Cold Light of Day (1989 film)

Last updated
Cold Light of Day
Cold Light of Day (poster).jpg
Promotional artwork
Directed byFhiona Louise
Written byFhiona Louise
Produced by Richard Driscoll
Starring
CinematographyNigel Axworthy
Edited byLeroy Stamps
Music by Paul Stuart Davies
Production
company
Creative Artists Pictures
Distributed byCreative Artists Pictures
Release dates
Running time
80 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Cold Light of Day is a 1989 British horror film [2] written and directed by Fhiona Louise, and starring Bob Flag, Martin Byrne-Quinn, and Geoffrey Greenhill. [3] Based on the crimes of serial killer Dennis Nilsen, the film is a fictionalized account of his various murders leading up to his apprehension by authorities. Louise, who was 21 years old at the time of the film's release, was the youngest woman ever to direct a feature film. [1]

Contents

Plot

In late-1970s London, middle-aged civil servant Jordan March, apprehended by authorities, recounts the various murders he committed to Inspector Simmons, which are relayed through flashbacks. Jordan's killing spree began with a young former art student, Joe, whom he meets at a pub. After the two have drinks, Joe returns home with Jordan. Jordan finds Joe attractive, agrees to let Joe stay in his flat until he can regain stability. The next morning, Jordan spies on Joe as he takes a bath. Joe and Jordan have coffee at a cafe, but their conversation soon turns contentious. After Jordan departs for work, Joe cruises a young man for sex in the cafe bathroom.

Jordan soon become possessive of the young and freewheeling Joe, who gradually unabashedly takes advantage of him. One morning, while Joe lies sleeping, Jordan strangles him to death, before collapsing atop his body. He then experiences a flashback of the death of his grandfather as a child.

He keeps Joe's corpse in his bed, engaging in necrophilia with the body. Later, while walking through a red-light district, Jordan is approached by a female prostitute who ushers him into her flat. She attempts to seduce him, but he rebuffs her efforts; nonetheless, he pays her for her efforts before nervously departing.

Later, Jordan returns to the cafe and is approached by a young homeless man who asks for a cigarette. Though Jordan is annoyed, the man manages to convince Jordan to let him stay with him. Once at his flat, Jordan attacks the man, strangling him as he sits in an armchair before drowning him in his bathtub. After the murder, Jordan falls into a drunken sleep, and has nightmares about his grandfather's death, which he witnessed as a child. The following day, Jordan dismembers and skins the man's corpse, flushing heaps of flesh down the toilet, and boiling his severed head.

Jordan encounters another young punk, Stephen, on the streets of London, and saves him from a drug overdose. Stephen returns with Jordan to his flat, where he locks himself in the bathroom and injects himself with heroin. After stumbling out of the bathroom, Stephen collapses, suffering another overdose. Jordan proceeds to strangle him to death with a belt.

The next day, Julie, another tenant who lives beneath Jordan's flat, finds her bathroom plumbing appears to be clogged, and phones the landlord to inspect it. She informs Jordan of this, which causes him to panic. Jordan brings pieces of Stephen's flesh and organs outside, where he disposes of them in a storm drain. Meanwhile, the plumber inspecting the building notices a stench of decay, and finds remnants of human flesh in the pipes, leading him to contact the police. Jordan is arrested, and his flat dismantled by police. Beneath the floorboards, they uncover Joe's corpse, along with the dismembered bodies of the two other men.

Cast

Production

Cold Light of Day was written and directed by Fhiona Louise, a 21-year-old acting student. [1] She wrote the screenplay for the film while studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute's London campus, where she was studying under American actress Marianna Hill. [4] Martin Byrne-Quinn, who portrayed Joe, was a classmate of Louise's, whom she asked to partake in the project. [4]

Release

Cold Light of Day premiered at the 47th Venice International Film Festival in 1989. [1] Louise would later recollect that, at the screening "at least a quarter of the audience walked out, but the people who remained stood up and applauded afterwards. They either loved it, or hated it, which was great. There can't be a better compliment for a young filmmaker." [5]

