Search - Kiss Me, Kill Me on DVD

Significant Misrepresentation

Bertholt | Portland, OR | 05/04/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I thought I'd just let everyone know, that this is actually a copy of a film called Baba Yaga (1972), directed by Corrado Farina, and while it does star Caroll Baker, Umberto Lenzi, Erika Blanc and Jean Louis Trintignant are nowhere to be found. There is a release of Baba Yaga available through Blue Underground which I would recommend over this version.

The film Kiss Me Kill Me is the American title of Così Dolce... Così Perversa (1969) directed by Umberto Lenzi, a film I've not seen, but have been interested in finding ever since happening upon a CD of the beautiful Riz Otorlani score.

An amusing side note here is that I'm not even sure that this is the soundtrack to Così Dolce... Così Perversa, as I recently saw Lenzi's Seven Bloodstained Orchids (Sette Orchidee Macchiate Di Rosso-1972) which featured most of the same music on this CD. Lenzi might have simply reused Ortolani's score from a film he had made three years earlier, or perhaps the CD I purchased was mislabeled...much in the same manner as the Kiss Me Kill Me DVD. Curious.

The confusing packaging offers the proper credits for Così Dolce..., but is illustrated with still images from Baba Yaga. My guess is that the distributor is unaware of their error, and that the common denominator of Caroll Baker resulted in the confusion.


This DVD is released by Miracle Pictures. "If it's the film you asked for...it's a Miracle."

"

A creepily atmospheric Italian horror film

Daniel Jolley | Shelby, North Carolina USA | 04/10/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Italian horror movies invariably seem to have a special look, sound, and feeling of baroque creepiness that make them successful. I'm not so sure that Kiss Me, Kill Me (aka Baba Yaga, aka The Devil Witch aka Black Magic) is really that great of a movie, but its dark atmosphere makes it satisfyingly effective. Based to some degree on a dark comic strip, the movie's noticeably surreal quality is greatly enhanced by a haunting musical score as well as the use of grainy black and white pictures of events unfolding at certain critical times. Isabelle De Funes plays Valentina Rosselli, a photographer living in Milan. On her way home one night, she encounters a very strange lady who calls herself Baba Yaga (played by Carroll Baker). This stranger tells Valentina their meeting was predestined, and she quickly insinuates herself into the life of our protagonist. Baba Yaga, we quickly learn, is some type of witch, and she certainly looks the part in costume as well as appearance; her pasty complexion and almost-white eyebrows standing out in contrast to her red lipstick-coated mouth does make quite an impression. Valentina tries to go about her work, which involves photographing semi-nude women, but Baba Yaga gradually puts her under her spell. She has strange dreams; quite unusual things begin to happen when she takes pictures with a camera that Baba Yaga has fondled; a strange doll Baba Yaga gives her begins to seem like something more than a normal doll. The tension and suspense is carried along quite nicely throughout, but the conclusion falls a little short of making this film an unqualified success.This is a movie best suited for adults because it does contain a fair bit of nudity, but the sex, violence, and gore is actually rather limited. Gory and erotic are not words I would use to characterize this film at all. In fact, there is essentially no blood to speak of, and the one scene of violence is not as extreme as it might first appear. Kiss Me, Kill Me generates its horror from the atmosphere it creates, and in this endeavor it is largely successful. In one very nice scene, Valentina watches an old silent movie about a golem, but the golem connection to the doll Valentina is given may be lost on some viewers lacking a foundation in old-fashioned horror. Still, though, the doll in and of itself is creepy enough to be effective. If you don't have an interest in horror at all, there is a good chance you won't enjoy Kiss Me, Kill Me. For horror aficionados, the movie stands ready to help meet your daily requirement of creepiness, but your rations of blood and gore must be obtained elsewhere."

Bore me.

Robert Cossaboon | The happy land of Walworth, NY | 05/19/2003

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Unlike most Italian horror movies of the seventies which were notorious for some of their almost incomprehensible plot lines, this movie has a plot you could connect with the dots. This is not necessarilly saying a bad thing, but in this film's case, a simplistic plot of a lesbian witch trying to control a young woman via a doll and a cursed camera needed some bolstering through either some inspired acting or some kickbutt special effects. Sadly the dearth of both is painfully obvious in this film. To give Corrado Farina his due, however, his witch movie anticipated Argento's brilliant Suspiria by more than five years. Some of the same elements are in this film: creepy dream sequences, almost psychedelic flashbacks (and flashforwards!) and some inspired lighting in Baba Yaga's house. Isabelle De Funes is passable as Valentina, a player who is played by someone more expert-the lesbian witch, Baba Yaga. Lose the close-ups on her doe eyes, and keep her clothes on and I have to wonder how magnetic she still wouldn't have been. The hero, Arno, is so stereotypically macho that you will pray for his death half-way through the movie. The witch, played by Caroll Baker, could have stood for more fleshing out. Surely, keeping a dominatrix doll, cursing a camera, and concealing a gateway to hell on the first floor of your home begs a little insight into some motivation! Much of this problem may be due to the editing of the version I saw, which may have rendered parts of the film nearly nonsensical; like, for instance, why Baba Yaga is even bothering to waste her time on Valentina at all-it isn't for sexual reasons. The strengths of the movie are in Corrado Farina's frenzied direction. His blend of dream sequences, flashbacks and flashforwards (not to mention a very catchy title sequence!) Is the true reason to ride this movie out until the end."