Nightkill

A very murky thriller. On the first viewing, I swear you won't be able to tell what's going on until....the last five minutes or so. This may be one of those mysteries that require a second viewing to fully understand how everything adds up. Good acting, though, both by Robert Mitchum, as a cunning detective, and by Jacklyn Smith, who's quite convincing as a woman involved in an increasingly threatening situation, with nobody to rely on in the whole world. (**)

I really thought Nightkill was going to be lousy. A murder-gone-wrong movie in the '80s starring one of Charlie's Angels? I thought I'd turn it off after ten minutes, but after that time, I was hooked! Yes, Jaclyn's Smith's hairdo is dated, and a few scenes are a "tv-ish", but if you're one of the many people who enjoy this genre, you might want to check this one out.

The reason I kept watching Nightkill was because Jaclyn's marriage to Mike Connors wasn't your typical "evil husband must die" relationship. He's very wealthy, and he's not a nice person, but Joan Andre wrote his character to be subtly instead of blatantly cruel. He belittles their Mexican housekeeper, treats his subordinates like peons, and gets impatient with his wife. Everything he does and says, though, are things someone in his position might think is okay. He's not a blatant bad guy; he's just insensitive and rude. So, when Jaclyn's lover James Franciscus kills him, it's understandable that she's not jumping for joy. All she wanted was a divorce, not his death.

But, since she's now an accessory-and since she's the lead in an '80s thriller and therefore goes along with a terrible idea-Jaclyn agrees to hide the body and pretend her husband is still alive until she and James can run away together. Gee, do you think everything's going to go smoothly? Definitely not, especially when policeman Robert Mitchum starts sniffing around.

I'm sure you know why I rented this movie in the first place; we all know how much I love Robert Mitchum. He has such great energy in this movie, and I can't help but think he arranged for Michael Anderson, Jr. to have a cameo, since they played father and son twenty years earlier in The Sundowners.

One warning about Nightkill: make sure you have a strong stomach. Parts of the movie get pretty gruesome, to counteract the good looks of the three main leads, I guess. Also, if you liked seeing Jaclyn Smith and James Franciscus playing the Kennedys, you can see them together again in this movie!

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to gruesome images and an upsetting scene with an animal, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

NIGHTKILL is a rather clunky, yet watchable thriller starring Jaclyn Smith as a woman in danger after her lover's (James Franciscus) plot to kill her insufferable husband (Mike Connors) goes horribly wrong. Many twists and unexpected turns help to save this movie from being a complete waste of time.

Ms. Smith spends most of the movie uncovering one horror after another, while being surveilled and stalked by an unseen maniac.

Robert Mitchum is a pushy Detective, and Fritz Weaver plays a slimy attorney. Cybil Danning is listed in the credits, but only has about 3 minutes of actual screen time.

For the names involved, this is a pretty shoddy production. Granted, most were late in their careers, but that's no excuse for such a poor presentation. Fans of Ms. Smith will love the fact that she's in almost every scene...

Katherine Atwell (Jaclyn Smith), the wife of a wealthy businessman, unwittingly finds herself embroiled in a sinister murder plot when her lover decides to murder her husband and steal his money so that the two may elope together.

Ted Post directs this Hitchcock-style horror/thriller about murder and deception and one has to say that he does a very good job in doing so. Post takes a screenplay based on a story by the relatively unknown John Case and turns it into an intricate and generally compelling ninety minute piece of criminally underrated cinema. Although Post obviously lacks the directorial flair of his inspirers Hitchcock and Argento (there are a couple of instances where light is used in a similar fashion to Argento as well as some Argento-style trickery), one cannot really fault his execution of the work and instead has to admire the way that he turned such a low-budget into a thrill fest of suspense and intrigue. The subtle blending of the foreboding orchestral soundtrack with the continuing tension Post is able to create through some rather adept use of lighting and slow-yet-adequate pacing is probably the main reason that this movie is able to succeed and become quite a shining of example of great, low-budget cinema.

Jaclyn Smith, from the TV series ‘Charlie's Angels', is exceptional in her role as a woman pushed to the brink of madness following a series of bizarre and inexplicable happenings – as if being an unplanned accessory to the murder of her husband wasn't enough! Smith's performance is all the more credible due to the whole array of emotions her character is forced to portray. Despite Smith's character being a wrong-doer, it becomes quite easy to sympathise with her plight and understand her actions. Robert Mitchum takes the main role of the supporting cast as Lt. Donner and just adds to the credible acting performances that help to make ‘Nightkill' what it is. Unfortunately, the rest of the supporting cast were not exactly up to par except for a somewhat brief performance by the near-legendary B-movie actress Sybil Danning.

‘Nightkill' is a movie built on suspense, fortified by extraordinary acting performances (for a movie of this type) and cemented with a truly remarkable and haunting finale. Those who appreciate thrillers such as those by Hitchcock and Argento should find something enjoyable in this film as well. Certainly not for those who have had their attention spans stolen by MTV, but for those who appreciate subtle, slow and suspenseful thrillers. Yes, there are problems such as a rather unnecessary piece of character interaction towards the end, a brief decline in quality during the middle of the film and the obvious limitations of the budget. The final twist is also a little clichéd and does become a little obvious but not really enough to take away from one's enjoyment. ‘Nightkill' is still a very accomplished film and one that psychological thriller fans should find quite enjoyable. My rating for ‘Nightkill' – 7/10.

Nightkill (1980)

** (out of 4)

Katherine Atwell (Jaclyn Smith) watches her lover kill her rather mean-spirited and cruel husband (Mike Connors) right in front of her. The lover promises her everything will be fine but the next day she finds his dead body. Before long people start wondering where the husband is and that's when Detective Donner (Robert Mitchum) starts to ask questions. Soon the wife begins to crack as she feels there's something more sinister going on.

Ted Post's NIGHTKILL is a rather interesting German picture that was meant to be a huge theatrical release but it ended up showing on television before eventually making it to video. This is without question one of the strangest films from this era because in all honesty it's pretty poorly made and there are countless flaws throughout. With that said, at the core there's a good movie somewhere in all of the mess and one can't help but think that a more polished script and some better direction could have made something special here.

When this film eventually got released it was passed off as a horror film but that's certainly not the case. It's basically a murder-mystery that looks and feels like a watered down made-for-television film. It's really too bad that Post didn't try to add more style or flair to the picture because it could have been so much better. The problem is that the film was shot rather ugly and there's just no style or energy to be found. Considering what Brian DePalma and others were doing with this type of film around this era it's easy to see why this thing just never took off.

Another problem is that the lead character, the wife, is just downright stupid. Her situation could have been avoided countless times yet her character just keeps making one dumb decision after another. For the most part Smith turns in a good performance but she certainly can't save the picture. Connors and James Franciscus are good as are Fritz Weaver and Sybil Danning. As far as Mitchum goes, he's certainly offered a good role here and he does a nice job with it. We've seen him play the Detective countless times throughout his career so he certainly knows how to play it.

NIGHTKILL has some good sequences throughout it including a car chase where the woman believes her dead husband is coming after her. The ending was also well done and it ends the film on a high note. Still, there are just way too many flat moments here to make it a complete success but the film is an interesting misfire.