Matt Dillon

Sean Young

Max von Sydow

Diane Ladd

James Russo

Adam Horovitz

Martha Gehman

Ben Browder

Briony Glassco

Galaxy Craze

Joie Lee

Jim Fyfe

Frederick Koehler

Elżbieta Czyżewska

Shane Rimmer

Leslie Lyles

Rory Cochrane

James Bonfanti

Sarah Keller

Lia Chang

Yvette Edelhart

Lachele Carl

Brett Barth

Kristy Graves

Billie Neal

P. Jay Sidney

Sam Coppola

Lynn Frazen-Cohen

Mark Potter Jr.

Nancy Herman

James Dearden

G.A. Aguilar

Greg Powell

Mike Potter

Ira Levin

Mike Southon

Jim Clay

Suzanne Smith Crowley

Billy Hopkins

Michael Bradsell

Robert Lawrence

John Dods

Philip Sindall

Ian Voigt

Ian Jackson

Graeme Crowther

Tracey Eddon

Tim Lewis

Mark Milsome

Malcolm Sheehan

Cliff Cudney

Tania Windsor

Suzanne M. Smith

Julia Waye

Julie Robinson

Martin Grace

Patrick Clayton

Bobbie Johnson

Mary Richards

Bill Darby

Jo Korer

Helen Caldwell

Hugh Aodh O'Brien

Campbell Askew

Jery Hewitt

Guy Tannahill

Tarn Harper

Micky Brown

Stephenie McMillan

Martin Samuel

Ken Crouch

Hilary Watson

Susan d'Arcy

Howard Shore

Jo Graysmark

Gerard McCann

David Appleby

Diana Dill

Robert Gavin

Tessa Harrison

Natalie Baker

Kevin Brazier

Dave Reilly

Peter Frampton

John Hayward

Bill Thornhill

Sue Love

Melissa Wyn Griffith

Homer Denison

Graham Sutton

Roy Evans

Donna Evans

Paul Bradburn

Eric Fellner

Paul Raphael

Marit Allen

Catherine Davis

Rod McClean

Chris Seagers

Chris Thompson

Eddie Powell

Mystery

Thriller

Crime

A Kiss Before Dying

Kellgate Limited

Universal Pictures

Initial Pictures

United Kingdom

United States of America

English

cupboard

girlfriend

remake

train

impostor

twins

dual role

neo-noir

Kiss of life required to ignite this film noir re-imaging.

A remake of the 1956 film of the same name, A Kiss Before Dying is directed by James Dearden and Dearden adapts the screenplay from Ira Levin's novel. It stars Sean Young, Matt Dillon, Max von Sydow, Dianne Ladd and James Russo. Music is by Howard Shore and cinematography by Mike Southon.

Story has Dillon as a troubled young man who murders his pregnant girlfriend (Young) and then hones in on her twin sister (Young again obviously) for further psychotic shenanigans.

It's just about an average thriller at best, where even if the plot line and character motivations are intriguing enough to hold the attention to keep one interested to the ending, even there the outcome is rushed and unsatisfying. From the negative reaction at the initial test screenings, to Golden Raspberry awards, and tales of rewrites and re-shoots et al, this noir reboot is messy.

The tie-in to Hitchcock's Vertigo is glaringly "not" homage worthy, and not just content with that, director Dearden tries to use some of Hitchcock's macabre black humour to unintentionally "not" witty results. So with Young on hilariously bad form as well, the thriller aspects strain to get resuscitated for dramatic worth.

Dearden does show some nice touches with his camera-work, and there's a lurid quality to Southon's colour lenses that pay respect in heart to Levin's source material, but ultimately it's hard to recommend seriously to noir fans and the 56 version (itself not without problems) is still the way to go. 5/10

Jonathan (Matt Dillon) is obssessed with inheriting Thor Carlsson’s (the majestic Max von Sydow) copper empire. Why? Presumably, because as a poor child literally living on the wrong side of the tracks, he would sit in his room and stare at the endless parade of freight trains passing by, all of them bearing the Carlsson company logo.

Jonathan has successfully wooed Carlsson’s daughter Dorothy (Sean Young), and the two plan to get married. However, when he finds out she’s pregnant with his child, he lures her to a rooftop and pushes Dorothy to her death. Why? He fears old Carlsson would have disowned her; perhaps Jonathan should have thought of that before he had unprotected, premarital sex with her.

Luckily for him, Dorothy has an extremely conveniente identical twin sister, Ellen (also Young). Four years after Dorothy’s death, history repeats itself; Jonathan has no trouble sweeping Ellen off her feet, but once again finds it, ahem, too hard keeping it in his pants.

This time, though, he takes the precaution of charming the father as well as the daughter; he ingratiates himself with the old man, goes fishing with him, agrees with everything he says, until Thor gives him a job in the family business, to which Jonathan is so devoted that he has no time for Ellen, who after all was only a means to an end – and that end, apparently, was to become a workaholic yuppie. I can't help thinking that there are other, better ways to achieve this without resorting to murder.

The only problem is that Ellen, unlike her father and the police, is not convinced Dorothy committed suicide. Dorothy was wearing new shoes, you see, which she bought just before she died. Is that something a suicidal person would do? Actually it is, but only if you belong to the Heaven's Gate cult; everyone else must share Paolo Nutini’s love of recently acquired foot wear.

A Kiss Before Dying (Trailer)

A Kiss Before Dying( 1991)

Loving him was easy. Trusting him was deadly.

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A review by John Chard

Written by John Chard on Sat Nov 18 2017

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