Kiss Daddy Goodbye (1981) User Reviews

Entertaining, at most

[ethylester · 3/10 · 9 March 2005]

This is the only film where you will see two seemingly innocent twin kids order their own father, whom they love, to dig his own grave because they are too wimpy to use the shovel themselves. They also order their father to kill and harass people who do them wrong, like the two surfer dudes who purposely kick over the boy twin's sand castle. Or the "bad people" who witness their father's murder but didn't actually kill him. Or the landlord that hates little kids.

You get to see a zombie dad drive a car with paint on his face. He also somehow manages to get his body underneath the sand on the beach and come up under people who are laying on blankets and strangle them. You can shoot him and he doesn't die. He doesn't talk either.

Whatever the twins' little muscles can't do, they get their zombie dad to do, like dig his own grave, or fight people. Technically, they should be able to do anything because they can move things by just thinking about it. But I guess it would be pretty fun to have a zombie slave that loves you.

If you have a combination of a zombie slave and powers that enable to move things without thinking, then really, you never have to move at all and you can be very lazy! You can even play Atari without touching the joysticks! You can also "think speak" to people so you never have to talk again! I think this laziness affected their facial muscles, however, because they never use facial expressions at all. Just blank stares. Hilariously blank stares. Their dad was just a regular a zombie, but these kids could have been luxury zombies. Never move, never talk, just sit and stare and the world is at your command.

Terrible.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 4/10 · 27 March 2004]

An aura of mystery surrounds the twins,Beth and Michael and their widowed father.Daddy has reason for keeping them from a normal life;for they've inherited their dead mother's powers.When their father is killed by four gun-crazy bikers they decide to re-animate daddy's corpse.They create a zombie to protect them,and to avenge his own death."Kiss Daddy Goodbye"/"Revenge of the Zombie" is a shoddy horror flick that is perfect for fans of trash cinema.The acting is truly horrible and the gore is non-existent.The only reason to watch this obscure horror film is Marilyn Burns in a small role as the social worker who unites with policeman Fabian Forte to unravel the mysterious secrets of the children.The film lacks tension and excitement and is pretty boring,so fans of low-budget American horror will be disappointed.Anyway,give this one a look only if you're a fan of Marilyn Burns.4 out of 10.

Just off-kilter enough to keep you watching.

[Hey_Sweden · 5/10 · 8 June 2018]

Beth (Nell Regan) and Michael Nicholas (Patrick Regan III) are two country kids blessed with "the power", which would seem to be an extremely advanced form of telekinesis. Their father Guy (Will Rand) home-schools them, with periodic check-ins from a Board of Education employee, Nora Dennis ("Texas Chain Saw Massacre" Final Girl Marilyn Burns), because he doesn't want them taken away and subjected to experiments. But one day, a degenerate biker gang come onto the family property and soon kill Daddy. Left largely unchecked, there's nothing to stop the kids from resurrecting Guy and turning him into Zombie-Daddy, and using Zombie-Daddy to get revenge on anybody who rubs them the wrong way. Former singing star Fabian Forte ("Get Crazy") is on hand as the new local Deputy faced with the resulting baffling deaths.

This is not a "good" film in the slightest; badly written, badly directed (by the kids' father, Patrick Regan), and obviously done on the cheap, it's awkward as all-get-out. Still, it's enough of a curiosity to keep it watchable. There's absolutely no gore, but there is nudity (from co-star Gay French as the female biker), and there are some amusing moments of utter silliness. The hilarious ooga-booga electronic music score by David Spear is priceless accompaniment.

Fabian is utterly bland as the hero, but Burns offers some charm as the gal turned on by him, prompting her to utter come-ons like "I've got some evidence for you to examine". The kids are flat and charisma-free, unfortunately, although Patrick III comes off somewhat better than Nell. The supporting cast includes familiar faces such as Jon Cedar ("Day of the Animals"), Marvin Miller (voice of Robby the Robot), Jed Mills ("New Year's Evil"), and Robert Dryer (the villain in "Savage Streets").

