THE KILLING KIND

title: THE KILLING KIND

year: 1973

cast: John Savage, Ann Sothern, Luana Anders, Cindy Williams

director: Curtis Harrington

rating: **

A young man (John Savage) who enjoys killing woman, cats, etc.. but most of this boring film centers on the pitiful relationship with the central character and his clingy mother, Norman Bates style. Their relationship not only drags but seems pointless, contrived, and at this point, cliche. All in all this is a boring cult film that has no real beat to it. Should have been more "pointless" murders and less pointless dialog. After all, it's an exploitation.

NIGHT TIDE

title: NIGHT TIDE

year: 1961

cast: Dennis Hopper, Linda Lawson, Luana Anders, Gavin Muir

director: Curtis Harrington

rating: ***1/2

Many early sixties movies had quick, choppy dialog, a million dissolves (scenes fading in and out), and didn't know exactly what they wanted to be. But this, an independant 1961 low-low budget film, knows exactly what it is, even if the audience isn't sure. In Venice Beach a sailor meets a women in a bar who works at a carnival as a mermaid in what seems like a fake attraction. But she might really be a mermaid, i.e. a siren... and men she's dated have turned up dead. A young cupid-faced Dennis Hopper is fun to watch as the gullible love-sick sailor. He won't listen to all the warnings he's given about her track record. Let's face it, the guy is hooked. It's nice seeing Hopper as a normal person, not a burn-out, weirdo or psychopath. The B&W cinematography is gorgeous, the dialog is tight, and the other performances are also very good, including the lovely Linda Lawson as the seductive vixen who might be a water nymph, or murderess, or both.