Betty Royson (Jo Canterbury) sneaks out to see her boyfriend, Jimmy Walton (Bill Bloom). As a lookout she takes her friend, Ann, with her. They meet up on the grounds of the high school. As the girls are leaving, they come upon the school janitor, Mr. Wilson (Ron Ormond). Wilson tells the girls that it is too dangerous for them to be out that late at night and says he will walk them home as soon as he finishes with the trash. Instead of waiting, the girls leave and walk home.
On the way home, Betty ends up ahead. A dark figure in a leather jacket comes out of the shadows attacks Ann and strangles her. Betty screams and rushes home. Ann is the third victim of the strangler. The previous two victims were also young teenaged women.
Lt Anderson (John Ensign), from the police department, is called in to investigate. When he talks to Betty, she tells him about the leather jacket and also says that there was something white on the back of the jacket that could have been an emblem of a bulldog. The local high school drag racing gang has such an emblem on their jackets. Jimmy, one member of the gang, has a bulldog jacket. The police now suspect Jimmy of being the strangler. Jimmy is already on the police radar for an incident in the past involving a stolen bicycle. Jimmy took the heat for a mistake his little brother Mikey (John Humphries) was responsible for.
Dead teenage girls begin showing up all over town. Lt. Anderson eventually comes to believe that Jimmy may not be responsible for the killings. Several other kids in town also own black leather jackets with a bulldog emblem on them. With few clues to go on, Anderson has no choice but to follow what little he has until he can come up with the real killer. In the meantime, Betty and Mikey try to circle the wagons and Scooby-Doo their way through, hoping to clear Jimmy.
“Teen-Age Strangler” was released in 1964 and was directed by Ben Parker. It is an American low budget independent murder mystery.
The movie was a bit of a dud until it was lampooned by Mystery Science Theater 3000. It aired on season 5, episode 14 in 1988. It has become a cult favorite since then, at least the MST3K version. Reportedly the film was re-released periodically. An official premier was done in Huntington, West Virginia, where the movie was shot. In 1994 MST3K featured it in their first Conventio-Con. John Humphries, who plays Jimmy’s little brother, Mikey was on hand at the convention to answer questions.
The movie is a little on the pedestrian side, but that’s the least of its problems. Everything else is pretty bad, including the acting, the dialogue and whatever else you see on the screen. Just about all of the actors were family and friends of director Parker so there are no great acting chops here. Nothing is great here. It’s not even mediocre. The fan base is clearly from the MST3K version.