Watch Nightkill For Free
Nightkill
The wife of a wealthy industrialist finds herself caught-up in a web of intrigue & murder which was created by her own deceit. When she tries to escape the results of her actions, she too falls victim to deception.
Release : | 1980 |
Rating : | 5.5 |
Studio : | Cine Artist Film GmbH, |
Crew : | Production Design, Set Decoration, |
Cast : | Jaclyn Smith Robert Mitchum Mike Connors James Franciscus Fritz Weaver |
Genre : | Horror Thriller Crime Mystery |
Watch Trailer
Cast List
Related Movies
Reviews
Fresh and Exciting
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Please forgive me the rather goofy and bizarre user comment's subject line, as it's a reference towards the typically expressive and often overlong titles that were given to Italian so-called "giallo" movies during the '60s, '70s and early '80s. Due to its plot, character drawings and filming style, Ted Post's "Nightkill" frequently resembles the giallo prototype. Post's main role model and inspiration for this film was obviously Alfred Hitchcock, but more than half of the Italian gialli ever made were also inspired by the works of Hitchcock, so it's logical that I notice similarities everywhere! Short and simple: I liked "Nightkill"! It's a straightforward thriller that contains a few impressive shock- moments and plot twists that you honestly don't see coming. Throughout the largest part of the running time, you don't have the slightest clue of what's going on. On top of the unpredictability factor, there are a handful of genuinely suspenseful sequences (the body-dumping, the car chase between Katherine and an unknown assailant) as well as a thoroughly murky gloomy atmosphere and a downright fantastic damsel-in-distress performance by Jacklyn Smith. She depicts the unhappy wife of robust and arrogant Arizona business tycoon Wendell Atwell. Katherine wants a divorce so that she can start a new life with her lover (and Wendell's business partner) Steve Fulton, but he refuses. Without thinking it through, Steve poisons Wendell and they hide the body in the freezer. But then Steve himself vanishes mysteriously and later it's his murdered body that lies in the freezer! Meanwhile, the increasingly anxious Katherine receives several visits from her obtrusive lawyer Herbert and a cynical private detective named Donner. "Nightkill" is a recommended watch in case you're searching for a tense and compelling whodunit-thriller. Smith's performance perfectly captures the fear and solitude that her character goes through, while Robert Mitchum is given the opportunity again to play a mysterious character like he did in his old film-noir days. Worth mentioning as well: Sybil Danning never looked more beautiful than in this film!
The movie is appropriately named, "Nightkill", because it is so darkly filmed that the daylight scenes, which are not many, seem like night, and the nighttime scenes will literally leave you in the dark. Since the plot twists and turns, it would be nice to actually see what is going on. Basically, Jaclyn Smith is unwittingly drawn into a complex murder plot, involving her tyrant, millionaire husband, Mike Connors. Once her lover, James Franciscus, does the killing, nothing is explained, and the audience is left to blindly follow what is happening. Personally, I lost interest until the relentlessly downbeat ending. Despite the presence of Robert Mitchum, and some decent acting, technically the film is seriously flawed. - MERK
From some of the first terrifying television, I got to view, since I didn't get to enjoy many shows like "Night Gallery" hosted by awesome Rod Serling and others because I was too young.Until the latter nineteen seventies. This is when I started in on 'thrillers'. But as this was for me a differing effect, for one thing I was in 'crush-ville' for Mrs. Smith and so that complicated my feelings for the movie and drew me further in. I know that some have said that they think of the acting, with these characters as not up to par. Some have said that, I think that this was pretty to view and get into, as stories go.I watched her go through a hard time and watched it grow increasingly more twisted. She had me on the edge of my seat and miles away from my comfort zone. But the movie was a semi-complicated and involved plot for the average viewer, I think. Plus, with betrayal from Lt. Donner (Michael Anderson Jr.), who is supposed to be at least an honorable man and naturally you would believe justice would come from his involvement. I remember very well the part with which he deceives her, right in front of her with a telephone call. He 'acts' as if he is calling to help Jacklyn's character and there is no-one on the other end of the line, unbeknown to her. I remember the hair on my neck standing up as he was just finishing with the phone call, as he hung up with that 'mono-tone' 'killer' look in his eyes.Very chilling for me, considering that it was over twenty five years ago. And sometimes things (Movies) don't always age well. Some, age very well, but not all of course.I am looking for this movie on DVD. I recommend it, but watch it late or in the dark without distraction from front to back. It does deliver classic actor/actress suspense and hair raising excitement. Not everyone may agree, but judge for yourself.(****)
Veteran TV director Ted Post treats us to a plodding, confused and ultimately pointless story lifted from Column B of the Harold Robbins Big Book Of Plots. Set against a smoggy Phoenix skyline, post-Charlies Angles Jaclyn Smith takes a star turn as "the woman whose eyes are mysteriously shadowed at all times" while JFK impersonator James Franciscus lounges around the fringes. Mannix goes western, monkeys are abused, models lean against classic cars, and Smith is constantly upstaged by Sybil Danning until a giallo style wrap-up brings the whole sorry mess to a bitter end.Oh yeah, and Bob Mitchum is in there too. Somewhere.