Love Is a Stranger + Love Is a Stranger Again

In the mid ‘90s, prolific W.A.V.E. Productions actor Dave Castiglione set out to write and direct his own brand of auteurist, SOV productions under the banner of Sharkey Video. Utilizing contributions from many of his former W.A.V.E. cohorts, his anterior Love is a Stranger duology finds Castiglione at his most fundamental, blending slasher, erotic thriller, gothic horror, and eccentric fetish elements into a lurid pair of backyard epics that buoyantly revel in both prurient sleaze and the regional charms of their South Jersey locales.

In Love is a Stranger (1994), young Gwen Stevens attempts to escape her controlling and abusive boyfriend Craig by taking a job at the studio of a local photographer and lothario named Landon Love. Unfortunately for Gwen, many of Love’s female staff have already inexplicably disappeared, only to be found murdered at the hands of a mysterious, necktie obsessed psychopath. Broad South Jersey accents, sensual raw meat massages, and climactic mud tussling abound in Castiglione’s SOV debut which features performances by Tina Krause (Limbo), Christine Cavalier (Red Lips), and Ivory Blackwood (Bloody Creek).

In Love is a Stranger Again (1997), Gwen rekindles her relationship with Craig and returns to her job at Landon Love’s photography studio, still haunted and traumatized by the string of murders she narrowly survived. Plagued by nightmares and bouts of paranoia, she becomes convinced that her assassin is still stalking her. Could the psychotic murder Bebe still be alive? Has she returned from the grave to seek revenge? Or is it all just a figment of Gwen’s shattered psyche? Find out in the elaborate and elusive sequel which features performances by Dawn Murphy (Backwoods Marcy), Laura Giglio (Sorority Slaughter), and Dean Paul (Hayride Slaughter).