UnowPriceless
hyped garbage
Taraparain
Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.
Salubfoto
It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.
tomas-842-817258
It's astonishing to know that Kubrick went from this amateurish freshman effort - bested by many film school projects - to become the director of a major Hollywood blockbuster (Spartacus) in only two films; The Killing and Paths of Glory. That, to me, is the only reason to watch this Killer's Kiss: to understand the breadth of Kubrick's genius.
ags123
This little film captured my attention from the start and held it for the entire 67-minute running time, a tribute to Kubrick's early talent. I even prefer it to his rambling epics, like "2001: A Space Odyssey" and beyond. Contrary to many other opinions, I find the acting top-notch. Jamie Smith is a charismatic hero, Irene Kane is just pretty enough and naive enough to play the damsel in distress, and Frank Silvera exudes sliminess and menace. What makes them seem awkward is the unmatched overdubbing and stilted voice-overs, particularly by Kane in her flashback where she sounds like she's reading a Daphne DuMaurier Gothic novel.Photography and locations in no way call attention to the film's low budget. In fact they're what make this film so absorbing. The climactic fight in the mannequin warehouse has an eeriness that was later borrowed in Blake Edwards' "Experiment in Terror."Overall, a great film that can hold it's own against some of Kubrick's best achievements.
TheLittleSongbird
While it is not among Kubricks' best (his masterpiece to me will always be 2001', though personally rate most of his films very highly indeed), 'Killer's Kiss' is a significant improvement over his previous film 'Fear and Desire' (by far his worst and the only film of his this reviewer deems bad).'Killer's Kiss' has problems. Aside from a suitably slimy turn from Frank Silvera as the villain, the acting is quite weak with a lot of going through the motions and lack of interest. The music is overly bombastic and inappropriately jaunty, instead of fitting with or adding to what's going on on screen it distracts heavily from it. The film also gets off to a rather slow and uninteresting start.Once 'Killer's Kiss' gets going though, it's quite good and solid. There is much more of Kubrick's trademark directing style and it's far more accomplished whereas in 'Fear and Desire' inexperience showed badly. For a very low-budget film, it also looks great, it's beautifully shot and there is some wonderful use of lighting, light and shadow.There is nothing confusing, self-indulgent or irritating about the writing, and aside from a slow start and a couple of moments too stretched out there is enough suspense and tension to keep being engrossed in the atmosphere-heavy story. The climax is just terrific and the ballet sequence is also memorable.All in all, quite good and improves significantly over the mistakes made previously. It's still not perfect and doesn't see Kubrick at his best, but it's still solid. 7/10 Bethany Cox
Andrea Matera
The Killer's Kiss is the second film of Stanley Kubrick, where as well as the direction, he is the author of screenplay, cinematography and editing. The strength of the movie is the direction of Kubrick, while the screenplay is very simple, where the characters are distinct and strongly characterized. The director build the movie with an circular structure, where the prologue and the epilogue are in the present and the story of the film is a long flashback. The cinematography is elaborated (noir style). The movie is a fable and there are different elements that show it: more mirror, the nightmare, the long sequence of the dancer girl (a best scene in the whole movie). An imperfect work but it strikes