Had this been made with more of a budget, and more talent behind the camera, this might have been something to savour. As it is, it's basically an offbeat, obscure little piece of work that may intrigue some devoted cult movie aficionados. The strangest thing about it is realizing that some of the people involved (James Ursini, Alain Silver, Elizabeth Ward) are better known as film noir experts!

Five out of 10.

Off-target zombie vengeance nonsense, not without sleaze appeal

[EyeAskance · 23 March 2004]

This inferior quality film has a few decent ideas at work...a young girl and boy are siblings with telekinetic powers, and are kept hidden from the world by their protective father, who fears that they will be taken for scientific study should their secret become revealed. Their incommunicado home is invaded by some nasty bikers whose punkish antics result in the Father's death, obviously leaving the kids in quite a pickle. Unsure of what to do, they use their paranormal abilities to resurrect their father...thus begins a bloody rampage of zombie vengeance.

A poorly shot flummox with flavorless performances, KISS DADDY GOODBYE somehow manages to retain a level of watchability in a quirky sort of way...I suspect it could have been great had it been made under better conditions.

Take it or leave it. 4/10

The old "Kiss"-off....

[Mister-6 · 1/10 · 4 June 2000]

Bad film. Cheap film. Embarrassing film. Easy tax write-off. Fever dream. Horrible joke. Such descriptions came to mind while I was watching "Kiss Daddy Goodbye", but they just weren't descriptive enough.

It's bad enough that Fabian once again tries his hand at acting; what's worse is what he's stepped in here as a deputy in a coastal town where a man (Rand) is killed by a motorcycle gang and his psychic kids (always nice to have around in such a pinch) resurrect him and get their revenge by having their zombified "Daddy" kill them one by one.

Not that there's anything wrong with resurrecting your Dad from the dead: you get to paint cool Egyptian symbols on his face, have him drive you everywhere you want to go and you should see Dad swim through the sand! That's right: through as in UNDERNEATH the beach to emerge, "Jaws"-like, and knock off some unsuspecting teens right in the middle of their night-time beach party. TIDBIT - in a movie like this, it's NEVER a good idea to have a party, no matter what time of day.

Burns shows up as a case worker who wonders where the kids' "Daddy" is and fails to put two and two together as fast as any other living human being would, and instead falls in love with Deputy Dawg...I mean FABIAN, who is busy keeping an eye on everyone EXCEPT the little zombie-makers while the biker gang wonders how their number is dropping so rapidly while....

But enough already. This is Bad Movie Heaven, so to speak. They even have the gall to make a "Psycho" reference halfway through. And if you can find worse music (a BANJO??!) to put to a "thrilling" climactic chase, you must have seen a lot of movies in your time.

Why do they make films like this: to waste my time? To make me sit up at night, worrying about what else is out there on the video shelf? To keep Fabian employed? To show kids how easy it is to make their family members zombies in five easy lessons? To teach bikers not to mess with psychic kids?

The answers to these questions are yes; probably, the bums; maybe between 50s revival gigs; perhaps, if it were more instructive and Lord, what else WOULD teach them?

No stars for this flop-eroo. "Kiss" 92 minutes "Goodbye".

Awesomely terrible!

[drjnfever · 1/10 · 4 November 2003]

One of the worst movies ever made...I love it! It's bad zombie cheese at its finest. Marilyn Burns of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and ex-teen idol Fabian are way too much star power for this script. (EEK!) The director/writer's kids give probably the worst acting performance under the sun. Strange that they never went on to do anything else...

Boring...

[WritnGuy-2 · 3/10 · 18 September 1999]

I rented this only because Marilyn Burns was in it, and I am a huge fan of hers and of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," where she played her most famous role of Sally, the terror-stricken heroine. I had seen her in "Eaten Alive," Tobe Hooper's follow-up to TCM, and she was great in that. And I wondered if she would keep that same style of acting in this. (If you've seen her in those two movies, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.)

