Nightmare Honeymoon (1974)

An early prototype for things to come? I know it was completely different to what I was originally expecting. A rural shocker in something of a survival mode, but in the end it was a stormy drama of horrific elements and sombre tones. David (who just came back from spending two years in Vietnam) and Jill have just been married, and on that day they flee the reception at her family's plantation to escape from her father's protective leash and his displeasure of her marrying a 'Yankee'. On their way to New Orleans for their honeymoon, they stop off at bayou motel where they witness a murder. While trying to flee, they're discovered by the hit men, as David is knocked out and Jill pleading for his life is raped. They arrive in New Orleans, but the scarring ordeal has really hit Jill hard, and causes an uncomfortable rift between the couple. So David goes about trying to track down the killers. Rather than being a straight-forward low-budget revenge film magnifying the violence and profanity like plenty of grindhouse exploitation features of this ilk accustomed themselves in the mid to latter end of this decade, director Elliot Silverstein's late-night, southern slice while remaining gristly durable and still lingering on a sadistic front, chooses to rather imply it, letting the dark, moody atmospherics of the character's genuine transformations infuse the uneasy emotions and confronting tension in very slow-measured style that has a worthwhile pay-off. This works because of the carefully laid out script of the gloomy social commentary ("No one cares") and examining the unremitting affects and pain that go to trouble and engulf the newly wedded couple (the husband angrily seeking retribution and the wife being traumatically unbalanced) and secondly because of the seamless performances by a hard boiled Dack Rambo and the ravishing Rebecca Dianna Smith as David and Jill. Also a gleaming John Beck is fantastic as the aggressively unhinged hit-man / rapist and Pat Hingle is always a delight as Jill's protective father. Jay Robinson kicks in with a small, but colourful part. However the story isn't without its flaws namely that of many open ended plot ties. Director Silverstein's efficient direction is boldly compact making perfect use of the vivid locations to stage the conflicting dramas and pressured induced suspense (plenty of nocturnal sequences). Elmer Bernstein's raucously brooding score leaves a mark. Amiably effective in its shaming psychological make-up. Ps. Seeing that director Nicolas Roeg was originally tagged to the project, before leaving after only 5 days into the shoot would've made it interesting to see what he could have made of the material.

***SPOILERS*** Actor John Beck's performance, as psycho killer and rapist Lee, is by far the best reason to see " Nightmare Honnymoon". Without Beck being in the movie and doing his "thing" the film would come across as just your average run of the mill TV Movie crime thriller.The movie itself has newlywed couple David & Jill Webb, Dack Rambo & Rebecca Dianna Smith,witness a contract murder by Lee and his partner Sandy, Roy Jenson, of the manager of the motel that their staying at Mr. Carroll, David Huddleston. Being spotted by Lee & Sandy both David & Jill are held hostage by them with Jill, while David is knocked unconscious, being raped. It's later when David finds out what happened to Jill he goes out of his way to track down the two killers to exact revenge for what they did to his wife.It's when David finds out who contracted the two killer to murder Mr. Carroll his business partner Ruskin, Jay Robinson, he realizes that they aren't professional hit-men flown in from out out of town but local hoodlum who aren't all that professional at all. This explains the bizarre actions of Lee, and to a lesser extent Sandy, that leads David right to their doorstep at the New Orleans Royal Hotel!In him trying to finish what he started Lee goes completely wacko in not only trying to again rape Jill but force her husband David to watch the outrage! The eye popping and sneering Lee gets so caught up with his actions, in him trying to stretch them out, that he gives both David and Jill, whom he's holding hostage, all the time that they needed to finally finish him off.John Beck who usually plays a good guy in the films he's in was never better as the crazed and hyperventilating Lee the hit-man. Even Lee's partner Sandy seemed very uncomfortable being around in him nervously looking, for what seemed like, any excuse to exit the movie. In the end, after Sandy was dispatched by David, Lee was left on his own to face not only a vengeful David, a hand to hand combat Vietnam veteran, but his wife Jill who in the end turned the tables, or her choppers, on him!

Does anyone know where I may obtain a DVD of Nightmare Honeymoon? I am curious about one of the possible locations used for this movie. In 1972 I was planning a new golf course residential community and the owner of the land allowed a production company to shoot some scenes under the moss-draped oaks. The site was close to the Tchefuncte River near Mandeville, Louisiana. A decrepit mansion on the property was the perfect eerie location for a horror movie. This large home built in the 1930s is now beautifully restored, however. The director of the film I saw in production was badly injured when the boom chair collapsed onto him. Production was halted for a while and then another director showed up to continue the filming. Nightmare Honeymoon may not be the movie I watched being filmed but the title rings a bell. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

A young groom goes on a vengeance after he witnesses a killing and then has his wife raped, by some rural thugs, on his wedding night. Pretty much loses all relevancy when he tracks down the killers by remembering the names said during the killing and then using the TELEPHONE BOOK!!! To use a exact quote by it's super hunk star Dack "It's a magic detective book filled with the names of murderers and innocent victims. All the names, all the addresses." Has anyone ever heard of UNLISTED number. Oh well somebody better go tell the police and F.B.I. this so they can quit wasting so much money on their sophisticated networking and computer systems. Actress Smith has one of those 'put on' southern accents that almost immediately becomes annoying and after she is 'violated' has a look of constipation for the rest of the time. So mind numbingly standard that it makes a episode of THE A TEAM look creative. As memorable as spending ninety minutes cleaning between your bathroom tiles.