"No, no, no! This poster simply isn't greasy enough!"
Brayden: My dad can get cranky sometimes.
Janet: He sure has a temper on him.
Brayden: He likes to shout. I like to smile.
Janet: He sure has a temper on him.
Brayden: He likes to shout. I like to smile.
The Greasy Strangler is a comedy-horror film released on October 7th, 2016. The film is set in Los Angeles and follows Ronnie and his son, Brayden, who run a disco tour. When Brayden meets a woman named Janet on one of their tours, the relationship between father and son comes under threat as Ronnie and Brayden compete for the woman's affection. Meanwhile, a serial killer called the Greasy Strangler stalks the streets.
Notable for being very very greasy.
The Greasy Strangler includes examples of:
- Bad Liar: Big Ronnie. He's certainly a "bullshit artist" but not a very good one.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Janet seems to be playing Ronnie and Brayden against each other, or at the very least is so indecisive that she's willing to leave one for the other at the drop of a hat. She nods when Brayden asks her if she is a "bullshit artist" herself.
- Body Horror: For one thing, the way the titular killer's victims' eyes pop out when he strangles them. Then there's the scene where Oinker is revealed to have no nose.
- Big Beautiful Woman: Janet is noticeably pudgy but is considered attractive by Brayden and Ronnie.
- Covered in Gunge: Big Ronnie as the Greasy Strangler and Big Brayden at the end.
- Dirty Old Man: Ronnie plays this role proudly, constantly objectifying women in his anecdotes and treating Janet like a prize to be won.
- Ear Ache: The death of Ricky Prickles.
- Eye Scream: What happens to the Strangler's victims; their eyes literally pop out of their sockets. Which he then eats.
- Fan Disservice: Hope you like watching a wrinkly elderly man and later an out-of-shape middle-aged man run around covered only in thick grease. And having sex. And erotically fondling an oily grapefruit.
- Gag Penis: Big Ronnie lives up to his name. Big Brayden not so much.
- Gainax Ending: Having murdered Janet, Ronnie and Brayden reconcile and decide to kill Ricky Prickles, the guy who Ronnie's wife ran off with. After this, they run off into the woods where they witness themselves being shot by a firing squad. The film ends with the two of them menacing the camera.
- Genre-Busting: The Other Wiki refers to it as a "black comedy horror" film. The Yorgos Lanthimos-style dryness and the gross-out imagery make any classification seem reductive.
- Grossout Show: It's about a guy who runs around covered a thick grease. How could it not be this?
- Informed Attractiveness: Janet carries no pronounced sexual characteristics other than just being a larger woman. Brayden and his dad, however, are absolutely lusting after her from her very first scene. The official description for the film even refers to her as "a sexy woman."
- Motor Mouth: The Indian Tourist. But only when he says the word "potato".
- My Beloved Smother: Big Ronnie is a paternal example.
- Overly Long Gag:
- POTATO!!
- Big Ronnie arguing with his tour group about free drinks.
- "Bullshit artist!"
- "Hootie Tootie Disco Cutie!"
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Big Ronnie as the detective.
- Sliding Scale of Comedy and Horror: It's mostly a comedy, if a very baffling, surreal, and uncomfortable one, where scenes that go on for a questionably long time are used to purposefully drive a joke into the ground rather than establish any kind of tension. Even the primary threat, the titular strangler, is so outlandish in his presentation and so cartoonishly over the top in how he strangles people, that his kills mostly elicit laughter.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Well not so much a food item as a texture: Big Ronnie wants his food as greasy as humanly possible. He wants enough grease to lubricate the world. This includes fruit.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Brayden, when he isn't pushing back on Ronnie's abusive behavior. The film ends with Ronnie finally admitting that he cares about Brayden.
- What Does She See in Him?: Janet hits it off with Brayden about as woodenly as anyone else, but what motivates her to dump him and start dating Big Ronnie is anyone's guess (well, there is one thing). Brayden eventually persuades her back to his side with minimal effort.
