Love Me Deadly

I have a theory that this film got Lyle Waggoner dismissed from The Carol Burnett Show (he left the series the following season, by mutual agreement).

Regardless, by today's standards, it's not that shocking. The copy of the film I have seems to have been carefully edited, and not as violent or graphic as I recall it being in the theater production.

By 1973 standards, it was quite a shocker...very graphic and gory, complete with a gay subtext. As I recall, it was loosely based around a real-life Los Angeles "cult" of funeral home "lovers of dead" psychos. The story is fiction, but, who knows what goes on behind the closed doors at funeral homes? The acting isn't too bad, and it's fun watching Lyle play against type. The star is quite pretty, too, and she plays her role well. Her hunky boyfriend does a good job of...well, being prepared for cold sex (and so does poor Lyle).

In the right frame of mind, this comes across well. In fact, I'd love to see the original, uncut version one day, on widescreen DVD, but I ain't holdin' my breath. This is lurid stuff, and it ain't likely to see the DVD "light of day".

If you do see this "sicky", just don't take it too seriously, and it might be fun to watch.

"Love Me Deadly" follows a young woman in Los Angeles who attends the funerals of men she does not know in order to sneak kisses with the dead. She is soon spotted by a kindred spirit--a man who shares her same necrophiliac tendencies--and it turns out he has his own Satanic group he wants her to join.

This early '70s effort is marketed as a horror film, and in some ways it is, but "Love Me Deadly" plays more like an oppressive chamber drama, drenched in gaudy colors, cheap-looking sets, and peppered with necrophilia sequences. Given the audacious subject matter here, one would think the film would edge into total exploitation, but it manages to keep its wits about it.

Necrophilia aside, the film's main horror angle is the funerary worker/leader of a Satanic necrophiliac cult which he wants the female protagonist to join. This plot element seems hackneyed and the actual nature of this "cult" is not entirely made clear (especially its alleged Satanic motivations, which are never really elucidated), and the film suffers slightly because of this. Mary Charlotte Wilcox portrays the leading character nicely, and the script attempts to unravel her sexual proclivities, tracing them back to a childhood trauma; at times the film reminded me of its contemporary, "The Witch Who Came out of the Sea," in that it deals with similar themes regarding childhood trauma, though it goes about them completely differently. Like many films of this ilk, "Love Me Deadly" also suffers from poor editing and dubbing, which is fairly common for grindhouse pictures of this type.

All in all, "Love Me Deadly" is a mildly entertaining horror film that is not nearly as disturbing as one might expect. The subject matter, though perverse, is handled well, and the lead character evokes sympathy on some levels despite her unusual attractions. It is an obvious precursor to the more extreme necrophilia-themed films that would follow, such as "Nekromantik," as well as the more introspective, quiet ones, like "Kissed." Not a terrible film overall, though it is certainly not for everyone. 6/10.

Lindsay, a pretty blonde in black complete with veil sits in one of the back rows for a funeral service. She remains after all others have left, and goes up to caress and kiss the dead man, though without quite making contact. The opening credits appear over sepia-tinted scenes of a young blonde girl playing with her loving father.

Lindsay has a party, and a blonde male friend of hers follows her upstairs, but she fights him off. She continues visiting funeral parlors. At one, she bumps into the deceased's brother, an art gallery owner, and they take a mutual liking to each other. He reminds her a little of her father, and innocent sepia-tinted scenes of her with her father are interspersed throughout the film.

Another man cruises by a gay film theater, and picks up a young hustler. He takes him back to his office, saying it's a veterinarian's office, but after he straps the young man down, it's clearly an embalming room.

Lindsay is approached by the cruiser at one of the funerals, and he tells her about necrophilia. She tries to throw herself more deeply into her relationships with her blonde friend and the gallery owner, but she can't handle much more than an arm around the waist or a quick kiss.

She tries joining a group of necrophiliacs at the funeral parlor, but the group activity scares her off. The group does dress in black robes, and use red candles, but they don't seem to be devil worshipers as some others have said.

Her relationship with the gallery owner deepens, but she still can't handle a physical relationship. She also has a couple other secrets no one except her maid knows.

The movie moves fairly slowly, but I found it pretty involving. It is quite sad. I was surprised to see H.B. Halicki (Gone in 60 Seconds, The Junkman) was one of the associate producers! There's also a good musical score. Over the opening credits, the theme song "Love Me Deadly" is sung, and the musical theme is repeated instrumental in different variations throughout.

This movie had great promise. The theme was very off-beat & interesting - homosexuality (remember, it was made in 1973) and necrophilia. Unlike what the IMDb movie description says, I didn't find any trace of satanism in the story (there is a cult, but it is necrophiliac, not satanic ). There is decent amount of blood & gore (I saw the uncut version). Unfortunately, the plot is not tight and fails to keep viewers attracted throughout. Acting is passable - the main character (Mary Charlotte Wilcox) is very wooden & it's hard to feel any emotional attachment with her. Overall not a bad movie, if you enjoy off-beat horror movies, this might work for you.

This steaming-hot slice of 70s grindhouse bliss denotes a lovely young woman(Mary Charlotte Wilcox - BEAST OF THE YELLOW NIGHT, 1971) coming to terms with her compulsive longing for intimacy...with deceased men(um...does rigor-mortis set in down there?). Through frequent off-hand visits to the local mortuary, she networks into a sub-rosa society of like-minded individuals who are more than eager to bring her "into the fold". Unfortunately, her husband(CAROL BURNETT SHOW alum Lyle Waggoner) is unaware of her warped desires, and can't understand why he's not "getting any".

The key issue making LOVE ME DEADLY such a memorably divergent trinket is the prudent sensitivity with which it approaches its grotesque premise. It plays like a schmaltzy, melodramatic LIFETIME CHANNEL movie with necrophilia in place of the customary, commiserative "disease-of-the-week" topic...never has a film been so characteristically at-odds with itself. Amazingly, this ill-advised wonder-work actually delivers in an all-wrong and rather dishonorable sort of way...it's not a great movie, critically speaking, or even an especially GOOD movie...but considering the unsavory subject-matter at hand, it's a surprisingly groomed and buttoned-down production which takes itself quite seriously(and for sheer novelty, what more could you possibly hope for?).

5.5/10