Very disappointing...

Good movie but grossly overrated

Good concept, poorly executed.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This movie should win a raspberry award for being hands down the most boring film about necrophilia ever made. I thought it was gonna take a turn as an extreme roughie during the hustler pickup/murder scene, alas it goes back to being a mind numbingly slow burning soapy montage/talk fest. Just like the character's new husband has entered into a sexless marriage - we wait patiently for the female lead to get freaky with a corpse - after all, why else would you rent a movie about porking the dead? Yet we only get teased with the idea of it and the film drags on and on. Sucker for a cool movie poster? Beware - this movie sucks! Bored me to death. Take my word for it, it's a stinker worth skipping.

This controversial American film is one of the first to openly deal with the subject of necrophilia in a pretty graphic way, and has therefore rarely seen the light of day since it first slipped out on completion. A grim and depressing tale with one or two surprising twists along the way, this is a slow-moving but sometimes chilling story which maintains a surreal edge to it throughout. The film bizarrely mixes between sappy romance and cutting edge horror, and the end result is somewhat flawed but very interesting to watch. It involves your typical blonde-haired housewife who visits all the local funerals and caresses the corpses at every opportunity. She's noticed by a long-haired guy who works at the funeral parlour and who invites her to join his necrophiliac sect, a group of would-be Satanics who strip off at every available opportunity and have sex with the dead. Initially revulsed, she eventually comes around to the idea which leads to tragic events for her husband.For the most part, this seems like "safe", straightforward atmospheric horror but on occasion it's shocking and downright nasty. The murder of the rent boy near the beginning of the film is very gruesome, as it involves him being strapped to an operating table and messily drained of blood. Later on a guy's stomach is cut open and we get to see inside. Although these are the only moments in the film which contain brief hardcore gore, the effect is startling: you're left feeling unsettled for the rest of the viewing and unsure of what may transpire. Although obviously made on a low budget, the film has pretty realistic production values and strong direction by Jacques Lacerte, who handles things admirably. The casting is pretty good aside from the leading lady, Mary Wilcox, who I found grating in the extreme. Her idea of (over)acting reminded me of the girl who played Barbara in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, another actress that rubbed me up the wrong way, and therefore her presence is an irritant. Apart from this, nobody puts a foot wrong, especially in the case of the creepy and murderous bad guys.The romantic aspects sit glaringly with the horror content and I think were inserted to provide a contrast with the nastiness going on - Lacerte seems to be saying "look, here's normality", then later moves on to some of the nastiest perversion of mankind as the very opposite of normal. The film maintains a non-exploitative approach (aside from the ample nudity) and the music is sombre and at times melancholy, instead of being crass with over-the-top chords to shock. The finale contains a nice psychological twist which is a long time in coming but makes sense of the leading character's actions and motivations, so its worth sitting through if at times you find yourself frustrated. An intriguing oddity with a cold heart but original premise.

I gave this movie an eight mainly because of the dark subject matter and all the taboos on display: necrophilia, pedophilia, murder, infidelity, gay pedophilia, etc. I'm glad to have lived this long to see a film like this. That it even came from the US is a wonder.Why, oh, why can't they do films like this anymore? How did society get so...lame? Of course, with today's production values, 'Love Me Deadly' could never be made because a more graphic representation would clear the cinema, leaving behind the sickos like me who don't mind being challenged visually and psychologically.Instead, Hollywood continues to unload derivate, unoriginal tripe like 'Huff' ('Big Bad Wolf') and others of its ilk. To be sure, this movie tends to be melodramatic, but to me that's okay. That was pretty much the style at the time - cheese. Still, what other bit of celluloid can you find that touches upon all those taboos? The cinematography was good with lots of colour, but not great because quite a few frames were out of focus. Minor complaint, though. It's the themes that matter and it'd sure be nice if they made movies that pushes the envelope like this again.

Traumatized by the death of her beloved father, a young woman compulsively attends the funerals of strangers. After she is caught sucking face with a male corpse by a creepy mortician, the mortician inducts her into a bizarre cult of people who enjoy making love to dead bodies. But then she falls in love with a living man and the real drama develops.This is one of the few movies about necrophilia where there is really an equal emphasis on the "necro" and "philia". There's a very disturbing scene where the creepy mortician picks up a male prostitute and proceeds to embalm him while he's still alive(!), but generally this movie isn't nearly as gruesome as stuff like "Der Mosquito", "Lucker", "Beyond the Darkness" or "Nekromantic". It does, however, have one of those sappy 70's love plots (complete with a syrupy 70's soundtrack) that is definitely odds with the more gruesome content. But, in my opinion anyway, it also makes the film more interesting than if it had just been a pure gorefest.This film is also yet another entry in strange series of 70's exploitation films (i.e. "Dream No Evil", "Toys Are Not for Children", "Baby Rosemary") all focusing on female Norman Bates-types whose obsessive love for dead or absent fathers results in severe adult sexual dysfunction, and ultimately tragedy. The most recent movie it resembles is the "indie cult" film "Kissed" with Molly Parker. But while others may disagree, I definitely prefer 70's exploitation to modern-day "indie" quirkiness. This is definitely worth seeing.