschel Gordon Lewis' "2,000 Maniacs," or Russ Meyer's "Faster, Pussycat! Kill Kill”--but Ray Dennis Steckler had the technical chops to crank out an entertaining exploitation feature. Steckler should be recognized as a pioneer in guerrilla-style filmmaking and an inspiration for anyone with lots of ideas but few resources.

In this entertainingly seedy early work from Ray Dennis Steckler, you get FOUR psycho killers in one slim seventy-minute flick. That's a pretty good deal if you ask me. It was originally supposed to be about three murderous escaped mental patients who are on the loose in Hollywood, but in the middle of shooting, Steckler felt that the film needed something more so he shoehorned in a fourth killer who also happens to be on the loose at the same time and played the part himself (under his acting pseudonym Cash Flagg). I guess everybody's gonna have a favorite psycho here. Me, I'm going with Steckler's Mort "Mad Dog" Click. Maybe he doesn't get to chop anyone's head off or giggle like a maniac or have a great death scene in which he drinks coffee spiked with rat poison like the other guys' do, but the scene in which he stabs a prostitute with scissors by the light of a flashing sign holds its own.

Said to be based on a true story. Hmmm, I wonder if Charles Manson saw this film before he created the Manson Family and their murderous mayhem . Topanga Canyon needs to be off limits; too many murders and bad vibes there.

Filmed back in the day when women were not able and not allowed to defend themselves, makes me want to watch 'Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill! ' as soon as possible.

Short film with axe murders, scissor murder, decapitations, women 'running like girls', Hollywood party, lots of gun action, even a chase scene with a mad killer on a horse being pursued by a cop on a motorcycle. Overall, I dug it.