Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

terrible... so disappointed.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

When I was growing up, I saw this movie (under the title "The Dark Ride") in several video stores in my town. I was curious about it, but I never got around to renting it. Recently, I found a copy in a thrift store, and felt it was now or never. To tell the truth, I thought it would be awful, but to my surprise I found several aspects of the movie worthy of merit. It's decently acted for the most part by the no-name cast, for one thing. And there are a number of scenes involving the killer that have some genuine creepiness, such as using the simple but effective technique of little to no background music. The movie also correctly illustrates that investigations of serial killers take a lot of long and hard work. Unfortunately, that leads to the big problem of the movie. Even though the movie runs less than 90 minutes, the story is still too drawn out, and gets dull at times. Also, if you are looking for plenty of exploitation material like gore and sexual stuff, there isn't much of that here. In fact, it wouldn't take that much editing to make this movie safe to broadcast on commercial TV. So while I am firm in my opinion to not seek out this movie, I will say that if you find yourself watching it you won't find it completely bad.

Killer's Delight is said to be based on the real life crimes of Ted Bundy, and that would seem to be an accurate assessment of the film as the killer in this film and the real life killer share many similarities; although the release of Killer's Delight and the apprehension of Ted Bundy happened around the same time. The majority of this film focuses on the investigation into the murders rather than the murders themselves and as such the film is not particularly graphic, but we do get to see how the killer targets his victims. The film takes place in a small town and several young girls have turned up dead. Detective De Carlo believes that all the murders were committed by the same killer and as he begins to investigate, discovers that all the girls were hitchhiking before they were killed. It soon becomes apparent to Detective De Carlo that the killer is not only continuing, but actually flaunting the murders under the police's noses. Things begin to heat up as the search for the killer becomes more desperate.The film gets off to a promising start as we see a young hitchhiker kidnapped and killed, but then things slow down a bit as the police investigation takes central stage. It has to be said that there isn't a lot of tension featured in the film and it mostly just relies on the story and characters to pull it through, which does keep things interesting for most of the duration. The film is very much a product of the seventies; and the production values are surprisingly good and while I doubt that the film had an affluent budget to work from, it doesn't seem to be a low budget film either and I am a rather surprised that the film has vanished so far into obscurity. The film does become a bit tedious in places as it moves on and the final third can be a bit slow, which is a shame but the final climax is decent enough and the film does feature a fitting ending. Despite its obscurity, the film does have a DVD release and while I wouldn't recommend that anyone rushes out to purchase it; it is a decent enough watch if you can get your hands on a copy.

Cruel and cunning misogynistic serial killer Danny (superbly played with creepy intensity by John Karlen of "Dark Shadows" and "Daughters of Darkness" fame) preys on nubile young lady hitchhikers in a small San Francisco town. It's up to tough, determined Detective Vince De Carlo (a fine and convincing performance by James Luisi) and his easygoing partner Mike (a solid Martin Speer; Dee Wallace husband in Wes Craven's horror classic "The Hills Have Eyes") to nab the foul fiend. Director Jeremy Hoenack, working from a tight and gripping script by Maralyn Thoma (amazingly, Thoma has gone on to a hugely successful career as a head writer for various daytime TV soap operas!), relates the grim and absorbing story at a steady pace, maintains a gritty, serious tone throughout, and develops a considerable amount of nerve-wracking suspense. Moreover, Hoenack admirably eschews for the most part the standard graphic sex and violence route of typical trashy 70's drive-in exploitation fare to focus more on the plot and characters. However, the violence against women is still pretty ugly and upsetting stuff, with the movie reaching its harrowing zenith with a gut-wrenching sequence depicting Danny brutalizing two frightened gals in back of his van. This film further benefits from credible acting by a sturdy cast: Luisi and Speer make for likable protagonists, Karlen excels as one memorably vicious and depraved mother-fixated wacko, plus there's neat supporting turns by Susan Sullivan as helpful psychologist Carol, Hilarie Thompson as the sweet Annie, and the ubiquitous George 'Buck' Flower as old-timer witness Pete. Arthur R. Botham's pretty polished cinematography adds an impressive sense of scope with its occasional breathtaking aerial panoramic shots of San Francisco. Bryon Olson's shuddery score likewise hits the shivery spot. The startling downbeat ending packs a wicked punch. A real sleeper.

I rented this film out of the local video store one day, you know, the kind of movie with box art that just reaches out and tells you to 'rent me'. Well, if you see this dull film in your video store, walk on by. Fight the urge, rent a porno, because this film is BOOOoooorrrring. Despite the interesting opening, the film lapses into repetitive murders and a hardboiled cop stumbling around, dealing with the usual problems (wife, bastard of a boss, etc). Wondering if the fast forward function on your VCR works? Rent this film and put your concerns to the test.