By: divaD

divaD — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 12:37:57 +0000

First, I want to preface my review by stating that I’m one of the seemingly rare W.A.V.E. fans who really does watch these movies for their quirky, no-budget aesthetic, and not really for their “fetish” aspects. I don’t spend $23 – $50 on these movies because I want to see girls getting strangled, chloroformed, carried, etc. I don’t mind watching these things when they appear on-screen, but it’s not what I’m looking for in a W.A.V.E. movie. I guess my appreciation of these films stems from my young teenage days when I first discovered John Waters films. I always loved how he used the same actors and actresses for each and every movie. I became a fan of each and every actor, and was always excited to see what characters they would play next. My love for the recurring acting troupes are what led me to start appreciating movies by companies like E.I. Cinema, Wicked Pixel Cinema, Factory 2000, and W.A.V.E. You really get to know each actresses’/actors’ on-screen personas, and when they pop in the next feature, you smile and say, “Oh, there’s ____! I’m glad they are in this one too!” At least, this is what led me, personally, to become a W.A.V.E. fan — That, and of course, the wonderfully lurid, pulpy covers that have a style unparalleled by any film company ever.

That being said, this was the first “Strangled” entry that I had ever seen. Of course I had known about these films for a long time, but while browsing the online catalog for many years, I always avoided them, because a lot of the chloroforming/strangulation/struggle aspects tend to go on for quite some time, and with a title consisting of simply the word “Strangled” I assumed these would be nothing but prolonged clips of those aspects. With this movie, I was very pleasantly surprised! Not only are the chloroform/strangulation scenes pretty short and to the point, there is also a pretty cool story (reminding me a tad of Zombie Nightmare, except on a grander scale), some really neat and inventive shots (My favorite is Gary’s half-face staring into the camera as he’s watching his first victim, Tina Krause, in her bedroom), some pretty great acting from nearly the entire cast, and some honest-to-goodness tension/suspense. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting, and surprises like this are what keeps me shelling out the money for these movies.

And even though I praise the short length of the attack/struggle scenes, there is still more than enough scenes to satisfy those who are actually really into those aspects of these movies, so bottom line, if you like W.A.V.E. films at all, you really can’t go wrong with Strangled 3: Blood Test!

Comments on: Strangled 3: Blood Test

By: divaD