allagesyoga This is a surprisingly sweet, even a wholesome film. The family that Angel /Molly has found on the streets is better than the family that abandoned her, and that seems to be the case for the entire cast of characters. You get this sense of a community of oddballs, ostracized for their sexuality or for unknown reasons, who have somehow found each other. There is so much care for each other. The killer is one of those 80s movie killers, trying to rid the world of sin, but the movie never once applies a sense of shame to its sex workers and other eccentrics. The killer is wrong to see them the way he does. They are all so human and so kind to one another. We were kind of clueless about a lot of things in the 80s, and the movie can be forgiven for eliding the truly sad realities of drug use and street life, because its mission isn't to show tragic hookers with hearts of gold, seeking redemption. It doesn't romanticize that life either. The people who meet and care about Angel want to get her off the streets because she is a damn child, but they don't judge her, they just protect her until she can do that. I also loved how clear the film is that she's actually a child. There were so many moments where she did something or reacted in a way that was so realistically 15 years old. I was surprised by this movie. It was . . . charming.

Robert J. Maxwell There aren't many good movies about necrophilia. For one thing, the subject is pretty disgusting. After even a few hours it's hard to make yourself believe that this was once a living human being. And to play a necrophiliac is, let's say, a challenge. Molly Parker pulled it off brilliantly in "Kissed" but here, John Diehl as the sinewy killer doesn't. He kills young whores on the Sunset Strip, takes the corpses home, and has his way with them. Actually, when you get right down to it, making love to a corpse sounds a little dull, but let's not talk about my marriage. Diehl sucks the innards out of a tiny hole in a raw egg while staring at his mother's photo. I don't think the laws of physics allow you to do that, but no matter. He finally scrunches the whole egg, shell and all, into his obscenely sucking mouth.The theme itself is a familiar one -- another serial killer. But there are a lot of colorful characters built into the plot around this monster. They all hang together on Sunset Boulevard and play hop scotch over the name plates in the sidewalk. They all seem to know one another.There's Susan Tyrrell as the punk landscape painter manqué. She has a voice whose croak is as distinctive as her Goth garb. She was my supporting player in the art house classic, "Windmills of the Gods." She and Cliff Gorman, the detective, are the two most skilled performers in the cast. Then there is Steven Porter as Yoyo Charlie, shy, dressed like Emmet Kelly, who "adores Donna Wilkes from afar." And, as impressive as any of the other goofy buskers, is Rory Calhoun, ex cowboy star, never much of an actor but still going strong and very likable. He gives the role everything he's got, which doesn't include nuance. Dick Shawn is the catty cross-dresser with a heart of gold.Donna Wilkes -- high school student and honorable daughter by day, hooker by night -- is neither here nor there as an actress. She doesn't drop the ball entirely, just juggles around uncertainly with it, but she's not up to the bizarre levels of her street buddies. And she's too old for her role, despite the pig tails, but then so is everyone else in her high school class. Peter Jason, as the first john we see her with, overacts to the point of embarrassment. It's not even funny.I can believe that the hustlers and whores know one another but it gives a false impression of what Los Angeles (and Southern California) is like in general. Think of the bustles, shouts, curses, and intrusions on the fetid streets of New York. Now take all that energy away. Los Angeles is not a village. It's an intricate system of freeways with some houses and malls sprinkled between.The direction is routine, appropriate to a television movie, filled with jumbo close ups for the small screen, as in a commercial for a brokerage firm. The photography and lighting are pretty good, though. They DO evoke the Strip in the 80s. Except, I suppose at the director's insistence, the men who stand in the police line up are illuminated by kick lights on the floor, turning them all into zombies. You wouldn't be able to identify your father. The story -- well, it winds up with Angel striding grimly along Hollywood Boulevard, stalking a fake Hare Krishna while holding a huge revolver in her hand.It's not a very good film. Serial killers have been subject to pattern exhaustion by now but I have nothing against them. "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" nettles the brain and "Se7evn," despite the stupid transposition of a letter and number, and in spite of all that dark rain, is truly spooky.

SanteeFats A fifteen year old high school student with great grades is also a hooker at night on Sunset Blvd. The fact that she is played by a 25 year old woman is besides the point, I guess. There is a nut case out killing whores and so she is on the list of course. The creep kills one of her fellow pros. So there is fear on the streets. Dick Shawn plays a transvestite who also works the streets, loves Angel like a sister, and ends up getting killed by said psycho. This sets Angel off and she gets a gun and goes looking for the killer. He attacks her, she gets rescued and starts stalking him. Running him down she takes a couple of shots at him but he ends up getting gunned down by a street performer played pretty well by of all people Rory Calhoun.

The_Void I went into this really expecting to see something special. The plot description sounded like it would lend itself brilliantly to a classic of trash cinema...although unfortunately, the only kind of trash that this film is, is the kind that you'd want to throw out. The film features a few different characters and ideas; and this is basically where it falls down; as nothing is really explored properly meaning that what we are left with feels extremely underdone and disappointing. The plot focuses on a young girl named Molly Stewart, who also goes under the alias 'Angel'. Molly is a straight A student and at the top of her class; but once night falls she's Angel; an underage prostitute who goes around town turning tricks for sleazy male clientèle. However, she's not the only one prowling around town as it just so happens that there's also a serial killer going round hacking up the girls. After one of Angel's friends is killed inside her apartment; our heroine gets some unwanted police attention, and aside from keeping her out of the killer's way; a copper decides to help her with her personal life.The main plot revolves around Molly and her tragic life, as well as the idea of the police officer trying to get her off the game. This takes up a sizable chunk of the movie, which leaves the serial killer by the wayside and feeling rather pointless. There's a fair few distinctive characters in the film and while most of them serve a point; again there's not really enough time to give them a justifiable piece of the movie. Lead actress Donna Wilkes is really rather poor and does not convince in the lead role either and her performance feels extremely forced, which brings the whole thing down a bit further. To the film's credit, however, the way that so many things happen does mean that the film doesn't really have chance to get boring. It's clear that the plot wasn't meant to be taken completely seriously either; there are a few funny moments, with the fight between a transvestite and a Hare Krishna being one of the most memorable. The film is also not very sleazy, which is a shame considering the obvious potential. Overall, this film is not a complete dead loss; but it's not as good as it could have been and there are better films with similar plots (e.g. Crimes of Passion).