Killing Kind, The

Released by: Dark Sky Films
Released on: 11/20/2007
Director: Curtis Harrington
Cast: John Savage, Ann Sothern, Luana Anders, Cindy Williams
Year: 1973
Purchase From Amazon

The Movie:

Poor Terry (John Savage) is a trouble young man. After being coerced into taking part in a gang rape, he's sent to jail for a while. Upon his release he returns to the small town in California where he grew up but finds that things just don't seem to fit anymore. He heads to the home of his mother, Thelma (Ann Sothern), where she gives him a room in the boarding house that she runs. She's obviously excited to have her son back in her life and she immediately begins coddling him, treating him like a child as if he had never gone to jail in the first place.

When a foxy young woman named Lori (Cindy Williams) moves into the home, Terry stands up and takes notice though Thelma does warn her that hanging around Terry might not be in her best interest. Terry spies on her through her bedroom window without realizing that the nosey woman across the street, Louise (Luana Anders), is actually spying on him at the same time. Terry soon begins running into some of the women from his past - Tina (Sue Bernard), the young woman who sent him to jail, and Ms. Benson (Ruth Roman), his former attorney both have some interesting run-in's with the newly freed man. It soon becomes obvious, however, that Terry is not at all normal. His mother might deny it and try to cover up his actions, but how long will she be able to hide the fact that her son is not at all right in the head?

The Killing Kind is a slightly predictable but wholly effective thriller from the late Curtis Harrington. While the film is well directed and well paced, the primary reasons that it works are the excellent performances from Savage and Sothern who are perfect in their familiar roles. Sothern in particular is quite convincing and, in her own way, quite chilling as the all too attentive mother while Savage's range of emotions really convey not only the anger and frustration that Terry obviously feels but also the undeniable urges he can no longer fight and the confusion that would come with those feelings.

An interesting supporting cast also works well in favor of the film. It's fun to see Sue Bernard (probably best known for playing in Linda Faster Pussycat… Kill! Kill!) in a supporting role despite the horrible things that happen to her character and seeing a pre-American Graffiti/Lavern & Shirley Cindy Williams pop up in the picture is kind of nifty in a 'hey look at that' sort of way! Ruth Roman from Day Of The Animals is good as the lawyer and Luana Anders of Easy Rider fame as the neighbor is appropriately quirky. Worth noting is that the Louise character from The Killing Kind also shows up in The Attic (where she's played by Carrie Snodgrass rather than Luana Anders), which was directed by George Edwards rather than Curtis Harrington but which was written by Tony Crechales and George Edwards, the same team that wrote The Killing Kind.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Dark Sky Films presents The Killing Kind in its original 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio in a transfer that looks surprisingly sharp and colorful. Taken from the original negative, there is some grain and the odd speck of print damage here and there but this is otherwise a very pleasing presentation. Color reproduction is strong, detail levels are fine and there are no problems with mpeg compression artifacts or heavy edge enhancement.


The sole audio option on this disc is an English language Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono track that comes with optional English subtitles. Dialogue is clean, clear and easy to follow and there are no problems with hiss or distortion. A few scenes are a bit flat but for an older, low budget picture there's nothing to complain about here. The film sounds just fine.


The only real supplement on this disc is a length twenty-minute video interview with the late Curtis Harrington, shot shortly before he passed away in May of 2007. The jovial Harrington talks about his career in cinema, covers a few of the different films that he worked on and talks about how he got his start in the film industry. Aside from that, we get some static menus and chapter selection.

The Final Word:

A surprisingly underrated and effective thriller, The Killing Kind receives a very nice release from Dark Sky. More extras would have been welcome but at least the film looks and sounds quite good and the movie itself holds up quite well.