A Kiss Before Dying | | Cast : | Sean Young, Matt Dillon | | Director : | James Dearden | | Studio : | Universal Studios | | Format : | Color, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | April 26, 1991 | | DVD Released Date : | December 28, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | May 09, 2005 | | Summary | Loving Him Was Easy, Trusting Him Was Deadly! | Content
 | First of all, why is this movie getting such bad reviews? In every movie, acting does get pretty bad. The brand new movie Saw(Cary Elwes), that's a good example. Only because some things weren't explained perfectly, doesn't mean this entire movie was horrible. I guess it's just movie fans out there.
Growing up, I never cared for Matt Dillon. The more I got into movies though the more I started to like all of the different roles he played, good and bad. He can be extremely dumb/hilarious in movies like There's Something About Mary(Ben Stiller). When in other movies he can act like a cold hearted killer, exactly how he did in A Kiss Before Dying. I agree, Sean Young is just another actress who is a nobody. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective(Jim Carrey) is the only other film I know her from, who didn't catch my interest even in that. However, I thought she gave a great performance in this movie.
People always take remakes too seriously. I don't care who was in the original A Kiss Before Dying, and I don't need to. I don't care if every other movie this director(James Dearden) made was horrible, because I liked this one. The murders, the plot, and the suspense all build you up to the final end. Which I do admit the ending could've been a lot better. But this movie was low budget, coming out in the same year as other powerful thrillers such as Silence of the Lambs(Jodie Foster).
This movie is worth watching for a person who really loves movies, and who doesn't criticize. It's worth buying after that, if you love the movie like I did. This movie is worth it... through and through! |
| Rating | | | Date | March 25, 2005 | | Summary | YOUNG AND FOOLISH | Content
| Sean Young is the main reason this adaptation of the classic novel and 1956 film doesn't come up to snuff. She's a lovely lady, but her performance in this one is so uninspired and apathetic, one cannot feel for her or cheer her on in her quest to find out who murdered her twin sister. The audience knows early on that Matt Dillon is the nasty culprit, a true sociopath who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. A contrived and convoluted script doesn't help either. For instance, after Young finds out who her husband really is, what makes her sure that he killed her sister? And how does Dillon know that Young is at his mother's house? The supporting cast gamely tries, even Diane Ladd as Dillon's mother, and James Russo as a cop turned security guard. But it's all laid out so methodically lame, it just doesn't work out. By the time Dillon gets his just desert, who really cares? |
| Rating | | | Date | March 14, 2005 | | Summary | watchable | Content
| but just that. As a thriller, it has a long way to go, largely because of a bad script and medicore acting. Sean Young is so average it's sad. You can't tell if her character is grieving, scheming, uncaring or just plain stupid in many parts. Matt Dillon tried hard, but he also couldn't rise about his level of mediocrity. Still, as noted earlier, it's watchable as opposed to a complete piece of trash. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 14, 2005 | | Summary | Stick with the Original | Content
| Yet another example of Hollywood's inability to come up with original material. Ira Levin's novel (even Ayn Rand liked it!) had been effectively adapted for the screen in 1956 but heaven forbid that the urge to fix things unbroken should remain unfulfilled! "Fixing," in this case, includes gimmicks. Instead of two mere sisters we have...ta DA!...IDENTICAL TWINS! And not merely content to have a psycho male character, why not have the normal female character played by a real-life SUSPECTED psycho?! Sean Young has given me the creeps since No Way Out, and it seems my hunch was justified; I later read assertions of some pretty bizarre behavior (it has been my experience that where smoke is evident, fire must be nearby). In addition, we have the antagonist staging his own death to throw his mama off the track, a cigarette lighter, ...you get the idea.
Unlike the (much more tasteful) original, this film is sometimes explicitly sexual, so if viewing AKBD is, for some reason, essential to your well-being and titillation is a priority, go for this one by all means, especially if fidelity to the source material isn't important (be aware, though, that it's much less suspenseful than the original). The print looks and sounds good and is widescreen, so things could be worse (I guess).
Speaking of weirdness, just to give you an idea of what we're dealing with here, either Young has managed to channel Virginia Leith (the original's female lead) or is bending over backwards to sound just like her. Imitation is most often NOT the sincerest form of flattery; not only is lifting someone else's style cheap and indicative of a lack of talent and/or incentive, it's just REALLY creepy.
Rental material, for sure. |
| Rating | | | Date | February 21, 2002 | | Summary | Intense , suspenseful & a surprise ending..Very good movie | Content
| What else could one want??? It's worth having in your collection, it's unfortunate it's not on DVD... also buy the book. |
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