Massage Parlor Murders (1973)

Police partners in New York City investigate the ghastly murders committed by a serial killer who targets sex workers in Times Square.

Irving (Chester Fox, the director of this film) is a Woody Allen type nervously seeking some illicit delights at a seedy massage parlor.

The girl compares him to Clarke Gable (which he thinks is a joke) then talks him into $20 to take her top off. He doesn't have that kind of money, but shells it out begrudgingly.

 

Finally, she asks for $30 to make him feel good, and Irving says the hell with this. He can't go through with it.

Girl: Irving, was it the thirty dollars?

Irving: Oh, no, no, no. To heck with the thirty dollars. I feel like an idiot. I feel ridiculous about the whole thing, but I've tried it and it's not for me, and that's all there is to it.

Detective Rizotti (George Spencer) is with Rosie (Kathie Fitch) at the The Venus Paradise massage parlor for a break from the action.

 

But it's time to go back to his normal life as a homicide detective and loving husband.

Rizotti joins his partner Detective O'Mara (John Moser) who doesn't partake in the massage parlor's services.

They go back to patroling the mean city streets in their Plymouth Fury.

Rosie gets dressed and joins her The Venus Paradise co-workers.

Rizotti returns home where his doting wife (Marlene Kallevig) dutifully pops a cold can of Budweiser for her hardworking detective husband.

A mysterious customer strolls up to the massage parlor and chooses Rosie to provide a "full body massage".

She leads the customer to a back room.

Rosie takes off her top. While she is looking at herself in the mirror, a hand appears behind her. Her head is bashed against the wall, then she is strangled to death.

Rizotti and his partner are called to the scene.

They find Rosie dead by the massage table.

Rizotti is pretty upset - his favorite whore has been murdered.

To gather information, O'Mara pays a visit to Gwen (Sandra Peabody), Rosie's roommate.

Gwen puts on some clothes and invites him in.

O'Mara breaks the bad news to Gwen. He asks if anyone was giving Rosie a hard time, like a boyfriend. Gwen shows O'Mara Rosie's daily planner; therein, they found a schedule with a certain guy they refer to as Mr. Creepy.

The two follow Mr. Creepy (George Dzundza) and they give him an old-school roughing up in a back alley.

Meanwhile, the real killer visits another massage parlor. The unseen figure selects a girl (Arlana Blue).

The woman is suffocated to death and acid is poured on her body.

This new murder proves that Mr. Creepy isn't the killer. Rizotti and O'Mara are back in their Plymouth Fury headed to the next massage parlor crime scene.

The detective on the scene informs them: "The girl was smothered. Acid thrown all over her. It ain't pretty." Rizotti whips out a map trying to figure out where the closest massage parlor is located. It's 1973 NYC; I'm sure there were plenty.

Rizotti goes out on the town interviewing street urchins, and the audience gets to see some amazing marquees and street shots of NYC a few years before it was at its absolute dingiest .

After a long night, Rizotti returns home, drinks a Bud and treats his wife like shit.

O'Mara does his own investigation and winds up at a decadent gathering like the infamous Plato's.

He gets in a car chase with a suspect ending in a junkyard crash. The whole endeavor gets him no closer to finding the serial killer.

Rizotti and O'Mara visit a peep show and view a strange performance. A woman and businessman get undressed to the music of "In the Hall of the Mountain King".

After yet another murder, a clue leads the detectives to nutcase Brother Theodore.

O'Mara and Gwen are falling in love. They have a romantic evening on the town.

At another massage parlor, one of the workers says, "My last customer was a real freak. No more weirdos for me. I've had it."

The killer strolls into the massage parlor.

He chooses the smoking girl (Mercedes Ragusa).

She takes him to a back room and removes her top.

She's knocked out and laid on the massage table.

She is then stabbed repeatedly with broken glass.

O'Mara and Gwen continue their romance, having a picnic in the park.

Rizotti has a revelation in church that the serial killer must be a religious nut. So, he and O'Mara go to a used bookstore and research the seven deadly sins.

They hustle to Gwen's to see if she's okay. Of course, she's not. Gwen has been tied upside down topless with her throat cut. O'Mara is devastated.

We now return to the massage parlor featured at the start of the film, with the same prostitute welcoming a new customer.

We finally see the killer (Bill Buck). He lays some hundred dollar bills on the table and tells her what to do with them.

He then puts on his gloves and prepares to kill her.

He punches her in the face.

Fortunately, she's not as defenseless as O'Mara's quickly forgotten lover. She pours rubbing alcohol on him, then he catches fire from a candle. When our two detectives arrive, Rizotti hilariously begins pumping the burning man full of lead. THE END

VZ6 SCORECARD

I can't get past the opening scene.  It's really funny, and quite honestly would fit right in with a Woody Allen film or pretty much any quirky comedy of the day.  Not only does it not blend with the rest of the film, it makes me wonder what this film could have looked like if they had chosen to maintain the comedic tone throughout.  Regardless, once we get past that, the rest of the film is your standard grimy exploitation film.  For my money it can't be beat in terms of showcasing the gritty NYC streets with wonderful shots of the marquees playing trashy films.  It's wonderful in that way. 

When it tries to be dramatic - in terms of the relationships the two detectives are in - it gets pretty cheesy and laughably bad.  But that adds to the fun I suppose. The standout actress in this film is definitely Sandra Peabody who is mainly known for being the daughter/victim in Last House on the Left.  She was in a number of damn good exploitation films, but that's clearly the best known.  Peabody has a nude scene in this film where she's having sex with the detective; however, it's done in such a stylized way, it's hard to get a good look.  Sadly the clearest nude scene from Peabody is when she's dead - topless and strung upside down.

Want a trashy grindouse film from the seventies set in heyday of sleaze, you can't do much better than this.  And while it seems really dark and disturbing, it's film with that HG Lewis/ Ray Dennis Steckler flair which makes it feel a tad campy, aleviating what would otherwise be an oppresively grim watch.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ 7/10