Sweet Kill (1973)

Director:

Curtis Hanson

Writer:

Curtis Hanson (writer)

Release Date:

January 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Horror

Plot:

Horror and suspense in the story of a psychotic maniac who literally "loves" women to death. |

Plot Keywords:

Maniac | Multiple Murder | Mother | Sexual Frustration | Psycho Thriller

Cast

Tab Hunter	...	Eddie Collins
Cherie Latimer	...	Lauren
Nadyne Turney	...	Barbara
Isabel Jewell	...	Mrs. Cole
Linda Leider	...	Vickie
Roberta Collins	...	Call girl
John Aprea	...	Richard
Kate McKeown	...	Sherry
Angus Scrimm	...	Henry (as Rory Guy)
Frank Whiteman	...	Willard
Harv Selsby	...	Davidson
Josh Green	...	Danny
John Pearce	...	Mr. Howard
Sandy Kenyon	...	Newscaster

Also Known As:

A Kiss from Eddie (USA) (alternative title)
The Arousers (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:R | USA:R | Iceland:16

Company:

Curtis Lee Hanson

Trivia:

Disappointed by the boxoffice generated under its original release title "Sweet Kill", Roger Corman had Curtis Hanson shoot additional sex scenes over a period of two days.

Interesting enough low budget seventies exploitation

It must have been hard to imagine in 1973 that the director of this low budget shock flick would go on to make one of the very best crime films of the nineties with LA Confidential, but indeed that was the case. Anyway, this was his first attempt at directing, and it's a rather lukewarm film. I never go into films like this expecting too much; generally these film were made with the intention of getting as many people into a theatre as possible and that isn't usually the best base for a great film. This one focuses on Eddie Collins, a disturbed man who gets into murdering women after one unsuccessful encounter and then ends up not being able to shake off the urge to do so. The film was obviously made on a shoestring budget and it does look very cheap. There's also rather too many sex scenes in the film which were obviously included to help sell the film, but actually end up making it all the more boring. Naturally the point of the film is to see the lead character butchering some women rather than any kind of character study, and that's really all we get. Still, Sweet Kill is not a total dead loss; it makes for an interesting watch and fans of low budget seventies exploitation will probably get a kick out of it.