Originally, a 'B-movie' was a shorter film intended as a second or lesser film at a double-feature. This does not mean they were necessarily bad...just cheaply and quickly made. And, instead of being 90 minutes or more like most A-pictures, the B ran from 50-65 minutes. Because the budgets were low and turnaround time very fast, many of them were pretty bad...but most were just ordinary time-passers. "The Preview Murder Mystery" is something different...it's one of the better Bs.
A new movie is about to debut and something odd is happening...someone is sending death threats to the leading man. So, while it's supposed to be a breakout film making him a star, his shining moment is marred with concerns about murder. Well, despite the police watching carefully, the man IS murdered in the middle of the preview for this film. But this isn't enough for the killer...and soon other folks connected with this movie begin to receive similar notes and attempts on their lives.
While I picked up on who the killer probably was early in the picture, it didn't really ruin the movie for me. Why? Because, despite being a B, the acting, direction and script were quite good. While hundreds or more B-murder mystery films were made, this one is very different and doesn't suffer from the usual cliches (such as the REALLY dopey cops). It's solid and very entertaining...and deserves to be seen as better than just another B.
A new movie is about to debut and something odd is happening...someone is sending death threats to the leading man. So, while it's supposed to be a breakout film making him a star, his shining moment is marred with concerns about murder. Well, despite the police watching carefully, the man IS murdered in the middle of the preview for this film. But this isn't enough for the killer...and soon other folks connected with this movie begin to receive similar notes and attempts on their lives.
While I picked up on who the killer probably was early in the picture, it didn't really ruin the movie for me. Why? Because, despite being a B, the acting, direction and script were quite good. While hundreds or more B-murder mystery films were made, this one is very different and doesn't suffer from the usual cliches (such as the REALLY dopey cops). It's solid and very entertaining...and deserves to be seen as better than just another B.