Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

I was mostly curious how Curtis Hanson handled his debut feature film, but the exploitation genre has my dear attention as well - thusly, a good combination. 'Sweet kill' is partly a character study of a man who was somehow traumatized in his youth, but offers plenty of kills (not much blood, though) and nudity to be an exploitation flick as well.The writing is pretty good, showing early signs of Hanson's competence in that area. Things may appear to be happening rather haphazardly, but through all these random acts, the struggle of Eddie Collins is broadly illustrated; his fetish, his attempts at fighting off his dark side and the part that coincidence plays in his ultimate downfall - even if it not sure that he gets caught at all.This is pretty low budget, but the director made do with the littlest of means. The acting varies, Tab Hunter plays the lead reasonably well. A good 7 out 10.

1950s matinée idol Tab Hunter here gets a juicy role into which he can sink his teeth, and does: he plays Eddie, a Phys. Ed. teacher in Venice, California, who's sad and lonely. He has a real problem when it comes to making love to women, and it stems from a traumatic incident in his childhood (no surprise there). When he accidentally kills one young women, it sets off something inside him, and then he graduates to actually murdering the sexy ladies of Venice.Not that this film, written, co-produced, and directed by budding young talent Curtis Hanson ("L.A. Confidential", "8 Mile"), is really about jacking up a body count. It's more of a character study than anything else, and Hunter proves up to the task of helping us get to know this man with severe psycho sexual issues. The whole film is simply but effectively done, with some solid atmosphere and a bit of gore.There's also a delectable dose of nudity in this thing; when originally released under the title "Sweet Kill", it wasn't too successful; (uncredited) executive producer Roger Corman then went to Hanson and ordered him to "sleaze up" his film a bit with additional sex scenes. Unfortunately, this move didn't help the films' fortunes. Still, it will make many a voyeur quite happy as the female co-stars show the goods.Hunter is well supported by the appealing Latimer, Nadyne Turney as Barbara (the one well meaning woman with whom Eddie tries to make a connection), veteran actress Isabel Jewell as a landlady, a pre-fame Angus Scrimm as her husband, 70s drive-in starlet Roberta Collins as a call girl, and John Aprea of "The Godfather Part II" as Latimers' boyfriend.With a chilling score by Charles Bernstein as accompaniment, this is well done overall and worth a viewing for trash devotees.Eight out of 10.

Former 50's teen idol Tab Hunter gives a superbly chilling and convincing performance as Eddie Collins, a lonely, impotent and sexually frustrated high school gym teacher who was driven around the bend by his shameless whore mother who used to parade around naked in front of him as a little boy. Eddie viciously murders any lovely young lass who tries (and fails) to turn him on. Writer/director Curtis Hanson, who went on to win an Oscar for the terrific "L.A. Confidential," does an expert job of creating and sustaining a creepy, clammy, clinical tone for this luridly compelling portrait of homicidal madness and seething misogyny. Moreover, Hanson astutely nails the whole right-on groovy swingin' 70's zeitgeist, evokes a highly credible sense of everyday mundane reality and builds plenty of nerve-wracking tension which reaches a harrowing fever pitch in the terrifying final third. The abundant gratuitous distaff nudity, the seedy seaside Venice, California locations, the shockingly blunt'n'brutal violence and the profoundly unnerving conclusion all give this picture a raw, sleazy, unsettling edge that's mighty tough to shake. Nice supporting performances by Nadyne Turney as fed-up, long-suffering unhappy single gal Barbara, Isabel Jewell as a snoopy landlady, a pre-"Phantasm" Angus Scrimm as Jewell's husband, and longtime favorite 70's drive-in flick starlet Roberta Collins as a brassy call girl. Charles Bernstein's supremely spooky'n'shuddery score and Daniel Lacambre's crisp, polished cinematography are both up to par. The inspired casting of Tab Hunter in the warped lead qualifies as the film's masterstroke; Hunter's blandly handsome boy next door persona makes for the perfect front for the severe dementia bubbling just underneath the surface. An excellent and unjustly overlooked little nugget.

Careers in the movies on occasion take unexpected routes It is highly unlikely that anyone watching "The Arousers" would have guessed that it's director and writer Curtis Hanson would one day join the ranks of Hollywood's A list. The direction shows little flair, (to be kind), while the screenplay virtually non existent.Tab Hunter, the golden boy of Warner Brothers of the fifties, plunged towards obscurity after leaving the studios who had found a new hopeful in the form of Troy Donahue. They had no belief in his acting ability and solely utilized his legendary looks as bait for the burgeoning and lucrative teen audiences of the time. This, despite the fact that with each movie he seemed to be developing as an actor with definite potential. I recently watched an unremarkable early movie of his "Lafayette Escradille" featuring in a very minor role with hardly any lines at all, a nondescript young actor by the name of Clint Eastwood - unexpected routes indeed.Despite the thin material and weak supporting players (other than one Nadyne Turney), Hunter turns in a remarkably astute performance. In the light of his coming out as a gay man, there is an added poignancy in his playing a character who is impervious to the charms of the numerous sexy females who throw themselves on him. While the reasons for his psychopathic behavior do not stem from latent homosexuality but rather some extremely half baked mention of his mother, perhaps Hanson utilized something of Hunter's sexuality in casting him in this role.There really is no reason to search this one out unless you have some interest in the varied careers of Hanson or Hunter. Others may steer clear.