Love Me Deadly (1973). Tagline: “First The
Exorcist … NOW Love Me Deadly!”
I’m using this period of enforced social
isolation to explore the weirder corners of YouTube for long forgotten and
obscure movies. (My boyfriend Pal is accompanying me only semi-willingly). Absolutely
nothing can psychologically prepare you for inexplicable early seventies exploitation
movie Love Me Deadly - and in fact, I strongly encourage you to watch it
without reading anything about it beforehand to experience its full jolting
impact. (You’ll be Googling Love Me Deadly afterwards to try to clarify, “What
the fuck did I just watch and who is responsible?!”). It’s truly one of those
films that you spend its entirety wondering, “what were they thinking?!” I’m
going to be deliberately vague about plot points here, but what I will say is
that the lurid ad campaign for Love Me Deadly (“She was possessed by demons!”
“The most shocking occult ordeal ever permitted on the screen!”) is entirely
misleading, designed to capitalize on the box office success of The Exorcist.
It
stars Mary Wilcox (“Miss Body of 1973”) and two of the preeminent hunks of the
period, Lyle Waggoner (formerly of The Carol Burnett Show, later of Wonder
Woman) and Christopher Stone (sadly, you don’t get to see his naked ass this
time like you do in 1970’s The Grasshopper). I can understand why Waggoner – a
charming, handsome and square-jawed leading man in the Rock Hudson / John Gavin
school – would want to shake-up his staid image with a more “challenging” film.
I just can’t believe he thought Love Me Deadly was the right choice!
What’s
weirdly compelling about Love Me is its wildly erratic tone, abruptly switching
from terror and gore to campy soap opera to full-frontal nudity to zany
romantic comedy. The action is punctuated with loads of mistily romantic “date montage” scenes of the characters picnicking and holding hands in the
park, and the whole thing is slathered with an inappropriately perky musical
soundtrack (the opening credits song is belted by a poor man’s Shirley Bassey
and feels like a lost James Bond theme tune. The chanteuse in question is Kit Fuller and she actually performs two songs: "Love Me Deadly" and "You're Something Special." Sadly, Google searches reveal nothing about her). There is also a great emphasis on
heroine Wilcox’s many ultra-seventies wardrobe changes (she’s partial to cute
crocheted caps and maxi-dresses).
WARNING: there is a segment of genuinely traumatic horror about 15-minutes in which is like something out of a Dennis Cooper novel. Do what I did (cover your eyes the entire time – although you’ll still hear the very convincing screams!). Love Me Deadly is the movie that finally pushed Pal over the edge: he wanted to know who recommended this one and requested, “Can we watch a normal movie next time?”
WARNING: there is a segment of genuinely traumatic horror about 15-minutes in which is like something out of a Dennis Cooper novel. Do what I did (cover your eyes the entire time – although you’ll still hear the very convincing screams!). Love Me Deadly is the movie that finally pushed Pal over the edge: he wanted to know who recommended this one and requested, “Can we watch a normal movie next time?”
As always: watch at your own risk! As the ad campaign
warns: “Beware! This film in which supernatural suspense and terror go hand in
icy hand is not recommended for the emotionally immature!”
As always, you get a reward for reading this far.
/ Lyle Waggoner's 1973 Playgirl pictorial. Can you say "DILF"? /
/ Luscious Christopher Stone's memorable nude scene in The Grasshopper (1970). Via /
This movie raises so many more questions than it answers. What possessed Lyle Waggoner to toss a promising comedy career for this? Why is the obviously distributor mandated to sell it more easily as a horror cult subplot somehow less scary than the film's happier scenes? Out of exploitation's Daddy Issues boomlet of 72/73 This lags behind both "The Baby" and the equally fashionable "Toys Are Not For Children".
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