Lettres à un tueur

I didn't expect too much from this movie which had no cinema release in the UK, but for its first hour or so it's a competent and original drama, and it just about holds you until its end. Race Darnell, played by Patrick Swayze, on Death Row for killing his wife, exchanges letters in the form of casette recordings with four women, each of them thinking she is his sole support. But one of them discovers the truth, and turns nasty. Soon after, his conviction is reversed; he gets out, and meets up with the women one by one, trying to find out who's threatening him. But before he identifies her, she starts killing the others, using the same method he was supposed to have used with his wife.

From then on, the film becomes more implausible, and more gory. Also, though tension is first built up with Swayze going on the run, it's then reduced by cutting away from the action to show the Feds having discussions about who the killer is, instead of them simply pursuing Race implacably. A nice touch - or a digression, depending on your point of view - is a buddy-buddy friendship between Race and one of his former wardens, Horton (Roger E Mosley) who's a fan of cowboy stories. You're kept guessing until the last few minutes, though mainly because one of the characters acts irrationally, and the Feds climb some stairs very slowly! All in all, it's worth a look on TV, or as a bargain rental.

I know, everyone considering watching this movie thinks the same thing...it's probably going to suck, but there's nothing else on, or you watch it for Swayze in his post 80's straight to video film career. Either way you look at it, this is actually a pretty entertaining film, if you can suspend any rational thoughts for about 90 minutes.

The first hour of this film is the best. We see Swayze wrongfully put in prison, on death row and about to be executed within a few weeks. He has written a best selling novel in prison and has acquired 4 very lonely fans that he communicates with via cassette tapes. The problem is, he leads every one of them to believe that they are the only ones keeping him alive, so when two of the tapes get switched, one of them sends him a death threat out of pure jealousy. After about 15 min into the film, his eviction is overturned, and he is released from jail with the ubiquitous fear of a killer stalking him. He then visits each one of the girls to find out who is sending him the threats.

Honestly, I liked the plot of this movie. Not an original theme with the jealous psycho slasher, but it is an original storyline nonetheless. Swayze does act kind of stupid in some scenes, and unconvincing in others (when he is released from jail, we all know he had the first death threat, but come on, to show NO HAPPINESS at all for escaping death row and having your name cleared?? Bad acting, Patrick), but overall it is a good movie. It does kind of wander in the middle, and becomes a routine slasher where most of the killings are done off screen, but it does serve as a fairly capable who-dunnit. Oh, and there is a pretty lame 'buddy' part in the middle which you can basically ignore.

I was able to guess who the killer was before the first murder, but honestly, they played it out so it could be anyone (also, one character is written as a little too conveniently psycho to allow anyone to possibly get any clues as to who did it). I thought the best part though was the fact that only 2 of the 4 tapes were switched in the beginning, so we can surmise of course, that 2 of them found out about the other girls, and we have to guess which 2 they were (though one is very obvious, complete with broken picture frame of Swayze during the montage of him calling all of them). The ending shot is pretty cheesy, but hey, what do you expect? Overall, an entertaining movie. Not thought provoking, but worth a look. 7/10 stars.

Are prisoners actually allowed to send and receive audio letters to multiple people at a time or anyone at all? Is this really something a prison would entertain, especially if the guards have to listen to every single second of every tape? It seems kinda ridiculous whether it be legit or not, but that's the general setup here. The downside to this premise is a slow tedious build-up of these 'letters' being narrated to us while we watch Swayze trapped in his cell. The first half of this movie drags along with little reward, so much time is given to such a simple idea to explain. Things do pick though in the second half with the movie transforming into an enjoyable, yet somewhat predictable thriller. It never endeavors to explore its possibilities too much beyond a cat and mouse chase, and there's a feeling of a lot of story left on the table with this one. Ultimately the movie is too hampered by its beginnings that it all descends into a bit of a rush to finish it off towards the end. The supporting cast is as you expect, but the recipients of his 'letters' could have been fleshed out more. Swayze is fine, reliable, but somewhat passive throughout.

Letters from a killer has a very unusual storyline. It starts off quite confusing and uninteresting, but as it goes on the excitement gets more and more. Then at the end, you are at the edge of your seat, with all the gun shooting and racing about. I think that this is a film worth watching, but if you miss the beginning, you will probably find the rest of the film hard to understand.

This movie took a while to get on its feet, but when it does, it's surprisingly good. At first, you keep asking yourself, when will this movie get going...Also, Swayze's character is shady..it's hard to tell who he is. Maybe that was the point, but who knows. You want to feel for him, because he is a victim, yet at the same time, he seems to be hard and you sort of have to ask yourself...maybe he IS the killer? That doesn't last long, because we find out it can't be him...he may be a user but he's not a killer. I loved the woman who played Lita, very sexy in an unconventional way, and I'd like to see her in more films. I thought a lot of the story was flawed when it came to reason, but it didn't hinder it much overall. Entertaining thriller, good acting, I'd recommend it.