the audience applauded

Crappy film

A Disappointing Continuation

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

John Savage (an appropriate name for an actor playing a Norman Bates type character in a horror film) costars as Ann Sothern's son, and he's just come home from a two-year stint in prison. He had been caught up in a gang rape, depicted in the opening moments of the film, but was innocent at the time. Now that he's out and living with mama again, he wants revenge on the people who put him behind bars. He becomes a serial killer, and as the film progresses, we watch him deal with his homicidal rages. In an interview years later, director Curtis Harrington said that people praised the film for accurately showing what motivates a young man to be a compulsive murderer. I am not sure if a guy being kissed by his mother would exactly prompt him to go off on a bunch of killing sprees. Also, there are some scenes where he flirts with the idea of killing someone-- specifically, an incident in a swimming pool where he violently dunks Cindy Williams but does not drown her. If he had such impulses to kill, what would have stopped him? Why is he toying around with the idea of killing an innocent girl staying at his mother's place. If he was full of rage, wouldn't he just take care of business and get it over with the first time (he ends up killing her later in the movie). While I think the film definitely has some weak spots, the similarities between THE KILLING KIND and PSYCHO are obvious. In a way, this 1973 film plays out like a version of Norman Bates being released and coming back to the motel, where his mother is still alive after all. Can a guy like this ever be cured? Curtis Harrington suggests in this story that he cannot be cured, cannot be saved, and that eventually the mother must do away with him, in order to save the rest of society from the monster she's created. Perhaps we can look at the scene where his mother murders him to be a form of incestuous suicide (my phrase). Seems like heady stuff, doesn't it? The subtext that Harrington weaves throughout the story is that the young man was innocent of the incident that sent him to prison in the beginning, because he was impotent and couldn't get it on with the victim of the gang rape. So maybe when he's toying with Cindy Williams in the pool, he is toying with his own power over females. But how much of this is meant to be an indictment about his own sexuality, we cannot really tell. Instead, as the murderous impulses flare up, we are shown that he is now increasingly violent-- perhaps because when he was in prison, he learned to start liking things rough. Or is it because he's been smothered with so much mother love, like Norman and Mrs. Bates, that he is lashing out, like any good boy would...?

The people giving this film high ratings have got to be nuts. Very poorly paced, amateurishly directed (almost to the point of "home video camera" amateur) and mediocre acting makes this a film to strenuously avoid at all costs.Indeed, there are some "twisted" scenes in this film but nothing that could't be done by walking out in nature with a video camera and randomly killing wildlife. The mother figure had absolutely nothing in her on-screen persona to suggest something that would drive someone crazy, and the actual "madness" displayed by the crazy guy was utterly ridiculous. Also, cyanide does *not* gently put a person to sleep. The pacing was so slow and boring that I caught myself checking the time on the DVD player repeatedly, wishing it would end for god's sake. Almost praying that it would end. I came very close to just turning it off, but it was barely interesting enough in a "just to see what happens" sort of way.Avoid this film, do yourself a favor -- get outside and get some fresh air, do *anything* but watch this movie.

If I had to choose a movie that exemplified how *not* to make one, this one would head the list. And yet, I found it oddly compelling. Or, at least, I did not feel I had been robbed of my time and movie-watching efforts at the end of it. Credit Miss Ann Southern and Mr. John Savage for that, I think.

It took me about a year to hunt down this obscure little flick, but after finally getting my hands on it, I can honestly say it was well worth the efforts. THE KILLING KIND is more than a horror film. It's a stylish, thought-provoking psycho-thriller that explores the mind of a very disturbed individual. John Savage(very impressive in an early starring role) plays Terry Lambert, a young man who is forced to participate in the brutal gang rape of a pretty young girl(Sue Bernard), then is sent to prison. Two years later, Savage is released and returns to the boardinghouse run by his loving, but overprotective mother, Thelma(the wonderful Ann Sothern). At first, Terry seems completelely adjusted and ready to put his life back in order, but he slowly becomes a madman, desperate for revenge and becomes involved in the terrifying deaths of three people. It's then up to his mother to turn her son in or protect him from the consequences that he will suffer for his actions. This is a spellbinding film that concentrates more on suspense and character development than supplying cheap thrills. THE KILLING KIND is definitely cult director Curtis Harrington's masterpiece, and the great cast does some of their finest work. The best performance is given by Ann Sothern who paints a touching portrait of a doting mother who is forced to confront the harsh realities of her son's true nature. At this stage in her career, Sothern was playing mostly character parts, but this is much more than a flashy character role. This particular role gives Sothern the opportunity to display a variety of emotions and she never misses a beat. Sothern is always excellent and certainly handles every role she plays with great style and skill, but this is truly the very best of her latter-day performances.