Sweet Kill

I would have never expected Curtis Hanson directing such a film; I hardly realize that LA CONFIDENTIAL maker gave us this more than twenty years earlier. And besides, I also hardly believe that former Hollywood actor in the fifties Tab Hunter could perform in such a film. Not a bad one though, so typical from from late sixties, early seventies. A period where anything was possible, ANYTHING. I was not bored with this film, not disappointed, not deceived, unlike many other stuff of this kind. Good, solid script and a convincing acting performance from Tab Hunter. I think Matt - forever young - Dillon could have played such a role.

It must have been hard to imagine in 1973 that the director of this low budget shock flick would go on to make one of the very best crime films of the nineties with LA Confidential, but indeed that was the case. Anyway, this was his first attempt at directing, and it's a rather lukewarm film. I never go into films like this expecting too much; generally these film were made with the intention of getting as many people into a theatre as possible and that isn't usually the best base for a great film. This one focuses on Eddie Collins, a disturbed man who gets into murdering women after one unsuccessful encounter and then ends up not being able to shake off the urge to do so. The film was obviously made on a shoestring budget and it does look very cheap. There's also rather too many sex scenes in the film which were obviously included to help sell the film, but actually end up making it all the more boring. Naturally the point of the film is to see the lead character butchering some women rather than any kind of character study, and that's really all we get. Still, Sweet Kill is not a total dead loss; it makes for an interesting watch and fans of low budget seventies exploitation will probably get a kick out of it.

Current A-list director Curtis Hanson's first 1970 film portrayal of a sexually-deviant gym teacher and serial killer features an incredibly creepy performance by Tab Hunter which is so good, it raises the quality of the whole movie. Unfortunately, the production values are rather inferior: the film has the flat lighting of a TV-movie, mixed sound quality, an underdeveloped script, and a few embarrassingly awkward scenes - one with Hunter giving a male student advice about girls that reminded me of a cheap educational filmstrip, and another with police finding marijuana in a character's bathtub. With all of the realistic serial killer films which have come out since this film, it probably had greater originality when first released, as an early attempt to portray a serial killer's actions squarely in the middle of mundane everyday reality. However, part of the creepy quality here is that Hunter portrays a character who seems exceedingly normal on the outside but is obviously incredibly disturbed. The whole sexual impotence aspect of his compulsions thankfully remains low-key, as simply slipping this guy some Viagra would probably not solve his difficulties.

All in all, definitely not a bad time-filler or debut for Hanson; there are a couple of memorable shock scenes. However, for a much more substantial treatment of similar subject matter, I suggest Robert Altman's very obscure 1964 film "Nightmare in Chicago."

This is part of a strange trend in the early 1970's of 1950's male matinée idols playing serial killers. First, Rock Hudson appeared in the wonderful black comedy "Pretty Maids All in a Row" as high school guidance counselor, football coach, and sex murderer. Then Troy Donahue appeared in the bizarre "Love Thrill Murderers" (aka "Sweet Savior") as a Mansonesque cult leader. And in this movie, years before more publicly exploding his screen image in John Water's "Polyester", Tab Hunter plays an impotent and murderous PE coach (is there any other kind?). The plot is pretty simple: Tab can't get it up, so in frustration he kills the many women who excite him or come on to him.

This movie is better made than many (like the "Love-Thrill Murders), but it is presented in a VERY serious manner and could have really used the black humor of a film like "Pretty Maids". The premise is pretty ridiculous after all. The film also follows another 70's/early 80's trend of being told from the POV of the deranged killer and trying to make him somewhat sympathetic. Again this can work if it's a well-made film (i.e. "Peeping Tom", "Taxi Driver")or if it contains a good dose of black humor ("Deranged"), but often the results ended up being either highly unpleasant ("Maniac", "Don't Go in the House") or just plain risible ("Don't Answer the Phone", "Mardi Gras Massacre"). This falls more into the latter category (despite some lingering misogyny). Strangely, in spite of the killer's occupation as a P.E. coach, the movie resists joining the teen sexploitation trend that was big at the time (with movies like "Pretty Maids", "The Cheerleaders", and Tom Loughlin's ridiculous "sex-with-the-babysitter movies"). Tab's victims are all collegiate age or older women (although I might point out to both the drooling perverts and clucking moralists that the same 18-to-30-year-old actress types were used in all these movies regardless of how old the characters were supposed to be). There is one minor subplot where Tab tries to help a troubled male teenage virgin, but it gets dropped pretty quickly.

Mostly this movie just isn't a lot of fun. It's hard to take seriously, but it contains little or no comedy. There is one scene where a hippie girl complains about her missing (murdered) roommate and the cops bust her for possession of marijuana, but this scene is really not mined enough either for humor or scathing social commentary. That really leaves only the generous female nudity to recommend this thing, and that may not be enough for most people.

A handsome and lonely gym teacher Eddie Collins can't perform sexually due to his constant watching of his mother undress while he hid in her closet as a child.His only recourse is to kill the women he tries to sleep with and stash them in a pigeon hutch on his roof.He hires a prostitute to dress as his dead mother,the only way he is able to achieve sexual gratification..."The Arousers" is the first film of director Curtis Hanson.Originally shot in 1971 under the title "Sweet Kill",this film lingered on the shelf until 1973 when executive producer Roger Corman had Hanson shoot two days of nudity inserts to spice-up the film.Angus Scrimm of "Phanatsm" fame has a small cameo here.Overall,this is a good piece of sleaze from the early 70's that should satisfy the exploitation fans out there looking for plenty of nudity,sex and violence.7 out of 10.