Vice Squad Review

While a lot of people in Hollywood have been crowing the past few years about how much they love the grindhouse exploitation flicks of the 1970s and early ‘80s as they churn out 21st century remakes, very few of their projects hit the mark, leaving fans to seek out the original vintage material. Vice Squad, produced during the years when low budget exploitation pictures were digging down to new depths of sleazery in order to compete with the new video rental market, is about as hard-edged as they come, a crime thriller with a grunge factor approached only by cable TV cop shows these days.

The basic plot concerns a businesswoman (Season Hubley), who helps support her daughter as a prostitute using the street name Princess. The cops are after a psycho pimp named Ramrod (Wings Hauser), and force Princess to lure him into a trap.

With slim plot material to work with, the filmmakers keep things interesting by keeping Princess and Ramrod moving, giving us a peek at every sick vice that 1982 audiences could handle. Using extensive on location shooting, we get a thorough portrait of L.A.’s underbelly at its worst. Wild-eyed Wings Hauser burns through the movie like battery acid, corroding everything he touches as the vicious pimp, creating a thick atmosphere of menace and suspense.