Usually, a movie review is introed with a fun statement about the film and the context of its genre, or perhaps some other fun history. However, there isn’t usually a film like The Greasy Strangler– a surreal bit of raunch and debauchery that walks a fine line between being scary, being funny, and simply being weird. It’s a distinctly unusual film, but that does not make it any less fun. The debut feature from Jim Hosking is a midnight theater favorite in waiting, a marvelous artifact of cinematic anti-humor camp.
The Greasy Strangler tells the tale of the dysfunctional and downright bizarre escapades of father and son duo, Ronnie (Michael St. Michaels) and Brayden (Sky Elobar). By day, they lead mediocre tours of the disco hotspots of yesteryear throughout Los Angeles. By night, Brayden works on his fantasy novels while Ronnie tends to his wildly unhealthy habit of eating ultra-greasy meals. After Brayden becomes smitten with a customer, Ronnie becomes more hostile toward his son. This, along with a rise in stranglings around town, leads Brayden to suspect his father is the titular culprit, a grotesque creature known as the ‘The Greasy Strangler.’
It would be easy to write off The Greasy Strangler as just campy. It is intentionally campy, after all, and that is part of its initial magnetism: the repetitious humor executed with cringeworthy delivery, the fantastic and quite literally eye-popping practical effects, the bizarro fashion sense that is appropriately stuck in the 70s, yet inappropriately revealing, Andrew Hung’s goofy, but oh-so-catchy synth score etc. While many modern camp films are framed as intentional homages to distinct eras of film history – i.e. 80s horror, 70s exploitation – The Greasy Strangler only takes nods to the past but feels oddly refreshing, and perhaps even forward-thinking. Its anti-humor plays like a live action adaptation of a Nickelodeon cartoon written by John Waters, directed by Jared Hess.
What makes The Greasy Strangler work is that it is charming in a way that most weird-for-weird’s-sake aren’t. Ronnie is truly despicable, but there is a charisma to him that makes it hard to turn away – even when he is walking through a car wash with a carrot-sized prosthetic johnson hanging about. As is Brayden, endearing, yet miserable. There is a surprising depth to each, a complexity that keeps you intrigued in the surrealist world Hosking has created. Their dynamic is surprising dynamite, despite their shared comedic bits wearing rather thin by the end of the film. A lot of the chemistry is due to all-in performances from Michael St. Micheals and Sky Elobar, but it also comes from a thoroughly unrelenting and inventive film that trusts in the world it creates.
‘The Greasy Strangler’ is not rated. 93 minutes. Now playing at Cinefamily and on demand.
