The Thrill Killers!

The Thrill Killers is far and away Ray Dennis Steckler's most normal movie, but that being said it still ain't all that normal. It's a noir thriller as such as shot on black and white it is totally appropriate both in style and content. The movie is filled with actors and "actors" who are a regular part of Steckler's team in these 60's flicks. Steckler often brings up John Ford, who famously used a steady cast in movie after movie and since Steckler is often relying on friends and amateurs to fill out the parts in his movies, many familiar faces show up time and again. The most common is his wife of ten years Carolyn Brand who is in most all his movies but like as not gets killed rather early because she carries so many other duties behind the scenes in these Steckler epics. 

One new face of sorts in this one is Liz Renay, a bombshell celebrity slash actress who shows up in a bunch of these low budget affairs. Apparently they waited until she got out of stir to make this particular movie. This is also the first time that Steckler worked with Ron Haydock who appears under the name "Lonnie Lord". Haydock was a fascinating chap in his own right who was a wannabe rock star and even wrote novels (admittedly of the porn variety) and comics (Warren magazine's Creepy). More on Haydock next time. 

This movie is about a psycho killer named Mort "Mad Dog" Click (played by "Cash Flagg" who is actually Steckler himself) who we see on a mini rampage and then we encounter three escaped nutters who are killers themselves, one being Mad Dog's  brother. They kill some folks and then threaten others, including wannabe actor Joe Saxon who must face reality to combat this bizarre threat. Lots of other Steckler regulars show up such as Erina Enyo, Atlas King, Jim Bowie and Titus Moede. 

This movie is remarkable in that it pretty much stays within the guidelines of one genre, though it does adopt something of a western feel in the final chase sequences. Steckler seemed to get bored with his own projects and often his movies switch up in the middle or start out being multiple things, which can make then hilarious and entertaining in a strange way, but not really good in a traditional sense. This one gets the closes to being a regular movie that I've seen from him. 

But like his previous movie, this one too ended up with a William Castle-like gimmick and after a color introduction about hypnotism there is a spinning wheel that signals that "maniacs" will soon be "on the loose" in the theater. The movie was apparently retitled The Maniacs are Loose! at some point. 

The next Steckler movie is a really unusual outing. It's called The Lemon Grove Kids Meet The Monsters and we encounter this oddity next time. 

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