Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

moonspinner55 Fictionalized portrait of a real-life sociopath and killer from Arizona (nicknamed "The Pied Piper of Tucson"), a 23-year-old dropout from reality who easily enchanted all the bored, feckless teenagers hanging out at the local high school and community swimming pool. Robert F. Lyons is quite persuasive as the seductive charmer, disassociated from reality and living off his mother (Barbara Bel Geddes, who enables his freeloader lifestyle). He enjoys playing big brother and lover to the misfit kids in his stifling suburb (it feeds his ego) and, after killing a girl because he "had nothing else to do," he has no trouble getting a few of the teens to help him cover up his crime. Richard Thomas is somewhat miscast as a hitchhiker Lyons takes under his wing (Thomas is intrinsically too bright to play this antisocial rube), but the supporting cast is excellent, particularly Bel Geddes, Gloria Grahame as Thomas' mother, Edward Asner and Michael Conrad. It's a technically assured picture, but one which is ultimately uneasy as a dramatic entertainment. Was it intended as a warning film? Rather, it's an exercise in glamorously dangerous narcissism--the disaffected youth too cool for society. ** from ****

Coventry Director Barry Shear here delivers a truly unique and mesmerizing but also sadly unknown and unloved character study about one of the US' most unfathomable serial killers. The film revolves on the mid-60's Arizonian killer Charles Schmid Jr; nicknamed The Pied Piper of Tucson. Schmid was more or less like a crossbreed between Ted Bundy and Charles Manson. Similar to Ted Bundy because he was a good looking, charismatic and eloquent local boy who didn't have the slightest problem luring naive young girls (hence the nickname) and similar to Charles Manson because of the boundary-free hippie setting and because Schmid also had a great influence on his docile friends and involved them in his murderous schemes. Maybe I'm slightly biased, because I'm a big sucker for horror/thriller movies that are based on real-life serial killer cases, but "The Todd Killings" is a genuinely astounding film from many versatile viewpoints. Although the names of the characters were changed to protect the victims (and the guilty!), the script remains very true to the facts as they occurred. It's also a brutally honest film in terms of period setting and atmosphere. "The Todd Killings" shockingly illustrates that the mid-60's weren't all about peace and free love. The clichéd American Dream image of handsome teenagers with all the required capacities to succeed in life gets totally shattered here, because they merely just think about taking LSD and having sex. Robert F. Lyons gives a stunning performance as the unhinged killer protagonist Skipper Todd. He hates and mocks elderly folks, toys around with all the local high school girls that pitiably twirl around him and spends most of his days parading around in shorts at the swimming pool. Skipper eventually falls in love with a sincere girl (the stunningly ravishing Belinda Montgomery) but can't deal with the fact that she disapproves his derailed life-style. "The Todd Killings" is very raw and depressing, with sober cinematography and downbeat set pieces. The film is extremely low budget and doesn't contain a single moment of bloody violence, but the nihilistic ambiance is nevertheless horrifying and the (admittedly gratuitous) sequences of underage nudity form unpleasant confrontations with the wayward world of the 60's. One year after this, Barry Shear directed his most famous film; the stupendous Blaxploitation themed cop-thriller "Across 110th Street". They are two completely different movies proving Shear was a very gifted but sadly underrated filmmaker.

PeteStud If you are a fan of the film look of RACE WITH THE DEVIL check out this fantastic obscurity that has sadly been forgotten also. I wont give too much away but this was based upon a true story of a young hood who influences his peers and is totally nihilistic and misanthropic. Fans of THE RIVERS EDGE should not pass up the chance to see this equally controversial and powerful film. Sure the budget limitations show but the film still evokes a gut punch. Quite sleazy and creepy this was directed by Barry Shear who also directed the fantastic ACROSS 110TH STREET. Seek out this great "bleaker" and if you enjoy it, tell all your friends.I put it in the same depressive bin as TAXI DRIVER, COMBAT SHOCK, CLOCKWORK ORANGE and GOD'S LONELY MAN...just a earlier shoestring TV movie version. I loved it.

queenofthe9nile I did not really care for this movie too much. I found it to be a little gross-a twenty three year old man consorting with high school girls...where in the heck were the parents....And also to enlighten future viewers, Richard Thomas does NOT do a frontal nude scene, he doesn't even take off his shirt. The frontal nude is done by Robert Lyons and personally I think he should have left his clothes on. It really was not necessary. But you can judge for yourself if you stay with this big disappointment that long.