MovieChat Forums > The Honeymoon Killers (1970) Discussion > Documentary style filming (Chilling!)

Documentary style filming (Chilling!)

posted 18 years ago by bsfraser2003
4 replies | jump to latest

This minor masterpiece is in my collection as well as scene stills, and it is all the more penetratingly chilling through it's documentary style filming.
It would almost be a parallel to Hitchcock's 50mm standard lens filming!

With really no obvious dramatic close-up's or angles, it comes accross as terrifyingly real, especially the gruesome execution of th old lady, whose cries for help go unheard.

Stoller as Martha Beck is petrifying in her ice cold and emotionless performance
it somehow never leaves the memory.

[–] alfiehitchie 18 years ago

Shirley Stoller is the original Nurse Ratched in Cuckoo's Nest! Did you know that Martin Scorsese was fired as director on this film in 1968. Leonard Kastle complained that Scorsese was wasting the tiny budged, focusing on master shots of the actors and skipping the close-ups. He confessed that he was so devistated about getting the boot that he was convinced that he'd never direct another film again! Coming this June is another low-budget crime film based on another true American crime called, what else? An American Crime. Incredible movie. When I heard about it, I couldn't help thinking about this film. I urge you to see it and read the message board about it. Also check out the IMDb summary for both this film and An American Crime. Courtesy of alfiehitchie!

alfie

[–] Hoohawnaynay 18 years ago

I hope that movie is better than this one! Punching myself in the b*lls would be more fun that having to sit through this stinker again!

[–] samsan_lee 18 years ago

"I hope that movie is better than this one! Punching myself in the b*lls would be more fun that having to sit through this stinker again!"

yeah, try Lonely Hearts with John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Salma Hayak and Jared Leto. It has higher production value and has that Joseph Wambaugh-feel to it.

[–] I_donthavefb_lol 17 years ago

The lighting is extremely effective and striking, I agree. The DP seems to have used very fast film stock, apparently to compensate for the limited lighting resources available to him (on this low-budget film). With little or no fill lighting, the lighting become unbalanced in discrepant ways. The main characters are often cast into near silhouette, while the backgrounds shimmer behind them. Isolated strong light sources become overexposed, flooding many shots with a frosty incandescence that obliterates large areas of the image. I love the dissonances these effects create and the way they erode the conventional Hollywood balance of realism and expressionism.