The Honeymoon Killers (1969)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Honeymoon Killers (1969) – L. Kastle

It seems almost camp at the start and one could easily imagine Divine as nurse turned serial killer Martha Beck (played bluntly by Shirley Stoler). Tony Lo Bianco is smarmy, sleazy, naïve, and more-or-less perfect as Ray Fernandez, the con man who preys on “lonelyhearts” for their money.  As shot by Leonard Kastle (after Martin Scorsese was fired), this “true crime” film is purposefully unpolished, shot in cinema verite styled black and white, not beautiful to look at, but in ordinary locations (like a  grandmother’s cheaply furnished apartment).  So, this viewer was quite taken aback at the first brutal murder, which unfolds clumsily and naturally, as you suspect it really may have, with the interpersonal dynamics between the two killers and the victim embarrassingly personal.  The second murder is even more brutal and suddenly nothing is funny anymore.  This is horror of truly unsettling proportions.  One remembers the film was made in 1969 and not the late ‘40s (when it took place).  Criterion’s DVD offers pictures of the real protagonists and the electric chair at Sing Sing where they were ultimately executed.