The Thrill Killers

The Thrill Killers
Directed by	Ray Dennis Steckler
Produced by	George J. Morgan Ray Dennis Steckler
Written by	Gene Pollock Ray Dennis Steckler
Starring	Ray Dennis Steckler (as Cash Flagg) Liz Renay
Narrated by	Coleman Francis
Music by	André Brummer (as Henri Price)
Cinematography	Joseph V. Mascelli Lee Strosnider
Edited by	Austin McKinney
Production company	Morgan-Steckler Productions
Running time	69 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

The Thrill Killers is a horror/thriller film released in 1964 and directed by low-budget film-maker Ray Dennis Steckler. It stars Cash Flagg (Steckler under a nom de plume) and Liz Renay.

The story concerns several psychotic murderers who escape a mental institution and go on a killing spree in Los Angeles.

The story takes place in 1964 in Hollywood, California.

Joe Saxon (Joe Bardo) is an aspiring actor whose outlandish parties and spending worry his wife, Liz (Liz Renay). As per the narrator, he is "trapped in the world of non-reality".

In another scene, we see a young, Greek immigrant named Dennis Kesdekian (Atlas King) kisses his wife and family good-bye as he leaves for another day at work. Kesdeckian sees a hitchhiker (Steckler) and offers to give him a ride. The hitchhiker shoots the man and steals his car.

That night, Joe throws a party at his house. He and Liz do not know most of the people who attend, but it is part of Joe's plan to wine and dine producer George Morgan (himself), whose next picture Joe desperately wants a part in.

On the other side of town, the hitchhiker has picked up a nightclub dancer/prostitute (Erina Enyo) and takes her back to her apartment, where he brutally murders her with a pair of scissors.

While Joe and Liz are arguing, they hear of the murders over the radio, and learn that the assailant was Mort "Mad Dog" Click, long wanted by the police for similar crimes. Also on the loose are three mental patients who have escaped from the local asylum.

The next day, Liz decides to leave Joe and drives out to her cousin Linda's restaurant up in the hills. At the restaurant, Linda (Laura Benedict) congratulates her friends Ron (Ron Burr) and Carol (Carolyn Brandt) on their marriage and purchase of a nearby house. Liz pulls in just after the couple leave.

Ron and Carol get to their new house and look around. When they find their handyman missing, they look out back at a smaller house on the property, where they find him decapitated by the escaped mental patients—the axe-wielding Keith (Keith O'Brien), Herbie (Herb Robbins) and Gary (Gary Kent). Ron is decapitated in front of Carol, and then after some amount of chasing around the property, Carol is disposed of in a similar fashion.

Joe and Morgan show up at Linda's restaurant, as do the three killers. Herbie calls his friend, who turns out to be Click, to come by and get rid of the two others. When Liz and Joe realize who the three are, the killers hold them hostage. Linda poisons Herbie's coffee and kills him, while Gary chases Liz outside up in the hills.