Chuck Parello Movies

A real-life series of killings that held Los Angeles, CA, in the grip of fear during the late '70s provides the inspiration for this tense crime drama. Kenneth Bianchi (C. Thomas Howell) is a nebbishy security guard who lives with his mother in Rochester, NY, and dreams of becoming a police officer. After Bianchi's application to join the Rochester police is turned town, he takes his mother's advice and moves out to Glendale, CA, where she arranges for him to stay with his cousin, Angelo Buono (Nicholas Turturro), who works in auto repair. When he's unable to get a position with the Glendale Police Department, Bianchi steps outside the law and, claiming to have a degree in psychology and a license to practice, sets up shop as a counselor. While Bianchi never had much luck with women in Rochester, Buono gives him some advice and sets him up on a few dates; soon Bianchi has a string of girlfriends, though things become complicated when one of his steady girls, Claire Shelton (Allison Lange), becomes pregnant and moves in with him. As Bianchi becomes increasingly obsessed with sex, he and his cousin join forces to set up a prostitution ring, which quickly earns them the enmity of a group of career criminals. When Bianchi and Buono discover that they have been double crossed by one of the hookers in their stable, the two men rape and murder the woman in the back of a car; Bianchi discovers he enjoys the thrill of killing, and soon he and Buono begin committing a string of sexually tinged murders throughout the Los Angeles area, with the press soon dubbing the culprit "The Hillside Strangler." The Hillside Strangler was one of two identically titled films based on the same true story that were released in 2004; the other was directed by Chris Fisher and starred Clifton Collins Jr. and Tomas Arana as Bianchi and Buono. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Writer/director Chuck Parello's sequel to John McNaughton's Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer traces the murderous career of the title character after the events of the first film. Opening with scenes of woodland carnage, the film shifts to a homeless shelter where Henry (Neil Giuntoli, replacing Michael Rooker) ignores the rape of one fellow resident by another. Henry soon lands back on his feet by obtaining a job installing port-a-potties alongside straight shooter Kai (Rich Komenich) and his wife, Cricket (Kate Walsh). The kind but low-rent couple allow Henry to move into their home, where he makes the acquaintance of Cricket's dowdy, troubled niece, Louisa (Carri Lynn Levinson). As Louisa begins to develop a dangerous crush on Henry, the killer discovers that Kai is an arsonist and soon joins him on a series of jobs. When a pair of drugged-out teens witnesses one of the fires, Henry convinces Kai to help him kill the boys; soon the pair are murdering innocents to let off steam. Cricket, worried about her husband's erratic behavior and her niece's attachment to Henry, orders Kai to kick Henry out. Henry, meanwhile, rejects the sexual advances of the unbalanced Louisa, setting the stage for further bloodshed. Director Parello, who appeared in McNaughton's Mad Dog and Glory, and helped promote the original Henry, cast Giuntoli in the lead role after the actor played a serial rapist in McNaughton's The Borrower. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi