The Greasy Strangler

Dir: Jim Hosking

2016

*****

Jim Hosking and Toby Harvard’s The Greasy Strangler is one of the most disgusting, uncomfortable and depraved films I have ever seen. I think I liked it. I’ve never been one for so called ‘gross-out’ comedies and shock-for-shock-sake films generally leave me cold, irritated and whatever the opposite of shocked is. Hosking and Harvard’s film however had me transfixed. I don’t think I ever stopped asking why but soon enough it didn’t really matter, I was down the rabbit hole and I had no intention of leaving. My wife couldn’t bare more than a few minutes of it and she missed all of the worst parts. The Greasy Strangler is proof that originality and interesting characters can make just about any idea watchable. Big Ronnie (Michael St. Michaels – John Travolta’s hairdresser in real life) runs a disco-themed walking location tour in his town, alongside his son Big Brayden (Sky Elobar). Ronnie allows Brayden to live with him on the condition that Brayden prepares excessively greasy food for him. Ronnie is a pathological liar who fabricates stories about disco groups like the Bee Gees, as well as his supposed friendship with Michael Jackson. Brayden is slow but not as stupid as he seems and aspires to be a space fantasy author. Ronnie asserts that Brayden drove his mother away, though Brayden says that she left Ronnie for a man named Ricky Prickles. Ronnie and Brayden frequently call each other "bullshit artists" when they disagree with one another. It is annoying but I guarantee you will call someone a bullshit artist within hours of watching the film. At night, Ronnie completely covers himself in grease and strangles residents of the town (becoming known as "The Greasy Strangler"), starting with three people he kicked out of his tour group, for heckling him on free refreshments they were promised as part of the tour. After his killings, he cleans himself of the grease by standing in a car wash run by a blind man named Big Paul (Gil Gex). During one of the disco walking tours, Brayden meets a woman named Janet (Elizabeth De Razzo), and the two begin a romantic relationship. One night, Ronnie buys a hot dog from a vendor and forcibly covers it in grease, against the vendor's pleas. Later, as the vendor is defecating in his trailer, Ronnie strangles him through a window, causing his eyes to pop out of his head, which Ronnie cooks and eats. Brayden and Janet have sex, and the next morning, Ronnie attempts to seduce Janet by eating a grease-covered grapefruit. Ronnie takes Janet out to a discotheque, threatening to evict Brayden if he does not allow them to. Ronnie attempts to kiss Janet, but she resists, saying that she may be in love with Brayden. Ronnie kills Oinker, one of Brayden's friends, and goes to the discotheque with Paul. Against Brayden's wishes, Ronnie has sex with Janet, and he and Brayden have a heated argument the next day. Ronnie and Janet have sex again, and when Brayden confronts them, they mock him, prompting him to run from the house in despair. One night, Brayden confronts Janet in the kitchen and admits that he is in love with her. Ronnie overhears this, covers himself in grease, and pretends to stand in the car wash, allowing himself to sneak up on Paul and strangle him. He decapitates Paul with a nearby saw and dances with Paul's head. The next morning, Brayden calls a detective named Jody and reports that Ronnie may be the Greasy Strangler. Jody comes to the house the next day, and Brayden and Janet show him a spot of oil left behind on the carpet as evidence that Ronnie is the Greasy Strangler. Downstairs, Jody concludes that the oil is meaningless circumstantial evidence, and demands that they end all inquiries about Ronnie having committed the murders. Jody removes his glasses in a mirror, showing that he is Ronnie in disguise. That night, Janet declares her mutual love for Brayden, and they decide to get married. Ronnie, hiding under the bed, reveals himself, claiming Janet as his lover and evicting Brayden. Janet replies that Brayden can stay at her residence, and Ronnie leaves. He re-enters, covered in grease, slaps Brayden, and grabs Janet by the arm, leaving with her. Brayden covers himself in grease as well, and follows Ronnie and Janet to a movie theatre, where Ronnie is strangling her. Brayden strangles Janet instead, causing her eyes to pop out of her head, which both he and Ronnie consume. The next day, on a beach, Ronnie reveals that he cares for Brayden, despite his annoyance with him, and says that he would rather be with him than co-owning a discotheque with John Travolta in New Orleans. They bond over, in hindsight, their disgust with Janet. They cover themselves in grease and head to a forest where they murder Ricky Prickles, and then witness themselves be executed by firing squad, watching as liquid and confetti explode from their heads. They venture deeper into the forest, still covered in grease, and violently shake wooden spears at the camera in a primal manner. While the film is provocative in terms of taste, it survives in that it is genuinely funny and not just funny out of shock. You could argue that it is a post-modernist deconstruction of just about any contemporary mainstream film out there but many viewers (who aren’t concentrating on such things) would strongly disagree. It’s also a brilliant contemporary horror - but with excellent old-school horror techniques. Putting aside whether one likes it or not, you can’t overlook just how sublime the direction and cinematography is and just how well it is edited. People have commented that it is like an early John Waters film but I disagree, it is so much better and original than that. Hosking and Harvard have made other films look ridiculous in comparison, which is amazing considering their’s is an off-kilter work of absurdism. Weirdly, the film is also rather simple for a surrealist piece, making me think all the more that this is a swipe at the state of modern cinema – and current cinema audiences – what they do and don’t accept. It is an unpleasant masterpiece, although less unpleasant once you realise that all that grease is in fact yummy tapioca pudding.