The Greasy Strangler

Part of Loft Staff Selects, a monthly series showcasing film favorites chosen by our amazing Loft Cinema staff! This month’s film was chosen by Maegen Ross-Voitcu!

A mind-melting masterpiece of bad taste, this grotesquely hilarious exercise in juvenile depravity and cheesy gore follows the disgusting adventures of a pair of disco tour guides whose town is terrorized by a slimy maniac covered in grease. Middle-aged, comb over-topped Big Brayden (Sky Elobar, Don Verdean) and his sleazy father Big Ronnie (Michael St. Michaels, The Video Dead) make their money guiding gullible tourists around fake disco landmarks of yesteryear (“The Earth, the Wind, and the Fire lived here”). The rest of the time, Brayden and Ronnie consume grease-and oil-soaked meals, the greasier the better, and get locked into absurd loops of vulgar conversation, usually in little more than their birthday suits. Enter the voluptuous disco aficionado Janet (Elizabeth De Razzo, “Eastbound and Down”), who captures Brayden’s heart and loins, only to inspire jealousy from the lecherous Big Ronnie.  All the while, Brayden and the denizens of the unnamed city are baffled as to the identity of the Greasy Strangler, a slippery and fiendish murderer covered head-to-toe in fat and oil who crushes skulls and eats eyeballs.  An outrageous comedy/horror flick that is equal parts disgusting, hilarious and entertaining, The Greasy Strangler is crazed extravaganza that has been described by horrified critics as an unholy combination of John Waters, Tim & Eric and Troma … with extra grease.  (Dir. by Jim Hosking, 2016, USA, 93 mins., Not Rated)