Nightmare Honeymoon

I have a strong suspicion that "Nightmare Honeymoon" was originally filmed as a made-for-television movie, but someone (for some reason) thought it would be a good idea to release it to theaters first. The tone of the movie is very tame. There's no nudity, the only bad language is the one utterance of the word "damn", a key violent scene happens completely offscreen, and the (limited amount of) violence in the second half of the movie is not that intense.

Still, I have seen good made-for-TV movies from the 70s, and I possibly could have still enjoyed this despite all the censorship restrictions. But I didn't think that it worked overall. Even at around 93 minutes long, the movie feels significantly padded. If they had trimmed the movie to run 75 or so minutes (like many 70s made-for-TV movies), this would have improved the movie significantly. The other big problem is that after the climax, the concluding moment is very unsatisfying. You don't know where the characters are headed after going through what they did.

I'm not saying that this is a "bad" movie - it has some moments of interest. But the execution was somewhat misguided. Perhaps a remake could fix those problems I wrote about.

With the current UK trend of showing old so-called horror movies that were banned at the time I was just hoping that this one might be shown on TV here. I saw it in Kuwait in 1975 (well you have to do something on a Saturday night in a dry country)and don't remember when I've laughed so much. From the squealing southern belle bride and oh-so-clean-cut groom to guys really called Bubba this film just made my day. The accents are straight out of Gone with the Wind, but with stars sadly lacking Clark Gable's looks or charm. Since I laughed just as hard at Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Evil Dead recently I'm sure I'd bust a gut at this one. (The 5 score is for humour only).

David Webb has been away in Vietnam for two years. He's newly married to Jill. They're on a runaway honeymoon trying to avoid his new in-laws with their crazy traditions. In the swamps, they encounter two thugs killing a man. Jill is raped by those men. The local cop doesn't seem to care. They go to their planned honeymoon in New Orleans. With only half-heard names of Carroll, Barett, and Ruskin, David is driven to seek revenge over Jill's objections.

The overacting is worthy of some kind of award. The villain talks too much. Bad acting abounds. I know it sounds awful but Jill is ringing as much melodrama as she can from the rape. I almost wish she had been killed off. It could have a fine revenge B-movie like Deathwish which came out a few months earlier. The writing is not only bad but it's cringeworthy. The couple's fighting over her rape is impossibly awkward. The movie has scenes that take too long and it's too melodramatic.

Couple on honeymoon... wife is raped... they get revenge. There's not much more than that. Some over dramatic acting bordering on hammy, sparse locations, thin plot, and minuscule action make up a snooze fest with some pretty huge plot holes.

Does anyone know where I may obtain a DVD of Nightmare Honeymoon? I am curious about one of the possible locations used for this movie. In 1972 I was planning a new golf course residential community and the owner of the land allowed a production company to shoot some scenes under the moss-draped oaks. The site was close to the Tchefuncte River near Mandeville, Louisiana. A decrepit mansion on the property was the perfect eerie location for a horror movie. This large home built in the 1930s is now beautifully restored, however. The director of the film I saw in production was badly injured when the boom chair collapsed onto him. Production was halted for a while and then another director showed up to continue the filming. Nightmare Honeymoon may not be the movie I watched being filmed but the title rings a bell. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.