10/22/07: The Love-Thrill Murders (1971)It’s not obscure enough to be a fabulous find, but
The Love-Thrill Murders never quite became a cult classic. That’s mostly because this dire little film is closer to being a proverbial nihilistic wallow. That’s why we’re happy to refer to the film by its VHS moniker, instead of by the original title of
Sweet Savior. We’re nostalgic for those days when video stores were still loading their shelves with any kind of crap—which is how this tawdry thriller finally found its audience.
Of course, there aren’t many thrills to
The Love-Thrill Murders. The opening is loaded with enough flash-forwards to give away the plot. It’s quickly apparent that we’re about to watch a reenactment of the Manson Family’s attack on Sharon Tate and her friends. It’s a sleazy reenactment, too, based on the (then fresh) rumor that Charlie’s minions had originally been invited to Roman Polanski’s residence for some innocent orgying.
This alternate tale features crazed NYC cult leader Moon (played very well by Troy Donahue). He starts the film by pimping two of his sexiest disciples for some pretzels, before gathering his filthy followers for some spiritual pronouncements. He’s talking about women “grinding together” and other pleasant prophecies. Meanwhile, as noted, we get plenty of images of the sex and violence to come.
Moon’s victims are already gathering at the mansion of movie star Sandra Barlow. It’s really a suburban ranch house, but getting a big star like Troy Donahue probably took up a lot of the budget. There’s lovely predatory lesbian Maggie (who proclaims herself “a liberated woman”), gay guy Fritzi (who literally skips around), and relatively restrained couple Chris and Carol. The script makes a big deal out of how these privileged decadent types are slumming with the hippies. “Are the freaks here yet?” asks Fritzi, before having a good snicker when Sandra replies, “Who are the real freaks—them or us?”
It’s them, incidentally. That’s confirmed when Maggie excitedly declares, “The freaks are here!” Moon and his entourage—thuggish Bull and homicidal hippies Ruth and Faith—arrive in their van adorned with “Jesus Is God” and “God Lives.” Actually, Moon arrives separately on his motorcycle. He leaves his helmet outside on the white lawn jockey.
There are a lot of great sex scenes (as noted in greater length at the end of this entry), and then it’s time to slaughter the decadent showbiz types. That’s not why this counts as right-wing trash. If we got off on that kind of thing, we’d be writing about
The Helter Skelter Murders. And if slumming warranted the death penalty, we’d be paying tribute to ourselves by writing about
Each Dawn I Die.
Our preferred political content is at the end of the film. That means we’re entering SPOILER territory, as things actually depart from the Manson/Tate tale. Moon and his crew drive away from the bloodbath, and a police car pulls the van over. It’s a few hours before dawn, and that idiot Bull forgot to turn on his headlights. Moon strolls over and takes control of the situation.
“I’m sorry, officer,” he says. “I know those of us who preach the gospel must also follow the laws of our earthly brethren.”
The officer asks if they’re all a bunch of hippies. “Well,” explains Moon, “we’ve been called that. ‘Jesus freaks,’ you might say. But, you see, it doesn’t matter. What we’re doing is traveling around, preaching to children God’s truths.”
Then the cop is called away on a possible homicide, so he tells Moon and his pals to get back on the road and be careful. This allows Moon to spend the closing credits back in Manhattan, riding his motorcycle in broad daylight while giving the finger to businessmen, a policeman, and—in the final shot—the American flag.
We really like that ending. Not just the murderous disdain for our country, but also how Moon gets away with everything by wrapping himself in the church. The only difference between Moon and Charles Manson is that a) Moon tags along for the murders and b) Manson was too crazy to con the cops. There were a lot of equally loony hippies who managed to pass as normal long enough to end up as prominent Methodists or Episcopalians or Catholics. Far too many “Jesus freaks” went on to get freaky with established religions. The ending of
The Love-Thrill Murders turns the film into a serious horror movie. That horror is still reverberating throughout mainstream churches, even as the horrors of the Manson Family and Altamont become increasingly meaningless milestones.
Make it your own: T
he Love-Thrill Murders includes Lloyd Kaufman in a small role as “Squeegee”, so schlock fans won’t be surprised to see that the Troma studio eventually picked up distribution on VHS. (The original tape was a Troma Team release via the equally trashy Vestron label.) That’s made it easy to
get used copies. We’re still waiting for a Deluxe Edition DVD, though…
…mostly because
The Love-Thrill Murders has one of the sexiest casts in film history—especially if you know your obscure beauties. Stunning brunette Michelle Norris makes a silent appearance in what would be her second (and final) film, having already earned immortality as the losing side of one of cinema’s greatest catfights in 1971’s
Ginger. Older woman Lee Terri is leering and sultry as the lesbianic Maggie, and she’d be the only cast member to go on to bigger films. She stayed tasteless, though. Terri would earn her own immortality as Peter Graves’ wife in
Airplane!, contributing one of the ’80s more shocking sight gags.
This would also be the second and final film for Joie Addison—playing strangely repressed swinger Carol—who was the most memorable nude gal in Allen Funt’s risqué big-screen project
What Do You Say To A Naked Lady? You also get an amazing turn by the truly talented Tallie Cochrane, who goes from Moon’s soft-butch sidekick to resident exotic dancer.
And the closing theme of “Sweet Savior” is sung and co-written by legendary pop icon Jeff Barry—last
mentioned here for his shark-slaying classic “The Water Was Red.”
