Kiss and Be Killed (1991) User Reviews

Just watchable Horror with a slightly entertaining aspect

[move-7 · 3/10 · 11 August 2005]

I got this film from the bargain bin at my local video store as I was looking for a cheap film to watch then trade later on. I picked it for three reasons. The tape looked clean so it had minimal use. The $1.95price tag. And it had Boxer Ken Norton and William Smith in it.

OK .... well .... the movie is a sort of horror story that centers around a recently married woman who loses her husband on her wedding day. He is killed by some crooks who have lost face because of him. Among them is Ken Norton , the boxing Champ who defeated Muhammed Ali . He plays one of the crooks . Its obvious that Ken Norton now has a physical disability and this is a result of a terrible head injury that he sustained when he nearly died in a car accident back in 1986. Still compensations are made and its not so noticeable . A shame as he is a very articulate man and does have some acting experience , having starred in the 70's exploitation hit films , Mandingo and Drum. Still its good seeing him in film again.

At times the story is quite silly and for some reason that makes it watchable. Don't get me wrong , this is a pretty poor film but for some reason its watchable. Possibly because of the fact that even though the film lacks a lot , the story does move along. Another thing is that the gore and violent aspect of the standard low grade horror are applied in a slightly different way and sometimes what is usually anticipated is not always the case.

There seems to be a very slight delay in the sound linking and at times the dialog seemed to be in a narrative form.

The only real acting come from Detective Murdoch played by veteran tough guy William Smith and his partner Detective Ross played by Ernest Thomas. There seems to be a slight comedy routine between the two of them.

If you have a bit of time to kill it would probably be better spent watching a more worthwhile movie. But ! Then again this one isn't the worst one around and some people may enjoy it for some reason. There are a lot more movies that would be more of a waste of your time than this one.

Worth seeing

[Allamericanguy10 · 6 February 2011]

I heard about this movie from a Ken Norton fan and thought I'd view it. Fortunately, I read the reviews on here AFTER seeing this movie. They say better to experience first hand than second and in this case it was true. After all, Universal picked it up. I found it to be pretty decent quality and entertaining for a low budget picture. Lots of action and special effects. Great seeing Ken Norton again, too. The Plot moves along with twists and turns and keeps your interest. Actually, some scenes were hysterically funny with bad guy Ralph inadvertently getting clopped on the head with a frying pan and stabbed in the eye with a scissors! All in all I thought it was good weekend entertainment - Definitely worth taking a watch!

AS POOR AS THEY COME.

[rsoonsa · 1/10 · 26 February 2004]

One tends to wish the best for independent filmmakers, as they must do with small budgets and other restraints, and at times they overcome all impediments with a gem being the result, but such is not the case with this dreadful work that suffers from any type of shortcoming that may be imagined, from its direction to its sound designing. The plot, if it can so be considered, begins at a pre-nuptial bachelor party that includes the obligatory strippers, one of whom is the ladylove of a sociopath who, along with two companions of the same ilk, burst into the party, bringing about a series of grotesque incidents leading to the death of the first benedict, whose bride in an unhinged state manages to steal a mannequin with precisely the same appearance as that of her murdered husband, subsequently playing house with her non-sensate surrogate. The remainder of the movie consists of frenetic and nonsensical attempts by the three hooligans to kill the young widow and her best friend (actually played with some skill by Crystal Carson), all of which is marked by woefully inadequate direction, embarrassingly silly acting, a formless scenario, and sound mixing and dubbing that rank among the worst in memory, although it is in the nature of a blessing when one cannot comprehend the dialogue; a favourite line is uttered by a villain following his suffering wounds from a number of desperate attempts by the heroine to slay him with, among other weapons, an axe and a nail gun -- "I can't stand you".