With its creepy-crawly ambiance and suave stalker villain, A KISS GOODNIGHT has everything going for it but momentum. We always know who the serial-killer Romeo is, making this less an erotic thriller than a sexy essay on victims' vigilante rights.
Elated because she's snagged an important account, advertising executive Natalie Collins (Paula Trickey) is quickly pushed off her cloud by a cutthroat rival, Carl (Brett Cullen), and her intern boyfriend Michael (Mark Moses). The vulnerable career girl accompanies her girlfriends to a local hot
spot, where Natalie is swept off her feet by a debonair lawyer, Kurt Pierson (Al Corley). Unlike neglectful Michael, Kurt gives Natalie's erogenous zones a vigorous workout and promises wilder sex to come. Natalie feels guilty about her infidelity and severs ties with Kurt, who proves to have a
psychotic aversion to being dumped.
At first, Natalie believes it's Carl who's writing obscene graffiti about her at work. But by the time her secretary, Missy, is viciously beaten into a coma, Natalie begins to suspect Kurt's culpability; yuppie-hating police detective Harwood (Lawrence Tierney), however, gives her the runaround.
Natalie's girlfriend Martha (Sydney Walsh) pays to have Kurt roughed up; he kills her in retaliation. Kurt then disconnects Missy's life-support and threatens to sue Michael on behalf of the deceased's family. Wondering if she'll have any friends left when Kurt is done, Natalie packs a rod and
breaks into Kurt's house to locate incriminating evidence. He catches her, and their tussle is interrupted by Detective Harwood. Kurt tries to stab Harwood, so Natalie guns down her vindictive one-night stand.
What distinguishes this lady-in-distress suspense film is the layer of malice at its foundation. Not only is the men-are-pigs message abundantly clear, but the movie also etches the sexist hatred festering in Natalie's office (for example, Natalie's boss punishes her for overreacting to the
slanderous graffiti) as well as the class/gender bias Detective Harwood harbors toward Natalie, a white-collar broad with a higher-paying job than his.
In such a threatening environment (where even her boyfriend is not supportive), is it any wonder that Natalie is so thoroughly captivated by Kurt? Played flawlessly by Corley, Kurt is simply a more extreme version of all the other misogynists in her life. Occasionally erotic and sporadically
scary, A KISS GOODNIGHT is a watchable addition to the legion of thrillers about the deadlier side of dating. (Graphic violence, extreme profanity, extensive nudity, sexual situations.) leave a comment
