Better Late Then Never

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

RELEASED TO TV IN 1996 and directed by Chuck Bowman, "A Kiss So Deadly" is a drama with elements of romance & crime starring Charles Shaughnessy as Tom Deese, a concerned father who's concerned about his daughter who moved out to live on her own (Dedee Pfeiffer). Living with two roommates on the North Carolina coast (Charlotte Ross & Noelle Parker), the girls are sorta stalked by a creepy man (Scott Simpson); meanwhile, Deese becomes infatuated with one of the roommates (Ross). Kerrie Keane plays Deese's ignored wife while Tom Bresnahan plays the daughter's beau.Although this is a TV movie, it breaks the threshold of greatness for what it is; and does so on a few fronts. The theme revolves around the power of a beautiful woman and the corresponding male obsession. Ross stands out as the "hottie" and her beauty is highlighted from the get-go (the father stumbles upon her in a bikini in his daughter's apartment and you can just see "Whoa, Mama!" displayed on his face).Unfortunately, Amanda (Ross) has developed the faintly unwholesome disposition of a babe who is wont to sleep around. She is nicely contrasted by the intuitive insightfulness of the daughter (Pfeiffer) and the winsome wholesomeness of the other girl, June (Parker). Speaking of whom, I enjoyed June's subplot in the third act, which nicely contrasts Amanda's relationship with Deese. I wish it were developed more. Personally, if I were to pursue any of the three girls (not that I would, since I'm married), it would be June.Any male who has experienced the inward upheaval that goes with a crazy crush on a beautiful woman will relate to what the father goes through in this flick. "A Kiss So Deadly" effectively shows the potential dangers of uncontrolled infatuation. Be wise, my son.THE MOVIE RUNS 96 minutes and was shot in Wilmington, North Carolina. WRITERS: Monica Parker (story) &Nevin Schreiner (story & script).GRADE: B+/A-

**SPOILERS** Highly confusing and extremely muddled made for TV suspense/thriller that has two stories that come across as if they were two independent films playing together on the same screen at the same time. The movie "A Kiss so Deadly"starts off with Catherine Deese, Dedee Pfeiffer, and her collage room-mate Amanda Blake, Charlotte Ross, leaving a party late one night. Walking to Amanda's car their followed by this creepy-looking guy Yule Werb, Scott Simpson. The two girls later realize that their being followed by car and lose Yule in traffic. As were readying ourselves to see a movie about a crazed stalker on the looses all of a sudden the movie changes course with Catherine's father Tom, Charles Shaughnessy, popping up in her apartment the next day. Tom become smitten with her sexy and experienced room-mate Amanda, the poor man's hooked as soon as he laid eyes on her.Going to the Marlin Bay Club the next evening with some of his friends Tom spots Amanda there as a waitress and you can see that he's addicted to her and that he'll end up going down the tubes if he continues to try to get it on with Amanda. We have both Tom and the creepy Yule compete to who's the sleaziest one of all in the movie. With Yule slinking around the white sands beach, dressed all in black, and Catherine's apartment watching the girls, Catherine and her two room-mates Amanda and June(Noelle Parker),with binoculars and taking their pictures. At the same time Tom is making a complete fool of himself trying to get into Amanda's, after having a one-night fling with him, pants as well as taking advantage of poor and introverted June; this after Amanda was no longer available to him.You first get the impression that Yule has something to do with Tom and their acting, secretly, as some kind of tag-team of sleaze-balls and later feel that there's a falling out between the two. With Yule blackmailing Tom since he has the most to loose between the two, his wife Patty, Kerrie Kane, and his textile business. We also get confused signals to just what happened to Amanda when she's later murdered in her parked car outside the Marlin Bay Club. Since just the scene before she was waiting for a male friend, the bartender and bouncer in the club, to walk her to her car because Yule was there and eying her. You figured that she must have been with the bartender, off camera when she walked to her car? Why then go by herself when Amanda was so terrified to leave the club with Yule snooping around outside? The movie gets even more confusing when the off-the-wall Yule after threatening Tom, by phone, at the textile factory is later shot to death by the police as they catch him trying to break into the Deese's house. The film tries to put everything together at the end but falls sadly apart with the killer exposing himself with nobody watching really caring who he is by then. The Killer Insainly induces himself to get shot by the cops, suicide by police, as he pulls out what looks like a cap-pistol that he must have gotten as a prize out of a Cracker-Jack box. "A Kiss so Deadly" is only worth your time watching it because it's just too bad to be true and at the same time too good for bad-movie fans, in a cheesy and unintentionally funny sort of way, to be bad.

My room mate and I ended watching this movie by accident and right off the bat, we thought that we were in for a good time. The music swelled and the mood was set for a scary movie. Unfortunately, we were so put off by the thought of sleeping with each others' father that we were slightly disturbed and nothing happened to keep up the scary pretenses. The plot seemed to take unnecessary twists at the end and the 'steamy love scenes' weren't as much steamy as ridiculous. The lead actors and actresses do a good job at holding up the absurd plot line, but the supporting actors need to pull their own weight as well. This is a good movie if you want to laugh your butt off at the dialogue and plot, but if you are looking for a 'thriller' you need to avoid this film, for it will not fulfill your requirements whatsoever: the only thrills in this movie are sexual ones, and even they aren't that thrilling, just sick and twisted.

Sorry, but I found this TV movie obvious and rather slow moving. It was directed by Chuck Bowman and written by Nevin Schreiner from a story by Schreiner and Monica Parker. Unfortunately, the detours were pretty obvious. As to who murdered Charlotte Ross, the only rewarding performance in the film, who was a college room mate to Deedee Pfeiffer, who looked older than her mother. Her makeup was soooo extreme, that I felt she belonged on the street somewhere. Does her mom and dad let her walk around looking like a paid model escort? I know she's sister to Michelle, but far from able to pull off a college student in this movie. As the character, you wanted her to mind her own business. Always poking around. She's determined to have her father hung. And when we get to the end of this melodrama, she suddenly has this hysterical crying scene, when she did everything she could to make it happen. Go figure. Charles Shaughnessy, yes from THE NANNY, does what he can in a one level role. He has a moment or two, but not too many. Keerie Keane, mother and wife of Pfeiffer and Shaughnessy, also does her best with what she's given. Now they tell me there is a DVD coming out of this movie? You got to be kidding