A Kiss Before Dying (1991)

A determined student murders his pregnant secret girlfriend and moves onto her twin sister who gradually becomes suspicious of her new lover.

Director:

James Dearden

Writers:

Ira Levin (novel), James Dearden (screenplay)

Stars:

Matt Dillon, Sean Young, James Bonfanti

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Bonfanti	...	Young Jonathan
Sarah Keller	...	Lecturer
Sean Young	...	Ellen / Dorothy Carlsson
Martha Gehman	...	Patricia Farren
Lia Chang	...	Shoe Saleslady
Matt Dillon	...	Jonathan Corliss
Yvette Edelhart	...	Screaming Lady
Max von Sydow	...	Thor Carlsson
Jim Fyfe	...	Terry Dieter
Lachele Carl	...	Reporter
Briony Glassco	...	Waitress
Shane Rimmer	...	Commissioner Malley
James Russo	...	Dan Corelli
Diane Ladd	...	Mrs. Corliss
Adam Horovitz	...	Jay Faraday

Storyline

Realising his secret girlfriend Dorothy's pregnancy will sour her relations with her ultra-rich father, career-minded Philadelphia student Jonathan Corliss coolly murders her, making it look like suicide. He then moves to New York to woo her twin sister Ellen. All seems to go well for him, although Ellen's continued investigations into what she is convinced was not a suicide forces him to kill again.

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Plot Keywords:

neo noir | twin | industrialist | vertigo shot | female nudity | 

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Taglines:

Loving him was easy. Trusting him was deadly.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for areas of strong violence, graphic sensuality, and some language

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film takes place in 1987 and 1990.

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Goofs

When Ellen and Jonathan take the injured homeless woman to the hospital, Ellen talks to a nurse and offers to pay the bill. First, the nurse is wearing a stiff white cap and uniform. Most nurses, especially in the ER, had stopped wearing this type of uniform by the time the film was set. Also, she gives the nurse the money for the bill. Nurses do not handle billing and collection in hospitals. Plus, she didn't seem to know how much the bill was. And no receipt?

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Quotes

Nurse: She's got two broken ribs, a broken jaw, and a bad concussion. We're going to keep her overnight for observation.

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Connections

Features Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

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Soundtracks

Naked In The Rain
Written by Durga McBroom & Martin Glover
Performed by Blue Pearl
Courtesy of Big Life Records

User Reviews

Kiss of life required to ignite this film noir re-imaging.

A remake of the 1956 film of the same name, A Kiss Before Dying is directed by James Dearden and Dearden adapts the screenplay from Ira Levin's novel. It stars Sean Young, Matt Dillon, Max von Sydow, Dianne Ladd and James Russo. Music is by Howard Shore and cinematography by Mike Southon.

Story has Dillon as a troubled young man who murders his pregnant girlfriend (Young) and then hones in on her twin sister (Young again obviously) for further psychotic shenanigans.

It's just about an average thriller at best, where even if the plot line and character motivations are intriguing enough to hold the attention to keep one interested to the ending, even there the outcome is rushed and unsatisfying. From the negative reaction at the initial test screenings, to Golden Raspberry awards, and tales of rewrites and re-shoots et al, this noir reboot is messy.

The tie-in to Hitchcock's Vertigo is glaringly "not" homage worthy, and not just content with that, director Dearden tries to use some of Hitchcock's macabre black humour to unintentionally "not" witty results. So with Young on hilariously bad form as well, the thriller aspects strain to get resuscitated for dramatic worth.

Dearden does show some nice touches with his camera-work, and there's a lurid quality to Southon's colour lenses that pay respect in heart to Levin's source material, but ultimately it's hard to recommend seriously to noir fans and the 56 version (itself not without problems) is still the way to go. 5/10

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 April 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Kiss Before Dying

Filming Locations:

First Chicago House, 90 Long Acre, Convent Garden, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,348,165, 28 April 1991

Gross USA:

$15,429,177

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$15,429,177

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Initial Pictures, Kellgate Limited

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1