‘A hunger from beyond the grave!’
Love Me Deadly is a 1972 American horror film directed by Jacques LaCerte from a screenplay co-written with producer Buck Rogers, based on a story by Robert Cleere and Roger Wall. The movie stars Mary Charlotte Wilcox, Lyle Waggoner and Christopher Stone.
Plot:
Attractive Lindsay Finch (Mary Charlotte Wilcox) has a habit of dressing in mourning and attending wakes for men she never knew. When everyone else leaves, she kneels before the coffins and kisses the corpses passionately.
However, at the many parties she holds at her house, she shows no interest in any of the (living) men. She is also fixated with her deceased father (Michael Pardue), frequently daydreaming about her childhood with him and putting her hair in pigtails to visit his grave.
Her friend Wade Farrow (Christopher Stone) is romantically interested in her, but she rejects his affections. Meanwhile, mortician Fred McSweeney (Timothy Scott) notices Lindsay’s attendance at the wakes and, although she won’t admit to her secret passion, he recognises her as a kindred spirit…
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Brand New 2K Scan of the Original Camera Negative of the Uncut Version
Audio Commentary with Producer Buck Edwards
Watch the film in “Maria’s B Movie Mayhem Mode”
Original Theatrical Trailer
Reversible Art
Reviews:
” … mostly a camp-fest directed by someone who obviously had little knowledge of the horror genre and no film experience whatsoever. However, this doesn’t mean that it’s not a watchable time capsule curio, and the backdrop of early 1970s Southern California is just as interesting as the actors themselves. The sight of statuesque Mary Wilcox kissing actors pretending to be corpses while not trying to crack a welcomed smile is amusing…” DVD Drive-In
“While a good part of the movie is devoted to a pretty standard, sexless romance between funeral-haunting rich-bitch heroine Lindsay (Mary Wilcox) and humpy-yet-bland suitor Alex (Waggoner, who must still be cursing his agents to this day for this role), it’s punctuated with enough nastiness … to keep you suitably off-balance.” Camp Blood
“Sleaze fan-addicts will likely be disappointed … The storyline has so much going for it, but the director wastes far too many opportunities for me to recommend this to anyone other than die hard 70’s horror film completists.” Cool Ass Cinema
“As in Psycho — the film Love Me Deadly wants so desperately to match in terms of “shock value” — director LaCerte offers a full psycho-pathological post-mortem toward the end of the story. But who cares, really? Hitchcock’s decision to spend the last ten minutes of Psycho “diagnosing” Norman is the film’s one stumble, and the device is even less convincing here.” Ludic Despair
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Cast and characters:
- Mary Charlotte Wilcox [as Mary Wilcox] … Lindsay Finch – Psychic Killer; Beast of the Yellow Night
- Lyle Waggoner … Alex Martin – Murder Weapon; Dream a Little Evil
- Christopher Stone … Wade Farrow – Cujo; The Howling
- Timothy Scott … Fred McSweeney – Monster Squad TV series
- Michael Pardue … Lindsay’s Father
- Dassa Cates … Housekeeper
- Terri Anne Duvalis … Lindsay as a Child
- Louis Joeffred … McSweeney’s Colleague
- Bruce Adams … McSweeney’s Colleague
- Barbara Fisher … Prostitute
- Edith Sills … Alex’s Mother
- Irving Rosen … Dinner Guest
- H.B. Halicki [as Toby Halicki] … Race Driver
- I. William Quinn … Billy-Jo
- Michael Jacobs … Love Slave
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Release:
In the UK, Doverton Films submitted the film to the BBFC for release as Secrets of Death Room, however the unelected censorship body rejected it outright!
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