The Honeymoon Killers (1970)

Admirable film.

A Surprisingly Unforgettable Movie!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Interesting if flawed film deserves it's cult status. Shirley Stoler plays an obese nurse who teams up with her toupee-wearing gigolo boyfriend, Tony Lo Bianco, to romance and swindle money from lonely rich women. Writer/director Leonard Kastle made this film in response to "Bonnie & Clyde," which he felt was too romanticized of a young-lovers-on-the-run crime story. Kastle instead makes this a gritty, black & white, kitchen sink drama type of film that often seems intentionally repellent and off putting to it's audience, which I quite liked. What I didn't like was Stoler's over-the-top performance, which seemed more appropriately placed into a low-budget John Waters film than a legitimate drama. Despite her over-acting, it's a fascinating tale of jealousies between the two lovers and never knowing who is going to stab who in the back first. An interesting note of trivia is that Martin Scorsese was the original director on this film, but was fired over creative differences. Overall, "The Honeymoon Killers" is a fascinating film and although French New Wave director François Truffaut called this his favorite American film, I'm not sure I'd go quite that far.

Believe me - Having to endure watching 1969's "The Honeymoon Killers" for its full 105-minute running time was certainly no honeymoon for this totally dissatisfied viewer.In this bleak, b&w, bargain-basement, psycho-drama of premeditated murder, ruthless treachery, and inevitable betrayal - It took all of the concentration and patience that I could possibly muster just to stay focused on this dreary and amateurish production that took the meaning of inept film-making to an all-time low.... I mean - This movie's script contained so many "WTF!?" moments that I swear they were making up this sh*t as they went along.And, speaking about the incompetent, pudding-faced actress, Shirley Stoler, who played the part of the murderous, Martha Beck character - Man, she was so frickin' despicable and completely one-dimensional that I'm surprised she wasn't awarded a "Razzie" for her absolutely unconvincing (and, yes, utterly laughable) performance in this piece of cinematic junk.

Released in 1969 under the guise of a low-budget exploitation film, The Honeymoon Killers is in fact one of the best American real-life crime movies ever made. It tells the story of Martha (Shirley Stoler), a lonely, overweight nurse who is entered into a 'lonely hearts' club by her friend Bunny (Everybody Loves Raymond's Doris Roberts). She receives a response from Latin lothario Ray Fernandez (Tony Lo Bianco), who is a con-man who preys on lonely women, shaking them down for their money. When he reveals this to Martha, she is undeterred, and insists on joining him on his quests by posing as his sister. Ray promises that he won't sleep with any of them, but Martha's overbearing jealousy soon leads to murder.Based on the notorious case of the 'lonely hearts killers', first (and only) time director Leonard Kastle adopts a documentary-style approach, opting to use mostly hand-held photography, naturalistic lighting, and minimalistic editing. If sometimes the small budget becomes obvious, this only heightens the sense of realism running throughout the film, assisted by two astonishing performances from it's leads. Stoler is immense, evoking sympathy at first but then revealing her true motives are rooted in jealousy and bitterness as she becomes unpredictable and frightening. Bianco, who is still enjoying a prolific career, performs with a flawless Latino accent, demonstrating the charm and seduction that helped Fernandez dupe so many of his unfortunate victims in real-lifeBut the film is not without artistic merits as well. Lacking blood and devoid of any kind of shock tactics, the murders are cold and brutal. A hammer blow to the head has as much impact as Leatherface's notorious entrance in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), as the victim struggles and twitches while the killers struggle for finish her off. Another has the camera focus just on the panicking eyes of a sedated victim, as Martha and Ray argue off- camera about to do with her. A gun then appears at the corner of the screen and it's all over. It's shockingly blunt for it's era, but only serves to make The Honeymoon Killers one of the most invigorating and uncomfortable experiences I've had in recent memory.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

True-life serial killer flick The Honeymoon Killers takes a long time to live up to its claim as a shocking cult classic, spending more time on the killers' unusual love affair than the actual murders; thankfully, when it eventually gets around to depicting the violence, it doesn't disappoint—for a film shot in 1969, the killings are extremely uncomfortable viewing.The film is based on real life killers Martha Beck and Ray Fernandez, an insecure, overweight nurse (played by Shirley Stoler) and a gigolo con-man (Tony Lo Bianco) who fall in love after meeting via a lonely hearts club; posing as brother and sister, the pair trick lonely desperate women out of their savings, but turn to murder whenever their plans go awry.Shot in a lo-fi, docudrama style (no doubt as a result of the very low budget), The Honeymoon Killers is rough around the edges, the pacing is often sluggish, and the dialogue dreary, but the film still achieves a certain sordid appeal thanks to its sickening subject matter and memorably nasty murder scenes, which include a callous hammer attack/strangulation and the drowning of a child.