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Poster for A Kiss Before Dying

A Kiss Before Dying

1991 · 95 min

A sleek, cold-blooded thriller that keeps you uneasy as charm curdles into menace, with a grimly satisfying payoff.

Directed by
James Dearden
Genres
Mystery, Thriller, Crime
Tagline
Loving him was easy. Trusting him was deadly.
Overview
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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Directed by
James Dearden
Genres
Mystery, Thriller, Crime
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • darkstrength 2 of 3
  • tensestrength 2 of 3
  • cynicalstrength 2 of 3
  • melancholicstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • ambition
  • deception
  • obsession
  • betrayal
  • class
Places
  • big city
  • small town
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
  • twist ending
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language mild
  • Violence strong
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action3
Horror3
Humour1
Realism7
Romance4
Tension7
Darkness7
Complexity5
Emotional weight6

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Cast

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Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
mystery, thriller, crime
Directed by
James Dearden
Written by
James Dearden
Starring
Matt Dillon, Sean Young, Max von Sydow, Diane Ladd, James Russo, Adam Horovitz, Martha Gehman, Ben Browder
Music
Howard Shore
Cinematography
Mike Southon
Runtime
95 min
Country
United Kingdom, United States of America
Languages
English

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