Michael Muscal 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, All Movie Guide

By day, Ed Gein was a quiet man who kept watch over the farm left to him by his late mother in Plainfield, a small rural community in Wisconsin. But by night, Gein was one of the most bizarre and dangerous psychopaths in recorded history. Raised by a violent alcoholic father and a mother with an obsessive fear of sin and hatred of sex, Gein had very few friends, and after the death of his parents, Gein was left to his own devices on the family farm (where, under a government subsidy program, he was paid not to grow crops), and his unhealthy obsessions eventually became ugly realities. Gein's crimes included murder, necrophilia, cannibalism, and grave robbing, with Gein using the flesh and bones of his victims to construct household objects, including a suit and mask made from human skin that Gein used when he wanted to dress up as a woman (it's been suggested that some of Gein's crimes stemmed from a twisted attempt to deal with his desire to change his gender). In 1957, two murders committed by Gein attracted the attention of the police, leading to Gein's arrest; near the end of that year, he was declared criminally insane and was committed for life to Wisconsin's Waupan State Hospital, where he stayed until his death in 1984. Gein's grisly story inspired a number of horror films, including Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Deranged, but Ed Gein is the first feature based strictly on the facts of Gein's case, using his real name as well as those of most of his victims. Ed Gein stars Steve Railsback in the title role, with Carrie Snodgrass as his mother Augusta, and Sally Champlin and Carol Mansell as two of his victims. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Loosely adapted from H.P. Lovecraft's Herbert West -- Re-Animator comes this sequel to one of the wildest, bloodiest, and funniest horror films to ever come down the pipe. Set eight months after the gruesome events of the first film, the follow-up opens with the demented Dr. Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) continuing to perfect his "re-agent" formula to regenerate dead tissue with the help of his ever-troubled assistant Dr. Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott). New characters include suspicious policeman Lt. Chapham (Claude Earl Jones) and Cain's old flame Francesca (Fabiana Udenio). Returning to Miskatonic Hospital after a short stint in the military, West and the reluctant, often unwitting Cain plan to create new life from a patchwork of body parts -- including the heart of Cain's beloved girlfriend. However, things quickly get out of hand thanks to the snooping of Lt. Chapham and the return of the evil decapitated Dr. Hill (David Gale) who wants revenge for his beheading. There's also the problem of West's dozens of oddball creations who want out of the dungeon they are trapped within. It all comes to a head as Cain and West resurrect their "bride" just as Dr. Hill literally flies in to take his vengeance with the help of West's freakish creations. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide