Deadly charm
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Deadly charm |
| Original title | Fatal charm |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1990 |
| length | 86 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 18 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Fritz Kiersch |
| script | Nicholas Niciphor |
| production |
Jonathan D. Cranes Bruce Cohn Curtis |
| music | James Donnellan |
| camera | Steve Grass |
| occupation | |
| |
Deadly Charm is an American thriller from 1990.
Young Valerie falls in love with the sex killer Adam Brenner, who is on trial. She is convinced of his innocence and begins an intense pen friendship. After Adam, sentenced to death, escapes from prison, he kills Valerie. When he faces Valerie, she too realizes his real intentions. A relentless struggle for life and death ensues.
action
Valerie is a young high school student who lives with her single mother Susan. The relationship between mother and daughter is strained, especially after the mother's new friend, Louis, moved into the apartment. Valerie's everyday life is shaped by the upcoming graduation, a first date with James Childs, a boy from school, but also by Louis' sexual advances. In return, Valerie gets along with Sandy, a colleague from the same class.
The media report daily about the sensational court case against Adam Brenner, a young and handsome man, who is charged with six rapes and murders of young women. Valerie is convinced of his innocence and begins to write him letters, which Adam replies to her. The feelings of Valerie towards Adam grow stronger and stronger, at night she dreams how she is seduced by him. Valerie continues to maintain correspondence, even after her mother discovered the letters of the murderer, who has meanwhile been sentenced to death, and expressly forbids her to exchange letters. When Adam asks Valerie for a photo of her, however, she does not send him a photo of her, but one of her friend Sandy.
After the conviction, Adam is exposed to the harsh everyday prison life, harassed by “black” inmates and sexually molested by the homosexual Adolph. After a resulting prison revolt, Adam is transferred to another, smaller prison. When two fellow inmates overpower the staff there, Adam also takes the chance to escape.
Adam steals a vehicle by strangling the occupants, a couple in love, from the back seat. Adam now makes his way to Valerie, but because of the wrong photo, wrongly speaks to the unsuspecting Sandy in front of a toilet.
Back at home, Adam calls Valerie, and secretly arranges a meeting at the school parking lot. While Valerie is still “making herself beautiful” at home, Sandy, still the real Valerie for Adam, is intercepted by Adam at the parking lot!
A little later Adam appears in Valerie's room. It is with horror that Valerie must now discover the intentions Adam has towards her. A struggle for life and death begins. Louis, who is also in the house, can no longer come to her aid, as he was previously "switched off" by Adam. When the mother enters the apartment and rushes to the aid of her screaming daughter, she is pushed down the stairs in a fight with Adam. Valerie manages to hurt Adam and leave the apartment. However, her tormentor does not give in and pursues Valerie down to the harbor, where the struggle for survival continues until the police arrive.
Reviews
- The internet platform kabeleins.de - Filmlexikon evaluates the film as a striking psychological thriller which is only interested in the suspense of its implausible plot . The critics see the film set in the field of tension between half-baked sexual fantasies and enriched with ingredients from the court drama and the prison film.
Trivia
- The video premiere took place in Germany on September 18, 1990. In the USA, the film was first released on February 22, 1992 for the first time.
- In the TV broadcasts, the German film title is “I love a women murderer”, the video version, which appeared in German, had the film title “Tödlicher Charme”, which was adapted to the original title.
Web links
- Deadly charm in the Internet Movie Database (English)