The Thrill Killers
The Thrill Killers is a 1964 American horror film directed by Ray Dennis Steckler. It stars Steckler and Liz Renay.
The film centers on several psychotic murderers who escape a mental institution and go on a killing spree in Los Angeles.
Plot
Joe Saxon is an aspiring actor whose outlandish parties and spending worry his wife, Liz.In another scene, we see a young, Greek immigrant named Dennis Kesdekian kisses his wife and family good-bye as he leaves for another day at work. Kesdeckian sees a hitchhiker and offers to give him a ride. The hitchhiker shoots the man and steals his car.
That night, Joe throws a party at his house. He and Liz do not know most of the people who attend, but it is part of Joe's plan to wine and dine producer George Morgan, whose next picture Joe desperately wants a part in.
On the other side of town, the hitchhiker has picked up a nightclub dancer/prostitute and takes her back to her apartment, where he brutally murders her with a pair of scissors.
While Joe and Liz are arguing, they hear of the murders over the radio, and learn that the assailant was Mort "Mad Dog" Click, long wanted by the police for similar crimes. Also on the loose are three mental patients who have escaped from the local asylum.
The next day, Liz decides to leave Joe and drives out to her cousin Linda's restaurant up in the hills. At the restaurant, Linda congratulates her friends Ron and Carol on their marriage and purchase of a nearby house. Liz pulls in just after the couple leave.
Ron and Carol get to their new house and look around. When they find their handyman missing, they look out back at a smaller house on the property, where they find him decapitated by the escaped mental patients—the axe-wielding Keith, Herbie and Gary. Ron is decapitated in front of Carol, and then after some amount of chasing around the property, Carol is disposed of in a similar fashion.
Joe and Morgan show up at Linda's restaurant, as do the three killers. Herbie calls his friend, who turns out to be Click, to come by and get rid of the two others. When Liz and Joe realize who the three are, the killers hold them hostage. Linda poisons Herbie's coffee and kills him, while Gary chases Liz outside up in the hills.
While Linda and Morgan phone for the police, Joe follows the Gary and Liz up into the hills and a battle between Gary and Joe takes place on a mountain-top. Liz goes to get help, but is picked up and kidnapped by Click, who is now on the scene. Gary is pushed off a cliff and falls to his death. Joe, from afar, sees Liz get into Click's car, unaware that the man driving her is also a madman.
Liz escapes Click's clutches as the police arrive and take chase. Click shoots a camper and steals his horse, and heads further up to the hills on horseback, chased after by a motor patrolman. After a furious gun battle, Click is shot to death.
Sometime after the events have taken place, Joe has sworn off acting, until he gets a call from Morgan that he wants him to star in his picture opposite his newest discovery, Miss Transylvania—Linda!
Cast
- Ray Dennis Steckler as Mort "Mad Dog" Click
- Liz Renay as Liz Saxon
- Joseph Bardo as Joe Saxon
- Carolyn Brandt as Carol
- Gary Kent as Gary Barcroft
- Herb Robins as Herbie Click
- Keith O'Brien as Keith Rogers
- Laura Benedict as Linda
- Ron Burr as Ron
- Erina Enyo as Erina Devore
- Atlas King as Dennis Kesdekian
- Nancy Crawford as Mrs. Kesdekian