Nightmare Honeymoon

That's not the Elliot Silverstein's film that we'll remind the most, compared to A MAN CALLED HORSE, CAT BALLOU or THE CAR, but that remains a good film, solid and typical of the savage and loose seventies period. It needs to be discovered again. I found it late actually, not in the eighties. The film itself is not an astounding one, not DEATH WISH nor STRAW DOGS, but I repeat, it's worth the watch. I would have prefered something more brutal, grittier, more gloomy and downbeat. I don't remember this film mainly because there is no known actors; for instance Dack Rambo; never heard of him. I know however another Rambo, not this one.

Nightmare Honeymoon (1973)

** (out of 4)

Low budget drama about newlyweds David (Dack Rambo) and Jill (Rebecca Dianna Smith) who witness a mob hit and then the real terror begins. David is knocked out by Jill is raped by one of the men. Ashamed, she refuses to go to the cops so David decides to track the men down himself and kill them. OK, this is being sold as a horror film so it's fair warning to let you know that it isn't. The murders, rape and everything else happen off screen so if you're buying into the rape/revenge thing then you're going to be disappointed. The film is pretty much a straight drama that plays it way too safe to really work. There's nothing really bad here but at the same time there's nothing really good either. One thing that didn't work was the direction, which was just too laid back and it was to the point where it really slowed the movie down. There are countless scenes that just go on and on and in the end these too slow the film down. I'm not sure what it is but we also have the same conversations throughout the movie as the characters can't make their minds up on what they want to do. You could say this is realistic but it doesn't work on film here. The same conversations get very boring after a while. Both Rambo and Smith are decent enough in the film with character actors John Beck, Pat Hingle and Jay Robinson offering up support. One really annoying thing about this movie is its soundtrack, which is just overbearing at times because of how high they turn in up to try a show when danger is about to happen. After a while it gets tiresome. Apparently Nicolas Roeg (DON'T LOOK NOW) started directing this but dropped out after the first week and I'm curious to know if he shot the scenes at the hamburger joint because there are a couple stylish camera moves here that look like his and don't match anything else in the movie.

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.

A lower budget rape revenge movie that moves too slowly and takes itself too seriously. Nice shots in and around New Orleans, though. And a good score. The plot summary is incorrect about John Beck. The Leaves' John Beck is a different one.

I liked this gritty and harsh exploitation/revenge feature, and don't quite understand why it's so unknown and forgotten (and the people who do know it don't even seem to like it). True, the script somewhat moves too slow and quite a few sequences easily could have been cut, but the main premise is fascinating, the two main characters are likable and the pivot scenes are often so full of tension you have any nails left to bite by the time they're finished. David and Jill couldn't be happier on their wedding day. Finally reunited after David spent two years in the hell of Vietnam and they even escaped Jill's family traditional wedding ritual where they "hunt" the newlyweds and hope to ruin their first night together. Whilst hiding in a sleazy Cajun motel, David and Jill witness the execution of a corrupt businessman by hired hit men. The crazed killers knock David KO and viciously rape Jill. After this tragedy they attempt to pick up their lives again, but Jill is an emotional wreck and David has exclusively set his mind on retribution. They embark on a search to find out the rapists identities, which leads them all the way to New Orleans. One of the great things about "Nightmare Honeymoon" – in my humble opinion at least – is that the character drawings are more realistic and identifiable. The reason why the film doesn't contain that much violent action or rancid sleaze is because Elliot Silverstein largely puts the emphasis on the series of emotions the newlyweds go through, together as well as separately. David becomes so increasingly obsessed with the idea of revenge, he's often frightening himself and Jill suddenly questions her marriage, her feelings and even her own femininity. The final confrontation with the deranged rapist Lee (excellent performance by John Beck) is rather overlong but atmospheric and you genuinely pray for the couple to walk out of the showdown alive. The performances are great with very convincing roles for Dack Rambo (awesome name, dude) as David and the cherubic Rebecca Dianna Smith as Jill. Elliot Silverstein's direction is tight and solid. He completed this little 70's gem in between directing his two most famous and much more publicly acclaimed achievements, namely the western drama (and predecessor of "Dances with Wolves") "A Man Called Horse" and horror-favorite "The Car", about a satanically possessed vehicle terrorizing the inhabitants of a small desert town.