Honeymoon of Horror

This barely rates and registers at all on any scale. Almost everything about this production is pretty terrible. The best thing about it is the nude inserts that do not appear in most prints. But I would certainly like to find a copy of the film that included them. Another big problem is that the entire film is irritatingly predictable. Most of the characters are annoying and with one or two exceptions do not permit the viewer or the audience to sympathize with the characters. Many of the characters in this story are either simps or wimps. The line readings are annoyingly monotonous and the actors appear to know that this film is a turkey and therefore do not hide the fact that they are merely going through the motions. Their feigned interest is contagious to the viewing audience. In fact the only thing that would have made this film much better would be a lot more ample nudity.

It's really too bad this flick couldn't have been a bit more coherent in its near pyschotronic ambience since many of the necessary sleazy cinematic components for a cult flick are intact. Slightly dulled but once vivid early 60's style color images, mediocre overacting, a southern locale and a story line that holds promise but can't quite bring the entire production into a focused and entertainingly low budget fun fest. The elements are there but the firm hand of the true 60's schlockmeister crew is noticeably absent, unfortunately. The movie starts off with turgid deliberation then seems to pick up some speed as it develops into a more compelling tale, but the barely sketched out multiple peripheral characters along with a convoluted plot line weigh down most of the scenario. I thought I might have discovered a neglected slice of trashy filmic flair that had been overlooked, but no such luck. I liked the story line involving a hedonistic, swinging artists collective that, while being a cool concept, never gets fully and properly exploited. At any rate, if you're into the 60's - 70's low budget genre, you'll likely wind up watching this by yourself because only a true aficionado will have the steely willpower of endurance required for full viewing.

It would be most difficult for a viewer to determine a reason why this decidedly economical production was made, as it includes no strata of horror, suspense, or indeed anything at all of abiding interest upon any page of its rather incoherent script. Shot at the sprawling home, and its environs, of Hungarian born Cuban refugee Sepy Dubronyi in the picturesque Coconut Grove section of Miami, Florida, the film depicts the nearly incomprehensible actions of a motley admixture of painters, sculptors, and other artistic types who come and go in random fashion throughout the witless affair. A disjointed narrative opens with sculptor Emile Duvre (Robert Parsons) bringing his young bride Lilli (Abbey Heller) to his home, one that she quickly discovers is ever open to any of his friends for whichever purposes meet their fancies of the moment. In addition, Emile's uniquely garbed and turbaned manservant, Hajmir, seems to conduct himself in a baleful manner, to the mind of a bewildered Lilli. It also appears that there are attempts being made upon the latter's life, although these incidents, as with all else in this farrago, are not made convincing to a viewer. There is essentially no rational design to the film, with seemingly significant characters disappearing early on, and any sense of artistry that may have been intended by cast or crew members is not in evidence. The storyline is haphazard, the camera-work is erratic, with quaintly dreadful lighting, and the acting is substandard, often inadvertently comedic. VHS format copies, distributed by Incredibly Strange Filmworks, can occasionally be located upon the Internet. For those individuals with a surfeit of time to spend upon poorly constructed nonsense, a DVD release from RetroFLICKS.com is currently available, as well.

I suppose you could call HONEYMOON OF HORROR an attempt at one of those psycho-thrillers which did the rounds in the 1960s and '70s, but truth be told, it's a pitiful stab at the genre and has very little to recommend it to fans of either horror or suspense. The focus of the story is on a bride who marries a sculptor and soon finds he has an eccentric friend group. Before long, people begin being killed by persons unknown, so a sort of weak murder mystery plot develops, although this is resolved in the most resolute way at the climax. The Floridian settings and addition of an exotic manservant are promising, but the plodding script and histrionic acting put paid to any entertainment value this might have had.