Critical response

Time Out wrote that the film "has the lighting and look of an Andy Warhol home movie—heads cut off, lots of static shots of men on sofas—and a soundtrack composed of deep breathing, the pounding of a demolition ball, and church bells. Little light is thrown by March in the police interrogations on the reasons for his actions ('I didn't mean to. It just happened') or by the film itself." [6]

Home media

In October 2020, Arrow Films released the film on Blu-ray. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffrey Dahmer</span> American serial killer (1960–1994)

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer, also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster, was an American serial killer and sex offender who killed and dismembered seventeen males between 1978 and 1991. Many of his later murders involved necrophilia, cannibalism, and the permanent preservation of body parts—typically all or part of the skeleton.

<i>Frenzy</i> 1972 British film by Alfred Hitchcock

Frenzy is a 1972 British thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It is the penultimate feature film of his extensive career. The screenplay by Anthony Shaffer was based on the 1966 novel Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square by Arthur La Bern. The film stars Jon Finch, Alec McCowen and Barry Foster and features Billie Whitelaw, Anna Massey, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Bernard Cribbins and Vivien Merchant. The original music score was composed by Ron Goodwin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis Nilsen</span> Scottish serial killer (1945–2018)

Dennis Andrew Nilsen was a Scottish serial killer and necrophile who murdered at least twelve young men and boys between 1978 and 1983. Convicted at the Old Bailey of six counts of murder and two of attempted murder, Nilsen was sentenced to life imprisonment on 4 November 1983, with a recommendation that he serve a minimum of 25 years; this recommendation was later changed to a whole life tariff in December 1994. In his later years, Nilsen was imprisoned at HM Prison Full Sutton in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

<i>Somersault</i> (film) 2004 Australian film

Somersault is a 2004 Australian romantic drama film written and directed by Cate Shortland in her feature directorial debut. It was released on 16 September 2004 and screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. It also swept the field at the 2004 Australian Film Institute Awards, winning every single feature film award.

Lucky Stiff is a musical farce. It was the first collaboration for the team of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (music). The show is based on the 1983 novel The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo by Michael Butterworth. It was created and performed at Playwrights Horizons off-Broadway in 1988, and won the Richard Rodgers Award for that year. The musical was seen in London's West End in 1997 but has not had a Broadway production. A film version had a limited release in theatres in 2015 but received mostly negative reviews.

Necrophilia has been a topic in popular culture.

<i>A Bucket of Blood</i> (1995 film) 1995 television film by Michael McDonald

A Bucket of Blood is a 1995 American comedy horror television film. A remake of the 1959 film of the same name, it follows the original closely, adapting it to a contemporary setting. The film was directed by comedian Michael McDonald, produced by Roger Corman, and co-written by McDonald and Brendan Broderick, based on the 1959 screenplay by Charles B. Griffith.

<i>Boys of the City</i> 1940 film by Joseph H. Lewis

Boys of the City is a 1940 black-and-white comedy/thriller film directed by Joseph H. Lewis. It is the second East Side Kids film and the first to star Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, and Ernest Morrison.

<i>Zachariah</i> (film) 1971 film

Zachariah is a 1971 American acid Western film directed by George Englund and starring John Rubinstein, Patricia Quinn and Don Johnson.

<i>Torso</i> (1973 film) 1973 film by Sergio Martino

Torso is a 1973 Italian giallo film directed by Sergio Martino, produced by Carlo Ponti, and starring Suzy Kendall, Tina Aumont, Luc Merenda, and John Richardson. Martino’s fifth giallo, the film centers on a string of brutal murders of young female students at an international college in Perugia. Several critics describe it as one of the earliest examples of a slasher film.

<i>10 Rillington Place</i> 1971 British film by Richard Fleischer

10 Rillington Place is a 1971 British crime film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson, John Hurt and Pat Heywood. It was adapted by Clive Exton from the book Ten Rillington Place by Ludovic Kennedy and produced by Leslie Linder and Martin Ransohoff.

