Love Me Deadly (1973)

I gave this movie an eight mainly because of the dark subject matter and all the taboos on display: necrophilia, pedophilia, murder, infidelity, gay pedophilia, etc. I'm glad to have lived this long to see a film like this. That it even came from the US is a wonder.Why, oh, why can't they do films like this anymore? How did society get so...lame? Of course, with today's production values, 'Love Me Deadly' could never be made because a more graphic representation would clear the cinema, leaving behind the sickos like me who don't mind being challenged visually and psychologically.Instead, Hollywood continues to unload derivate, unoriginal tripe like 'Huff' ('Big Bad Wolf') and others of its ilk. To be sure, this movie tends to be melodramatic, but to me that's okay. That was pretty much the style at the time - cheese. Still, what other bit of celluloid can you find that touches upon all those taboos? The cinematography was good with lots of colour, but not great because quite a few frames were out of focus. Minor complaint, though. It's the themes that matter and it'd sure be nice if they made movies that pushes the envelope like this again.

Actually quite a well-made and off-beat thriller for its time; a Mr. Lobianco who wrote another "review" actually sounds quite a bit on the homophobic side, as the film has a brief bit of gay content but certainly NOT the "gay plot" he has it being. And there is certainly nothing wrong in the least with having gay content in a film to begin with. Actually well worth the time of viewing it; but out-of-print now to my knowledge. Mary Wilcox is not bad at all in the lead role; Lyle Waggoner is as wooden as a board as her devoted hubby; I saw no traces of a satanic cult in evidence, despite what a couple other viewers wrote. Definitely a necrophiliac cult, but satanism is not mentioned. The film's topic would be unusual in a film even today, let alone 1972 when the film originally played theaters. Actually quite surprising none of the multiple DVD companies have ever released this on home video, nor to my knowledge do they have an plans to do so. Considering some of the utter rubbish put out on the medium, it would be nice if one of them would make this available in a widescreen transfer for home libraries.

Lindsay, a pretty blonde in black complete with veil sits in one of the back rows for a funeral service. She remains after all others have left, and goes up to caress and kiss the dead man, though without quite making contact. The opening credits appear over sepia-tinted scenes of a young blonde girl playing with her loving father.Lindsay has a party, and a blonde male friend of hers follows her upstairs, but she fights him off. She continues visiting funeral parlors. At one, she bumps into the deceased's brother, an art gallery owner, and they take a mutual liking to each other. He reminds her a little of her father, and innocent sepia-tinted scenes of her with her father are interspersed throughout the film.Another man cruises by a gay film theater, and picks up a young hustler. He takes him back to his office, saying it's a veterinarian's office, but after he straps the young man down, it's clearly an embalming room.Lindsay is approached by the cruiser at one of the funerals, and he tells her about necrophilia. She tries to throw herself more deeply into her relationships with her blonde friend and the gallery owner, but she can't handle much more than an arm around the waist or a quick kiss.She tries joining a group of necrophiliacs at the funeral parlor, but the group activity scares her off. The group does dress in black robes, and use red candles, but they don't seem to be devil worshipers as some others have said.Her relationship with the gallery owner deepens, but she still can't handle a physical relationship. She also has a couple other secrets no one except her maid knows.The movie moves fairly slowly, but I found it pretty involving. It is quite sad. I was surprised to see H.B. Halicki (Gone in 60 Seconds, The Junkman) was one of the associate producers! There's also a good musical score. Over the opening credits, the theme song "Love Me Deadly" is sung, and the musical theme is repeated instrumental in different variations throughout.

Hmm...well i have no idea why this is rated slow low. Cool 70's fashion, a chick that's into necrophilia and ......Lyle Waggoner! Although this plays like a TV movie from the 70's with nudity, some gore and chicks fu**ing dead dudes, it's actually pretty good! The corpse loving isn't the thing that's messed up in this flick.......it's the beginning when the credits are rolling that you know things have gone into 42nd street sleaze. I wonder if Lyle Waggoner had this on his resume when he auditioned for Carol Burnett!