What a surprise, she played an extremely timid role, and it was interesting to see her acting in such a contemporary manner. She plays Nora Dennis, a social worker of some sorts who checks on these two children every month. The children are these two little psychic kids whose father was killed by roadhogs. They bring him back through "the Power" to exact revenge, and thus he does, in a very boring manner.

The other part of the movie is Nora meeting and becoming involved with this cop who is investigating some on what's going on in the movie. Burns plays the role well, but I've seen her do better, and she never actually gets to pull off that Sally-like performance that made her first two roles so memorable. In fact, this film in a whole is quite timid, and pretty boring. There is no blood whatsoever (not that I'm a gorehound, but some would be okay.) It's a weak movie, and I can't recommend it much. But fans of Burns might be interested in seeing her in this film.

Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Daddies ...

[Coventry · 4/10 · 27 December 2008]

Here's another gloriously absurd and grotesque horror movie concept that only could have sprung from the mind of delirious early 80's scriptwriters. Dig this: A father and his two psychically and telekinetic gifted children lives isolated atop of a mountain, because daddy is worried the government will come and kidnap the children for examination. One day, however, the happy family receives a visit from a gang of nasty biker thugs and they kill daddy right in front of the children. Rather than to use their powers to rescue him, Beth and Michael prefer to resurrect his corpse later on and employ it as a tool of vengeance against the bikers. Meanwhile a social worker (Marilyn Burns of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre") and the new local deputy (Fabian Forte the singer) attempt to visit the family without finding it strange the father is never available. "Kiss Daddy Goodbye" is likely to be the only movie ever in which children toy around with one of their deceased parents and even instruct him to dig his own grave. However, this ultra morbid storyline aspect is probably the only reason to check out this otherwise boring, unexciting and amateurishly put together film. The death sequences are dull and bloodless, the pacing is intolerably slow and the acting performances of the entire cast rank among the worst I've ever seen in 80's horror; and that is saying quite a lot. Especially the child actors are terrible, but they are director Patrick Regan's offspring and they look exclusively modeled after the uncanny kids of "Village of the Damned". Apparently only cute-faced kids with white hair and pale skins are allowed to have telepathic powers. This rare and curious piece of 80's trash is probably not worth tracking down, but still I can't say I regret having seen it. There's a certain something about this movie which fellow cult fanatics will notice and appreciate as well.

Funny stuff.

[zombiezeitgeist · 2/10 · 7 March 2004]

Hilarious. The psychic children are what saves this movie. The kids playing these roles are so completely lifeless that their performances steal the show. Apparently they're the director's kids... which makes sense. That's the only way they would have ever been given the opportunity to act. They speak their lines with total indifference, with no expressions except for the same blank stare that they wear throughout the whole movie.

The makeup on their daddy is equally fantastic. It's so stupid you have to see it to believe it.

A classic. Watch and laugh...

Just because you have a video camera doesn't mean you should make a movie

[happyendingrocks · 2/10 · 20 January 2011]

This cheap home-made offering is sub-par in every respect imaginable, and while it's not all that surprising that director Patrick Regan scraped together enough money to get this amateurish effort off the ground, it's downright inexplicable why this film was preserved for posterity on a DVD transfer.

To be fair, the idea itself is pretty nifty. In the right hands, a film about children with eerie psychic powers using their ability to resurrect their murdered father and set him out on a course of revenge could be very cool. The problem with Kiss Daddy Goodbye is that every aspect of this scenario is handled with such utter disdain for entertainment that the film almost dares the viewer to make it through the heavily padded 90-minute running time.

Few children are great actors, but director Regan's two moppets display such indifference to the camera that we're left wondering if they even wanted to be in a movie. No effort is made by either of them to put on any sort of performance, and since they are essentially the focal point of the film, it gets pretty uncomfortable watching them labor their way through this mess. It's neat that a father wanted to put his kids on film to create a time capsule of their childhood, but that's what home movies are for.

