Synopsis
Infatuated with the idea of becoming rich, college student Jonathan Corliss secretly dates Dorothy Carlsson to gain the approval of her wealthy father. When Dorothy tells Jonathan that she is pregnant and that her father will deny her inheritance if he finds out, Jonathan murders her, but he stages her death as a suicide. As Jonathan works his way onto Mr. Carlsson's payroll, Dorothy's twin sister, Ellen, investigates the apparent suicide.
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Cast
- Matt DillonJonathan Corliss
- Sean YoungEllen / Dorothy Carlsson
- Max von SydowThor Carlsson
- Diane LaddMrs. Corliss
- James RussoDan Corelli
- Adam HorovitzJay Faraday
- Martha GehmanPatricia Farren
- Ben BrowderTommy Roussell
- Briony GlasscoWaitress
- Galaxy CrazeSusie
Recommendations
- 75
Chicago Sun-Times
This is Matt Dillon's first film since Drugstore Cowboy, and demonstrates again that he is one of the best actors working in movies. He possesses the secret of not giving too much, of not trying so hard that we're distracted by his performance. - 70
The New York Times
A Kiss Before Dying is not Crime and Punishment. It is pop movie making to be enjoyed without guilt. - 60
Empire
What's missing here though is the novel's trick of being a wonderfully contrived mystery on the surface while underneath lurks an angry and upsetting analysis of class injustice in the USA. - 50
Time Out
Writer/director Dearden's version of Ira Levin's novel is routine stuff, neither thrilling nor revealing as a portrait of a psychopath. - 40
Rolling Stone
Dillon is a potent combination of looks, charm and menace, as he proved in Drugstore Cowboy, but Dearden’s script fails to provide the raw material that would let him go beyond the stereotype. - 40
TV Guide Magazine
A Kiss Before Dying is one of those films that may play absurdly in a theatre, eliciting hoots, groans and sighs of relief at its end from the audience, but on video provides a mindless, undemanding diversion. - 30
Austin Chronicle
Director-screenwriter Dearden, who wrote the script for Fatal Attraction, does a terrible job of making the pieces of the who's-he-going-to-kill-next narrative stick; jumping around with an unnerving frequency, this film self-destructs before your very eyes. - 30
Los Angeles Times
For those of us who don’t fancy ourselves connoisseurs of badness, A Kiss Before Dying is less than delectable. It’s a real botch-a-thon, and it gets worse as it goes along.
