The Honeymoon Killers [Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD]

Product Description

One of the great cult true-crime films, hailed by genre aficionados and highbrow cinephiles alike (François Truffaut said it was his favourite American film), The Honeymoon Killers is a compelling dramatisation of the true story of the notorious Lonely Hearts Killers .

Two mismatched lovers, overweight nurse Martha Beck (Shirley Stoler, Seven Beauties) and con man Ray Fernandez (Tony Lo Bianco, God Told Me To), concoct a plan to lure unsuspecting victims via lonely-hearts ads. But this is no lip-smacking killing spree but a memorably intense study of loneliness and the lengths to which desperate people will go to keep what they once thought they'd never have.

The only film directed by opera composer Leonard Kastle (with additional material by an uncredited Martin Scorsese), shot in stark black and white and incongruously scored by Gustav Mahler, The Honeymoon Killers is a complete one-off in American cinema. Veteran critic Derek Malcolm wrote At that time, we'd not seen that kind of film, a super-realist depiction of the banality of evil. It came like a clap of thunder.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of a brand new 4K restoration
• Original mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Love Letters, a video piece by Robert Fischer featuring actors Tony Lo Bianco and Marilyn Chris and editor Stan Warnow
• Folie à Deux: Todd Robinson, director of Lonely Hearts, explores the true story of the Lonely Hearts Killers
• Body Shaming: Todd Robinson explores the film
• Beyond Morality: Fabrice du Welz, director of Alleluia, discusses the film that inspired him
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork by Jay Shaw
• Illustrated collector s booklet featuring No Average Killers, Johnny Mains extensive new essay on the film and its real-life inspiration, plus archive materials

From Amazon.co.uk

Though it was pre-produced by Martin Scorsese, who left the project after arguments with the producers, The Honeymoon Killers wound up being written and directed by Leonard Kastle, one of cinema's great one-hit wonders. The Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer of 1969, The Honeymoon Killers follows hefty nurse Martha Beck (Shirley Stoler, who looks like a humourlessly malevolent Roseanne) and her low-rent gigolo lover Raymond Fernandez (Tony Lo Bianco) as they take up serial murder for profit and passion, luring middle-aged women into marriage through lonely-hearts ads, then killing them and raiding their savings. Based on a genuine crime case history, it is filmed in the candid-camera style of a Frederick Wiseman documentary. The intense scenes (such as the couple's frightening love-play: escalating arguments that end in awkward killings) unfold with a fly-on-the-wall dryness, showcasing the extraordinary acting of the leads and their cameo victims. A rare film in which genuine romantic love does not excuse the central couple's amoral behaviour, this still manages to generate some sympathy for the truly monstrous Martha. The washed-out black and white photography and sometimes scratchy soundtrack (the score is sampled from Mahler) have a deliberately amateurish feel which adds to the film's chilling power, lodging it into the memory.

On the DVD: Along with a lurid trailer and gallery of images are filmographies for Stoler, Lo Bianco and (redundantly) Kastle. The widescreen transfer is excellent, representing perfectly the film's rough-hewn look but also bringing out a lot of detail--like Stoler's freckles, which have looked like grain on video releases. --Kim Newman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.