Since 2002 there's been an influx of true crime suspense/dramas going direct-to-video based on some of the most notorious serial killers of our time and obviously it's been doing well for the companies behind them as they continue to be produced.

Director Chuck Parello (who did one of the better one's with Ed Gein) returns to tell the tale of the "Hillside Stranger", a subject that's been tackled before in various TV movies (and an independent movie released the same year as this with the same title) only he makes it into an unpleasant time with nary a likeable character in sight (which, really, is the point).

Former minor teen heartthrob C. Thomas Howell plays meek Kenneth Bianchi who after being rejected yet again to become a policeman heads off to California to stay with his cousin Angelo Buono (Nicholas Turturro). Once there he's introduced to the World of sex, drugs, and greed where a bunch of scamming (he pretends he's a psychiatrist and they open an escort service together) leads to murder when the two cousins decide to start kidnapping, raping, and killing local prostitutes and eventually regular women. This leads to the press creating the title killer thinking it was only one man, when really it was two.

Parello and his co-writer Stephen Johnston bring a matter-of-factness to the whole proceedings and manage to squeeze enough of the real facts into the films ninety-eight minutes to give you the basics of the story and thankfully they don't dwell on the torture and rape of the female victims longer than they should but the main reason this comes out as an above average character study is the performances of the two leads with Howell giving Bianchi a wimpiness that's off-set by Turturro's volatile performance as Buono.

There's a few plot moments that could've been expanded (I myself wouldn't of minded a bit more information on the police investigation) but this is still a mostly succesful look at one of the 70's more high profile murder cases, even if it isn't quite on the level of Parello's last "based on a true story" flick.

Review based on the unrated version. (Chris Hartley, 10/7/04)

Directed By: Chuck Parello.
Written By: Stephen Johnston, Chuck Parello.

Starring: C. Thomas Howell, Nicholas Turturro, Allison Lange, Marisol Padilla Sanchez.