I want to be clear that I love awful movies, and I'm certainly not trying to take Kiss Daddy Goodbye more seriously than it calls for. However, in this case, the simplistic plot is stretched so thin that the so-bad-it's-good charm wears off very quickly, and the movie is far too ponderous and boring to provide any sort of comedic amusement. This seems like a wasted opportunity, since the silliest parts reach new heights of inept absurdity. Observe for instance the "savage" murder of the father by the gang of bikers, which plays out in the most clumsily staged action sequence I've ever seen on film. And the sight of Daddy after our undead hero is brought back from the grave offers great comedic fodder, since the symbols the children inexplicably paint on his face after his murder make him look like the drummer of the world's lowest budget KISS cover band.

Elsewhere, nearly every aspect of film-making completely escapes Regan, and the paper-thin budget is on display in every frame. All of the dialogue is muddled by the hissing of cheap microphones, and some of it isn't audible at all. Additionally, alternate angles in key scenes are filmed at different times of the day, which leads to wide shots bathed in high noon sunlight that then cut to murky close-ups obviously shot at dusk.

I'm not sure if this is supposed to be classified as a zombie film, but if so, Regan's addendums to the mythos are the undead's abilities to drive automobiles and to completely bury themselves in sand at the beach to spring up at amorous, unsuspecting bikers. On that note, like the tableau of Daddy being killed at the hands of the bikers, the revenge scene on the beach is so ridiculously staged that any chance of this film being included in the horror genre pretty much dissipates on the spot.

The only point of interest here is the appearance of Marilyn Burns, who spends most of the film embroiled in a meaningless subplot that follows the budding romance between her and the inherently dull Deputy Fabian. Beyond the chance to see a beloved Texas Chainsaw Massacre heroine admirably wallow through an impressively crappy film, the two stars in my rating are reserved for the surprisingly chilling opening and closing titles. As for the tedious and unwatchable drivel in between those titles: Kiss 90 Minutes Goodbye.

Psychic children + Marilyn Burns + Fabian

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 3 March 2020]

This is why I have insomnia. Because I try to sleep, but then I start worrying about being able to pay the bills and what will I do next and how am I going to take care of my wife and then I realize, "Hey! Fabian made a movie with Marilyn Burns from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Marvin Miller, who was the voice of Robbie the Robot..."

And now I'm awake.

Otherwise known as Revenge of the Zombie, this movie was directed by Patrick Regan, who also wrote the lost slasher movie - seriously, someone help me find it, The Farmer. This is his only directing credit, though he did second unit on a bunch of movies, like The Phantom.

It starts his kids - Nell and Patrick - as Beth and Michael Nicholas, psychic kids who have been homeschooled by their dad, Guy. He runs afoul of some bikers, who kill him, so the kids keep him alive Weekend At Bernie's style so that the Board of Education employee Nora Dennis (Burns) doesn't put them in an orphanage. Also - Fabian plays a local sheriff, outdoing his work in Disco Fever.

Chester Grimes plays the leader of the bikers and if you wanted a biker in the 1980's, you called Chester. From CHiPs to Electra Glide in Blue, The Rockford Files, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Bosom Buddies, The Garbage Pail Kids Movie and Dragnet, there he is.

And look out! There's Robert Dryer, who if you watched lots of movies like I do at 4 AM, you'd recognize as Jake from Savage Streets, the titular character in The Borrower and Lord Barak from The Sisterhood.

Is that Jon Cedar from The Manitou as a shady land owner? Yes it is.

Kids that raise dad from the dead, so that he can kill bikers and bury himself in the sand, while Fabian and Sally Hardesty make eyes at one another. Yeah! This movie makes no sense, so I advise you see it as I did: on a VHS tape uploaded to YouTube with obtrusive Spanish subtitles. Trust me - it makes it all so much better.