<i>The Killing Kind</i> (1973 film) 1973 film by Curtis Harrington

The Killing Kind is a 1973 American psychological horror film directed by Curtis Harrington, and starring Ann Sothern, John Savage, Ruth Roman, Luana Anders, and Cindy Williams. It follows a young man who, after being released from prison for a sexual assault he did not commit, submits to his impulsive urge to seek revenge against those who wronged him. The film is based on a screenplay by Tony Crechales, whose screenplay was revised by producer George Edwards, an associate producer on Harrington's previous film, What's the Matter with Helen? (1971).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Smith (criminal)</span> Spree killer jailed for life in 2001 for the murders of three women

Philip John Smith is an English spree killer serving a life sentence for the murders of three women in Birmingham in November 2000. A former fairground worker employed at the Rainbow pub in Digbeth, Smith killed his victims over a four-day period. All three victims were mutilated almost beyond recognition, but Smith was quickly identified as the killer on the strength of overwhelming evidence.

<i>Robot Chicken DC Comics Special</i> 2012 television film directed by Seth Green

Robot Chicken DC Comics Special is an episode of the television comedy series Robot Chicken and it was aired as a one-off special during Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on September 10, 2012.

Viktor Viktorovich Fokin, known as The Pensioner Maniac, was a Russian serial killer who killed at least 10 people in between 1996 and 2000.

<i>Countdown</i> (2019 film) 2019 film by Justin Dec

Countdown is a 2019 American supernatural horror film directed and written by Justin Dec, and starring Elizabeth Lail, Jordan Calloway, Talitha Bateman, Tichina Arnold, P.J. Byrne, Peter Facinelli, Anne Winters, and Tom Segura. The plot follows a group of people who discover a mobile app that correctly tells its users when they are going to die.

<i>In the Cut</i> (novel) 1995 novel by Susanna Moore

In the Cut is a 1995 thriller novel by American writer Susanna Moore. The plot follows an English teacher at New York University who becomes entangled in a sexual relationship with a detective investigating a series of gruesome murders in her neighborhood. The novel was adapted into a feature film of the same name in 2003 by director Jane Campion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kallang River body parts murder</span> 2005 murder and dismemberment case in Singapore

The Kallang River body parts murder was a murder and dismemberment case that occurred in Singapore. The case earned its name due to the body parts of the victim, 22-year-old Liu Hong Mei, being found disposed in Kallang River. In this case, Liu's 50-year-old supervisor, Leong Siew Chor, used a towel to strangle her to death, and he also severed her body into seven pieces - mainly her head, upper torso, lower torso, legs and feet - before disposing them in Kallang River and other locations in Singapore.

Lauren Teresa Giddings was an American woman who was murdered by Stephen Mark McDaniel on June 26, 2011, in Macon, Georgia, United States. McDaniel pleaded guilty in 2014, and was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Circuit Road flat murder</span> 2016 case of a nurse murdered by strangulation in Singapore

On 21 March 2016, 28-year-old Zhang Huaxiang, a China-born nurse working in Singapore, was murdered by her close male friend Boh Soon Ho, a Malaysian working as a cafeteria worker in Singapore. Boh's motive behind the murder was due to his feeling jealous over Zhang, whom he considered his girlfriend, not reciprocating his feelings and went out with another man, which caused him to use a towel to strangle Zhang in a fit of anger, and he even tried having sex on her corpse.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "The killer and the blonde movie brat". The Guardian . 1 August 1990. p. 36 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ Rigby, Jonathan (2004). English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema (3rd ed.). London: Reynolds & Hearn. ISBN   978-1-903111-79-6.
  3. ↑ "Cold Light of Day (1989)". British Board of Film Classification. 10 October 2011. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018.
  4. 1 2 Playing the Victim: An Interview with Martin Byrne-Quinn (Blu-ray documentary short). Arrow Films. 2020.
  5. ↑ Inlay notes of Screen Edge VHS release of Cold Light of Day
  6. ↑ "The Cold Light of Day (1989), directed by Fhiona Louise". Time Out . Archived from the original on 7 March 2021.
  7. ↑ "Cold Light of Day". Arrow Films . Archived from the original on 7 March 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.