Whitech It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Sanjeev Waters A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

moonspinner55 Handsome gym teacher living in a beachfront apartment has women trouble: they're drawn to him, but he's suffering from a mental block (blame it on Mommy) and freezes up before sex, leading to an outburst of violence. Tired, cheapjack serial killer sleaze from talented writer-director Curtis Hanson (re-released by Roger Corman a few years later as "The Arousers", with the addition of naked babes) hasn't enough going on in it. Tab Hunter apparently took on the leading role to show off his range (limited to begin with), but if he had hoped this low-grade junk would be his "Boston Strangler" he was mistaken. Hanson doesn't delve into depth of character or even provide much of a background for the killer; his work is that of a rank amateur. Hunter's coach is just a woman-hating psychopath fending off the affections of naked women, all of whom are humiliated by the camera. A depressing experience. * from ****

capkronos Former 1950s teen heartthrob Tab Hunter, still looking very handsome here in his early 40s, stars as Eddie, an outwardly respectable high school phys ed teacher who is tormented by both his impotence and some childhood trauma involving his mother (which is left obscured by the filmmakers). Because of his good looks and friendly demeanor, Eddie seems to attract all sorts of neighborhood women; many of whom are young and beautiful. Unable to make love to them or become intimate enough with them on a non-sexual basis to open up to them about his past, he simply murders them. Triggering this behavior though is the accidental killing of a young woman who gets a little too aggressive and dies after Eddie pushes her off and she hits her head on a table. He hides the body in some hatch on the roof and afterward something snaps inside of him and he moves beyond the stage of repression and voyeurism to full blown murder, as well as necrophilia (which is handled with some subtlety here); apparently the only way he can 'get off.' Might explain why he's been paying a local hooker (played by 70s drive-in favorite Roberta Collins) to dress up like his long gone momma and "play dead" while he undresses and gropes her. Seems like pretty seedy stuff, and this is pretty seedy stuff; but it's done with more thought and care than many others in this genre and I liked it.Despite what some of the reviews here state, I actually prefer the way the filmmakers decided to handle all this. Instead of a bunch of heavy-handed dialogue blatantly spelling everything out, giving a direct explanation to Eddie's behavior or visualizing of all Eddie's dirty deeds, we get more suggestion than anything else. The opening scene is a childhood flashback of a woman stripping naked, taking off her earrings and lying down in bed while a pair of kids tennis shoes are visible behind a barely opened curtain. That's the only real glimpse we get of Eddie's childhood, but it's enough to raise a few questions. Is his mother a whore/prostitute? Has Eddie always been voyeuristic and/or not right in the head? Was there incest involved? Nothing is explained in a cut-and-dry way, but we know that Eddie refuses to talk about any of it, even when directly confronted about it by the one woman in this film who does care about him. That person is Barbara (Nadyne Turney), who lives in the same apartment house as Eddie. She's not quite the looker the other women in this movie are, but is patient and wants to help Eddie. He's gone on quite a few dates with her but nothing even remotely sexual has happened between them. Barbara questions why and wonders whether he's not attracted to her or if something else is going on.Originally titled SWEET KILL and actually filmed in 1970, the title was later changed to the more exploitative-sounding THE AROUSERS (with a new poster to match) a few years later. There are several instances of nudity that seem needlessly tacked on, and I see here in the trivia section that executive producer Roger Corman had the director go back and film these scenes so the film could be sold on the drive-in circuit as a sex film. Though unnecessary, I didn't feel these newly-added scenes (which are brief) were too detrimental to the overall film and they tried to tie them into the 'voyeuristic' aspect the best they could.It's obvious what would attract former teen idol Hunter to this kind of role - THE AROUSERS was an opportunity to branch out, possibly open up new opportunities for himself as an older actor, and also a chance to prove he could handle heavier drama. In any case, he does an effective job in his part and is well-supported by Turney (who's very good here) and the rest of the cast. Popping up here in smaller roles are veteran actress Isabel Jewell (in her final role) as his landlady, as well as future horror star Angus "Tall Man" Scrimm (billed as "Rory Guy") as her husband. Neither have much to do other than complain about some awful smell coming from upstairs... The lesser-known cast members also did a fairly good job in my opinion.

graham clarke Careers in the movies on occasion take unexpected routes It is highly unlikely that anyone watching "The Arousers" would have guessed that it's director and writer Curtis Hanson would one day join the ranks of Hollywood's A list. The direction shows little flair, (to be kind), while the screenplay virtually non existent.Tab Hunter, the golden boy of Warner Brothers of the fifties, plunged towards obscurity after leaving the studios who had found a new hopeful in the form of Troy Donahue. They had no belief in his acting ability and solely utilized his legendary looks as bait for the burgeoning and lucrative teen audiences of the time. This, despite the fact that with each movie he seemed to be developing as an actor with definite potential. I recently watched an unremarkable early movie of his "Lafayette Escradille" featuring in a very minor role with hardly any lines at all, a nondescript young actor by the name of Clint Eastwood - unexpected routes indeed.Despite the thin material and weak supporting players (other than one Nadyne Turney), Hunter turns in a remarkably astute performance. In the light of his coming out as a gay man, there is an added poignancy in his playing a character who is impervious to the charms of the numerous sexy females who throw themselves on him. While the reasons for his psychopathic behavior do not stem from latent homosexuality but rather some extremely half baked mention of his mother, perhaps Hanson utilized something of Hunter's sexuality in casting him in this role.There really is no reason to search this one out unless you have some interest in the varied careers of Hanson or Hunter. Others may steer clear.

Sturgeon54 Current A-list director Curtis Hanson's first 1970 film portrayal of a sexually-deviant gym teacher and serial killer features an incredibly creepy performance by Tab Hunter which is so good, it raises the quality of the whole movie. Unfortunately, the production values are rather inferior: the film has the flat lighting of a TV-movie, mixed sound quality, an underdeveloped script, and a few embarrassingly awkward scenes - one with Hunter giving a male student advice about girls that reminded me of a cheap educational filmstrip, and another with police finding marijuana in a character's bathtub. With all of the realistic serial killer films which have come out since this film, it probably had greater originality when first released, as an early attempt to portray a serial killer's actions squarely in the middle of mundane everyday reality. However, part of the creepy quality here is that Hunter portrays a character who seems exceedingly normal on the outside but is obviously incredibly disturbed. The whole sexual impotence aspect of his compulsions thankfully remains low-key, as simply slipping this guy some Viagra would probably not solve his difficulties.All in all, definitely not a bad time-filler or debut for Hanson; there are a couple of memorable shock scenes. However, for a much more substantial treatment of similar subject matter, I suggest Robert Altman's very obscure 1964 film "Nightmare in Chicago."