Sweet Murder (1990)

Lisa Smith is having trouble making the rent, so she advertises for a female roommate. A young woman named Laurie moves in, unaware that Lisa is an insane killer.

Director:

Percival Rubens

Writers:

Clay McBride (additional dialogue), Percival Rubens (story and screenplay)

Stars:

Helene Udy, Russell Todd, Danny Keogh

Cast

Cast overview:
Helene Udy	...	Lisa Smith
Russell Todd	...	Dell Davis
Danny Keogh	...	Jerry Scott
Michael McCabe	...	George Pearson
Embeth Davidtz	...	Laurie Shannon
Rex Garner	...	Mr. Cooper
John Hussey	...	Mr. Green
Clive Scott	...	Waiter
At Botha	...	Cop 1
Ben Kruger	...	Cop 2
Nicky Rebelo	...	Messenger
Jason Roberts	...	Student 1
David Thomas	...	Student 2
Michael Brunner	...	Jed
Ian Roussouw	...	Roadhouse waiter (as Ian Rossouw)

Storyline

Lisa Smith is having trouble making the rent, so she advertises for a female roommate. A young woman named Laurie moves in, unaware that Lisa is an insane killer.

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Plot Keywords:

roommate | female nudity | nudity | naked killer | female killer | 

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Taglines:

Some people would kill for the perfect roommate.

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Genres:

Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for stabbing scenes, and for sexuality and language

Details

Country:

South Africa

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 May 1990 (South Africa)

Also Known As:

Die Mördergrube

Filming Locations:

Johannesburg, South Africa

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Percival Rubens's last film.

User Reviews

Percival Rubens

Percy Rubens, the director of this gem, is an ultra-obscure film maker who, apparently, specialized in South African rip-offs of successful American films. His movie THE DEMON was a re-working of HALLOWEEN set in Johannesburg, and SWEET MURDER must have been his attempt to do a SINGLE WHITE FEMALE-style thriller. Well, his attempt was pathetic! First of all, the film is staged almost entirely indoors and looks like it was shot in a set of low-rent office suites. The main character, an unemployed weirdo with daddy issues, is supposed to be an American woman from Kentucky who just happened to accidentally end up in South Africa when she was backpacking through Europe. She spends the whole movie moping around in a pair of overalls, stopping occasionally to stab someone or don a really bad blond wig. They talk about her looking for a job, but they don't explain how a vagabond American would ever obtain a work permit. In fact, they don't even come out and say they live in South Africa, opting instead to make vague references about "the city," "the country," and other euphemisms (maybe they were scared of the trade embargo).

At least THE DEMON could be appreciated by fans of those grainy, crusty, low-budget crime movies of the late 1970's and early 1980's (it did, in fact, have the same look and feel of the old "Police Story" TV series). SWEET MURDER, with its cheap sets and hokey acting, resembles a Spanish-language sitcom written and directed by someone who thinks "Don't have a cow, man!" is a common utterance by angered Americans. Even the video box is a bad carbon copy of the ad print for SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, except the women featured on the tape sleeve aren't even the ones in the movie. Bad movie... Bad, bad movie.