A fun, highly entertaining film. It is very underrated.

[ElectricWarlock · 9/10 · 19 July 2013]

Whenever I watch a horror movie, these are always the kinds of films I try to find. To start off, the story is very creative. Two twins with telepathic abilities raise their father from the dead to get revenge after he is murdered by a biker gang. I love the premise of the film and think it is executed very well. Any child that was forced to watch while a parent is murdered would be absolutely horrified so it's really no surprise they brought their father back from the dead. He was a single parent and was the only protection they knew. Marilyn Burns from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Helter Skelter stars in this movie which is the reason I decided to watch it in the first place. As with all the rest of her performances, she did a great job in this movie and really stood out. Teen idol Fabian also stars and gives a pretty good performance. The psychic twins played by Patrick and Nell Regan (the children of the director) did a pretty good job for first time actors. It's a shame to see they didn't go on to appear in other films.

Overall, this film is very unique and bizarre. It's certainly not what you would expect from a zombie horror film and that's the reason I enjoy it so much. It is a breath of fresh air and not many people seem to know about it which is very sad. I think it is highly underrated and deserves a lot more recognition than it receives. It is not your typical, run-of- the-mill horror film, it is very strange. But that strangeness is what makes it memorable. I bought the film expecting it to be just an average , typical horror film you see everyday but I was pleasantly surprised because I got a nice, interesting horror film unlike anything I'd ever seen before. If you have not yet watched this film, you should see it as soon as possible. You will not regret it because it is a very intriguing movie.

Something A Bit Different

[socialxcancer · 6/10 · 14 October 2022]

I actually enjoyed this movie. I have the VHS. I think the plot is rather unique, definitely not run of the mill. Yea there isn't any gore, but it's a fun movie in my opinion. More like a supernatural thriller of sorts than a zombie film. I think the children did a pretty good job and the rest of the acting was decent as well. A entertaining watch. I think the idea is neat how the kids use voodoo or whatever to bring their father back and take care of people that do them wrong, primarily the bikers that killed their dad. But the surfer dudes thing was funny and just leaves it up to you to wonder what happened to them. I recommend this to those that are open minded. In fact I'm going to watch it again for the second time today.

Dear Dead And Decaying Daddy Deals Out Death.

[P3n-E-W1s3 · 5/10 · 30 March 2022]

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Kiss Daddy Goodbye. Before we get into it, here are my ratings:

Story - 0.75 Direction - 0.75 Pace - 1.00 Acting - 1.25 Enjoyment - 1.00

TOTAL - 4.75

There is one massive hole in this story that I couldn't accept or forgive, and that was dear dead and decaying daddy. The concept of the story is okay: Two kids see their dad murdered and decide to use their psychic powers to avenge him. The nice twist (not a spoiler as it happens so early in the film) is that they use their papa to execute the dirty deeds. And this is the crux of my grumble - I can believe in telekinesis to move objects, even the sheer willpower to move and control a corpse, however, I disbelieve in the total reanimation and zombification of one.

When Daddy gets on his dead feet the first time, it's not too bad because you reckon, and are later told, that Michael is puppeteering Dad. Every mission afterwards, though, Dad appears to be under his own command and spends a lot of his time driving. This is wrong. Dad is dead. He isn't a zombie or a reanimate. Once his heart stopped, he became an inanimate object. I just wish the writers had kept this in mind. The story would have been much better if the kids had to follow dear dead and decaying Dad everywhere, not just let him go off driving by himself. It would also have added more believability to their psychic abilities.

As for the direction, well, there are a couple of segments that suffer from the Plan9 curse. In one shot, it's nighttime; in the next, it's daytime, then back to night, and return to day. It ejected an unintentional laugh from my throat, and that is never a good thing. That said, the direction is passable if a tad slow on the pacing of the scenes.

As for the performances, the cast does a splendid job with the direction and script. Even the two kids weren't terrible, though this could be because they are brother and sister. Since their kinship is genuine, it adds a realistic touch to the tale.

