The most raucous and weirdest film of the year has arrived

Your briefing on a new cult classic

The most raucous and weirdest film of the year has arrived

The Greasy Strangler is coming for you.

Not literally - but check your back regardless. It's a movie, but not one we can easily categorise - save to say that if you rarely venture from Netflix's more placid foothills, this may not be the one for you.

Our best attempt at summarising it goes like this: a bickering father and son duo run a 'disco walking tour' in a dilapidated corner of the US. Big Brayden, the young of the two, frets that his father may be the greasy strangler, a local serial killer who coats himself in gunk to commit his crimes. It turns out he is, and things only get more complicated when they get involved in a love triangle that’s expressed through the medium of graphic sex involving body shapes seldom seen onscreen.

Here’s the trailer:

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You already know if this is the kind of thing for you or not, but regardless, here are a few bullet points of information.

  • It may seem American to its demented core, but the key creatives – director Jim Hosking and writer Toby Harvard – are British ad men. Hosking has said he sees it as a “sexy comedy.”
  • It only exists thanks to the intervention of executive producers Elijah Wood and Ben Wheatley.
  • Tapioca was used for grease.
  • There a scene where the only word said is ‘potato’ for 90 seconds.
  • It may hold the record for the most prosthetic penises used in any film, ever.
  • It’s been gettingcracking reviews.

Look, just go see it – we have to pay for the changes we want in the world, as Gandhi sort of said.

The Greasy Strangler is out in cinemas today

Danielle de Wolfe

As Shortlist’s Staff Writer, Danielle spends most of her time compiling lists of the best ways to avoid using the Central Line at rush hour.