By Melissa Antoinette Garza
LOVE ME DEADLY (1972) is a strange little film that could have only existed in the carefree chillness of low-budget 1970s brilliance. It certainly delves into some uncomfortable topics where necrophilia doesn’t even top the list.
The film opens with a funeral service. Lindsay Finch (Mary Charlotte Wilcox) is present. She is seemingly in mourning, but doesn’t know the gentleman who passed. Instead, she just waits for everyone else to leave so she can make-out with the corpse. Everyone needs kicks.
The credits then roll over a hauntingly sweet song where flashbacks of Lindsay’s father (Michael Pardue) are shown with a young Lindsay (Terri Anne Duvalis). I’m going to save you from the thoughts I suffered through the first time I watched it. As creepy as the flashbacks are, they are not reflective of the worst case scenario. To put it plainly, I don’t believe the father was abusive toward her. She’s just fucked up because of something else.
Still, the necrophilia story-line is irrevocably linked by Lindsay’s damaged psyche from something that occurred when she was much younger. It makes her so that she’s not sexually attracted to anyone living.
At a party, her douche-bag friend Wade (Christopher Stone)makes a pass, but she’s not interested. He gets aggressive and she has to scratch him so that he leaves. When he does, a teddy bear that her father gave her offers comfort. Sadly, Lindsay is so screwed up that she remains friends with rapist wannabe Wade.
Not every guy is awful though. Enter Satanic Mortician Fred McSweeney (Timothy Scott). He’s the leader of a cult with a kick for necrophilia and so he picked the right profession. Admittedly, Fred isn’t all just roses and getting his rocks off with the dead. He also kills a few people. He picks up both male and female prostitutes, brings them back to the morgue and violently takes them down. With the first, Fred gets him naked, straps him to the table, injects him with formaldehyde and drains the fluids. It’s a pretty intense scene. The victim is naked and pleading for help while he is tortured to death. It is weird and wild, but Fred is very scientific about the whole thing – so he gets points off for murder, but gains some back for precision.
Fred takes a liking to Lindsay and invites her into their group. Though, she doesn’t admit her affection for the dead, McSweeney sees it. She’s reluctant, but goes one night to a meeting. There she sees a group of nude people including Fred around a dead body. Fred begins to caress her but she gets overwhelmed and runs out. He goes outside and reassures her. He promises that the next time he’ll make an event more private for her.
That doesn’t mean that she isn’t looking for something normal. At one of the funeral services, she meets and falls for Alex (Lyle Waggoner) the brother of the deceased. The two begin dating, but never have sex. Alex waits until after marriage, but when Lindsay still isn’t feeling it, he begins to wonder what’s going. He’s patient and sweet, but it would just never work. He decides to explore the mortuary for himself and to hopefully get some answers about his wife.
He has reason to be alarmed. Lindsay isn’t being completely faithful as she has taken Fred up on the private time with the dead. McSweeney is an honest-to-God gentleman about her time there! He lets her use his mortuary and puts together a room for her. He even closes the door so she can get her freak on with the dead, and not once did I hear a “thank you, Fred” or a “Would you like to join in with me and the dead guy, Fred.” I’m just saying she could learn some manners!
Fred’s a nice guy. I mean for a Satanic, murdering, necrophiliac, you couldn’t ask for better. Considering, Lindsay’s flaws – she could do far worse.
Surprising to no one, Fred is my favorite character. He has a great job. He’s diligent in his work and loves the career for various reasons. He’s inclusive and always looking to add new like-minded members to his group of friends. He has the appearance of someone who’d enjoy cool music and would make up inventive dates. He has a sexy, little scary voice that is a turn on. When Fred jumps in her car and starts to discuss necrophilia, he’s an assertive gent with flaws and questionable logic, but he is odd enough to excite.
Speaking of flaws, poor Lindsay. She’s just a basket-case who was screwed up since childhood and obviously never received proper treatment. There’s a part of me that wishes she’d be happy to find Fred and that the two of them could live out a moderately happy life together (if she’d just let it happen!)
Currently, this is free on YOUTUBE. I suggest it for the odd gem it is. It’s wonderfully bizarre. The cast is great and Wilcox does really make the character a sympathetic one. She makes it clear that Lindsay has epics amount of trauma and a case of PTSD that she doesn’t even recognize. She tries to manage the impossible balancing act between Little Mary Sunshine and the Freaks of the Night she chills with. A more stable woman would find a group that lives in the middle-ground and say goodbye to both…..but that would be so boring. Instead, we have a conclusion that is beyond sinfully wicked and right into “WTF did I just watch? Let’s watch it again” territory
Scared Stiff Rating: 7.5/10
