Sweet Kill | |
---|---|
Directed by | Curtis Hanson |
Written by | Curtis Hanson |
Produced by | Tamara Asseyev |
Starring | Tab Hunter |
Cinematography | Daniel Lacambre |
Edited by | Gretel Ehrlich |
Music by | Charles Bernstein |
Production companies | Curtis Lee Hanson Tamaroc Productions [1] |
Distributed by | New World Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 85 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $110,000 [2] or $130,000 [3] |
Sweet Kill (also known as A Kiss from Eddie and The Arousers) is a 1973 B-movie written and directed by future Academy Award winner Curtis Hanson. The film was Hanson's directorial debut and was executive-produced by Roger Corman. It stars 1950s heartthrob Tab Hunter and was the last film of actress Isabel Jewell. [4] [5]
Eddie Collins finds that he is unable to perform sexually with women because of repressed memories of his mother. After accidentally killing a woman while trying to sleep with her, he finds that he is able to get aroused by the dead body. This leads him into a chain of luring women into bed in order to kill them for sexual gratification.
Actor | Role |
---|---|
Tab Hunter | Eddie Collins |
Cherie Latimer | Lauren |
Nadyne Turney | Barbara |
Isabel Jewell | Mrs. Cole |
Linda Leider | Vickie |
Roberta Collins | Call Girl |
John Aprea | Richard |
Rory Guy | Henry |
John Pearce | Mr. Howard |
Curtis Hanson got to know Roger Corman while doing re-writes on The Dunwich Horror (1970), which Corman had helped finance. Corman had a track record of giving opportunities to first time directors and was setting up his own distribution company, New World Pictures. When Dunwhich Horror was finished, Hanson told Corman he wanted to direct a film he had written; Corman said he would be interested in financing a motorcycle movie, a women in prison movie or a nurses movie. Hanson was unenthusiastic, so Corman then said he might also be interested in a modern horror film along the lines of Psycho (1960). [2] [3]
Hanson wrote the script originally with the killer as a female. Corman liked it but felt it was "a little too different" for the killer to be female so asked she be turned male. [6] [7]
The producer, Tamara Asseyev, was Corman's former assistant. [8]
According to Hanson, the film cost $130,000 and Corman was supposed to put up two-thirds of the money. A couple of weeks before filming started Hanson says Corman "reneged on the deal and said he would only put up one-third of the money. My producing partner and I had to raise the other two-thirds. To show how foolhardy I was, I went to my parents and persuaded them to put a mortgage on their home in order to finance this film." [3]
In November 1970, Tab Hunter signed to make the film. Isabelle Jewel, Cherie Latimer and Rita Murrie were also cast. At this stage the film was called A Kiss for Eddie. [9] [10]
Filming took place in 1971. The apartment where Tab Hunter's character lived in Venice was owned by Hanson's grandmother. [2]
Hanson says when he showed the film to Corman "he said it needed more tits in it... It was my first nightmare post-production experience." [3]
Hanson says "It was recut to some degree and more bare breasts were put into it. It was the first time I learned the lesson that I had the opportunity to learn multiple times after that which is: If you're going to risk being wrong, it's better to be wrong with your own mistakes than with somebody else's. " [7]
"It was very low-budget and it was a really interesting script", said Hunter. "But, of course, Roger Corman had to put his own little tweaks into it (laughter). He had his own way of making motion pictures... and selling them." [11]
The film was originally released as Sweet Kill. [12]
Box office performance was disappointing. The film was re-released as The Arousers. It arrived in Los Angeles cinemas in 1976. The Los Angeles Times said it was "made with a sensitivity and intelligence unusual for the normally lurid psycho genre." [13]
Hanson later described the experience as a "very unhappy" one. [6]
Roger William Corman is an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are low-budget cult films including some which are adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe.
Anthony 'Tony' Perkins was an American actor, director, and singer. He is most notable for the role of Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense thriller Psycho, which made him an influential figure in pop culture and the realm of horror films.
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Curtis Lee Hanson was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Born in Reno, Nevada, Hanson grew up in Los Angeles. After dropping out of high school, Hanson worked as photographer and editor for Cinema magazine. In the 1970s, Hanson got involved in filmmaking starting with participating in the writing of the horror film The Dunwich Horror (1970) and his directorial debut Sweet Kill (1973), where he lacked creative control to fulfill his vision. While Hanson continued directing, he rose to prominence by being involved in the writing of several critically-acclaimed films. This included Daryl Duke's The Silent Partner (1978), Samuel Fuller's White Dog (1982), and Carroll Ballard's Never Cry Wolf (1983).
Tab Hunter was an American actor, singer, film producer, and author. Known for his blond hair and clean-cut good looks, Hunter starred in more than forty films. During the 1950s and 1960s, in his twenties and thirties, Hunter was a Hollywood heart-throb, acting in numerous roles and appearing on the covers of hundreds of magazines. His notable screen credits include Battle Cry (1955), The Girl He Left Behind (1956), Gunman's Walk (1958), and Damn Yankees (1958). Hunter also had a music career in the late 1950s; in 1957, he released a no. 1 hit single "Young Love". Hunter's 2005 autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, was a New York Times bestseller.
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