Lady, Stay Dead

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Lady Stay Dead. Before we get into it, here are my ratings:

Story - 1.25 Direction - 1.00 Pace - 1.25 Acting - 1.00 Enjoyment - 1.25

TOTAL - 5.75 out of 10

Tell me truthfully, when you read the title, how many of you are thinking, A Weekend At Bernie's? I know I was. I expected a corpse that wouldn't stay dead. But the name is misleading. The lady he kills stays dead, and the other he's chasing, he doesn't want to hurt - well, not just yet.

What the writer and director of this Dark Thriller give us is the story of an accidental killer. Who regretfully slaughters the object of his lustfulness. The subsequent series of unfortunate events leads him on a killing spree. What makes this such a captivating film is the main character. Gordon Mason is written possessing a child-like innocence. That leads him into some slightly off-kilter conversations and beliefs. His sexual preferences verge on the rough and voyeuristic, and he believes everybody feels the same way. He cannot accept Marie's hate and disdain after forcing himself on her. Mason believes they both had a great time. And it's this behaviour that adds the chills that run down your spine. I wish he had written the remaining personalities as deliciously, but they are your stereotypical cop and damsel in distress.

Luckily, Terry Bourke is as good behind the camera as he is at pushing a pen. Though the movie is shot in an average manner and the pace is a steady trot, it works with the story. My attention stayed on the screen and kept my interest. It helped that he kept everything illuminated, so you didn't miss anything.

The cast, on the whole, is okay, though I was happy to see the back of Marie. Deborah Coulls was too wooden and shouty. I found it hard to understand that Mason had a crush on her as she treated him like dirt. But, hey, that's why it's called fantasy isn't it(?) However, Chard Hayward keeps your attention as he remains calm and constantly creepy throughout as Mason.

I would prescribe Lady Stay Dead to lovers of the slasher genre, especially on a dark night, in front of a fire, and next to your beloved. Gordon Mason may chill your soul a little. Worth one watch.

Please feel free to visit my Killer Thriller Chillers list to see where I ranked Lady Stay Dead.

Take Care & Stay Well.

It's a bit slow at first, but it gets going. What a camp film.

I noticed Roger Ward wearing what could only be a hair piece which looked like a doormat missing the welcome sign. When they put the woman in the fish tank to drown her, she didn't fight very hard and was rather unrealistic, but I guess that adds to its camp disposition! It's not the best film I have ever seen Roger Ward in - his performance in Mad Max will always be my favored. I would suggest you try and get a copy of LSD. It's one of those films you will have a soft spot for... in a peculiar kind of way. Typical of how 1970's films were shot in Australia

'Lady Stay Dead' is an early 80's Australian exploitation slasher flick with a simplistic plot that starts out with a sleazy rape/murder thriller with plenty of nudity before turning into a home invasion horror flick which is where the slasher elements kicks in and while combining these 2 genres was an interesting idea, neither of which were fully successful thanks to the dull pacing and the lack of any sort of suspense throughout its runtime.

The plot begins with singer/actress Marie Coleby (Deborah Coulls) who lives alone in a beach side mansion in Sydney whose unaware that her deranged handyman/gardener Gordon Mason (Chard Hayward) is obsessed with her, then one day she berates him and he ends up raping and murdering her. But Gordon is unaware that her sister Jenny (Louise Howitt) is coming to visit, will Gordon allow her to escape with her life?

There's a reason why some movies fall under the radar and fall into obscurity, because a lot of the time they just aren't that good and while there have been gems out there waiting to be rediscovered, this flick really falls more into the former category. Okay this movie isn't a total loss as it does have some charming elements to it such as the strong acting performances from the 3 main cast, especially Chard Hayward who delivers a delightful over the top performance as the maniac and for a low budget film the movie is shot well with some interesting camera movements and some nice production values. But other elements in this movie simply falls flat with not enough excitement and too many dull moments that can't quite sustain momentum and could have done with some tighter editing. The finale is also rather weak and ends on a rather limp note.

Overall 'Lady Stay Dead' is something only to seek out if you're a 80's slasher completist as it doesn't really have all that much to offer.

Mind tipped Handyman, Hayward who gets treated look one of his tools, by a successful bitchy model- Coulls from The Restless Years finally snaps, raping and killing her. A lot of us guys have been there too. How the film got this title, I'm buggered if I know. Coulls's character would chafe a lot of guys. Hayward, playing the reverse of his in control and sexually alluring character norms, is almost a childlike character, here, ill treated by Coulls, not even being allowed to come into her house. When verbally striking back, telling her what it feels like to be one of her tools, she just abusing him more, as if what he said, went in one ear and out the other. Prior to Coulls getting it, when entrapped in the house I liked, as well as seeing her nude. It was great here to really see Hayward, return forth, his own brand of retribution towards her, that is funny in part too. But our disturbed Chard had developed a sexual fascination for her, an obsession, that has eventually led to her demise. He so much obsesses with her, he replaces her with a mannequin at the start. Hysterical, especially played against a mellow soundtrack I liked. Getting rid of Coulls's body is only the start of his problems. Big sister is in town for a visit, so Chard must play the part of the stable minded handyman, where other complications develop, the biggest, when the cops finally arrive on the scene where it's a standoff between them and Hayward. The sister, out of harms way at this stage, even insults the cop, as not taken psycho Hayward, as seriously as he should. This is a good situation plotted movie just like Bourke's "Brothers", with some sick violence, but it's a good watch, one reason for Coulls's over the top acting, where in contrast, this is one of Hayward's best performances.

"Lady Stay Dead" may be the most inept horror movie I've ever seen.

It's the kind of movie where you stop paying attention to whatever's supposed to be happening on screen and start tallying off every mistake the director made.

Like when the lady discovers her neighbour's body hanging in his shed - why did the killer move it to such a prominent position? Could it be that the plot wasn't going to continue moving unless she realised he'd been killed?

Or what about the scene where the killer and the lady are playing tug of war with a garden tool through a hole in the front door? Cuts from the killer to the lady show they are obviously holding opposite ends of something completely different. The director doesn't even bother to make this appear convincing.

The killer, bearded and bespectacled, is the least threatening example of such a man I've ever seen in a movie. He's more like Forrest Gump than Jack the Ripper; indeed, in a scene where he is supposed to be strangling somebody, you can clearly see he only has the gentlest possible grip around her neck.

The police that arrive to help her are also among the most useless I've ever seen in a film. At one point a motorcycle mounted policeman rides his bike straight at the killer with no regard to his own safety. Of course he goes flying, but on second thought this may have been the safest option for him: these police are so pathetic with guns I was waiting for the moment when one missed so badly they shot themselves in the face instead. They arrive in pairs with weaponry, and are almost immediately in the same position as the poor young girl, at the killer's total mercy, and you're thinking: don't they have training or something for situations like these? How can a killer this moronic immediately bring two policemen to their knees?

Every scene of violence is so badly done you have to guess at what you're supposed to be seeing. There's a rape scene, for example, that looks more like the perpetrator is trying to push a couch into place. He drowns the victim, but at one point she obviously moves inside the bag she's been placed inside. Is this why the movie is called "Lady Stay Dead"? Well, no matter, she does "stay dead". The movie forgets about the fact that she is apparently still alive and does nothing with it; she's a corpse in all future scenes.

It defies belief that this was made by the same guy who did "Night of Fear" and, especially "Inn of the Damned". It also defies belief that it was made by someone who had ever directed a movie before.