Is it worth watching? Yeah, maybe once when you've exhausted every other flick in your library and on your streaming service; and it should only be viewed on a Sunday afternoon after a big dinner - that way, when you nap, you won't feel too bad missing the film.

Feel free to come and visit my Absolute Horror and Killer Thriller Chiller lists to see where Kiss Daddy Goodbye ranks in my charts.

Take Care & Stay Well.

Fabian is trapped in a film with bad acting kids.

[Serpent-5 · 11 May 1999]

This film was supposed to released by Film Venutres International under the title CAUTION:CHILDREN AT PLAY many years ago, but the president of the company disappeared after a lawsuit leaving this film in limbo and now public domain nightmare. Teen Idol Fabian plays a local cop who meet and falls for Burns (from TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE) is basically a subplot. The main plot is these little kids (a brother & a sister) who's father was murdered by Robert Dryer and his biker gang. But the kids have special powers to bring the dad back to life to get even with the bikers and even kill a drunken Jon Cedar in the process. The film is dull, boring, barely "R" rated, and has a terrible music score. Marvin Miller has a nothing cameo as a food mart store owner. Skip it!

An authentically strange low-budget horror curio

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 17 June 2009]

Reclusive Professor Guy Nicholas (Bill Randa) lives in a secluded rural area of coastal California with his gifted telekinetic psychic kids Beth (Nell Regan) and Michael (Patrick Regan III). The tykes bring their father back to life after he gets killed by a gang of nasty bikers. Of course, dear ol' undead dad bumps off said bikers. Director/co-writer Patrick Regan certainly scores extra points for novelty value alone: Along with the deliciously bonkers premise, we also get such jaw-dropping offbeat sights as zomboid pop driving around in a black sedan with freaky paint on his face, dad coming out of the sand on the beach to strangle one of the bikers, the father giving a scare to a couple of mean surfer dudes who trashed the children's' sandcastles, another biker strangling himself with a chain, and the moppets making their dad literally dig his own grave. The cast play the wacky material with admirable sincerity: 60's teen idol Fabian Forte contributes a sound and likable performance as eager nice guy Deputy Sheriff Blanchard, Marilyn Burns (Sally in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre") is also fine as concerned social worker Nora Dennis, Robert Dryer snarls it up as vicious biker Billy, plus there are neat bits by Jon Cedar as boozy, jerky real estate agent Wally Stanton and Marvin Miller as genial general store owner Bill Morris. The acting by the Regan siblings leaves a lot to be desired, but they're still pretty cute and effective just the same. David Spears' droning spooky'n'shuddery synthesizer score, the remote rustic setting, the crude (not so) special effects, a decent smidgen of gratuitous female nudity, the fairly polished cinematography by Peter C. Jensen and Vilis Lapenieks, the slow pace, and the cockeyed brooding mood all further add to the overall peculiarly engrossing oddness of this one-of-a-kind head-scratcher. Recommended to hardcore fans of the terminally outré.

Connections

[amosduncan_2000 · 17 February 2007]

I saw this years and years ago on Elvira. It was amusing because of the strange, stilted quality of the child actors. Years later I met the producer at a cook out in Santa Monica. She was very self effacing and sweet. Once in awhile I would see her on the street and wave.

In the early nighties they opened a "Hogie" sandwich place at a maul at Pico and La Cienega in L.A. The put up a sign advertising the Fabian would be there making a special appearance. I thought it was kinda funny. I didn't go to see if he was there for the opening. I think I had a sandwich there once. I don't know if it's there anymore.

I remember you used to see the big sized box for this film at the video store.

I liked it, for some reason

[Ivan Ravenous · 27 August 2000]

I can't really explain why...it IS boring and dull, but there was something about it that makes me want to see it again. I guess it's just one of those weird movies that I have an unexplainable soft spot for. Oh well.