The Kiss (1988)

Just what I expected

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

"The Kiss" follows teenaged Amy (Meredith Salenger) whose mother has just died in a gruesome car accident. To complicate matters, her estranged aunt Felice (Joanna Pacula) arrives in town, who was separated from Amy's mother during their childhood in the Belgian Congo. Little does Amy know, Aunt Felice is under the thumb of an ancient curse, one which must be passed on to Amy before Felice's vessel disintegrates.I won't attempt to make "The Kiss" sound like something it's not—it is an absolutely absurd romp that stirs all of the '80s horror fixings into a melding pot and serves up a ragbag medley of witchcraft, African magic, mysterious talismans, and monster parasites passed on from mouth-to- mouth. Oh, and did I mention a therianthropic rabid cat?Derivative and impossible to take seriously, "The Kiss" is still a fantastic film in that it makes the most of all of its derivative elements, and has plenty of fun doing it. In some ways, it is a feminine answer to "Fright Night," and actually makes an intertextual reference to that very film. It evokes the small-town atmosphere which is ripe for teenaged terror, and the weird ancestral/incestuous undercurrents in the film are grotesque and utterly bizarre. The special effects team behind this is something of a technical powerhouse, having done the work for "Gremlins" among other things, and while some of the effects are dated (the cat, for example, is just ridiculous), there are also some impressive and legitimately gruesome effects that supersede the sillier ones.The film follows a familiar narrative trajectory that was seen before and would be seen again, especially in writer Stephen Volk's followup script, "The Guardian" (1990) which ended up being directed by William Friedkin two years later. There are some loose threads in the film (we, for example, are provided no significant followup to the recovery of Amy's friend Heather after she is nearly mangled to death by an escalator), but there is significant suspense in spite of some sloppy technicalities. Joanna Pacula is fantastically evil in the film, and Meredith Salenger plays your everyday likable teenage girl very well.Overall, I found "The Kiss" to be sublime, even in its most absurd of quandaries. It essentially epitomizes the entire landscape of '80s horror films, specifically the supernatural thrillers, and is undeniably fun. It offers solid performances, some fantastically gross (and other times hilariously bad) special effects, and a poolside finale that is perhaps one of the most thematically and aesthetically chaotic things I've ever seen. 8/10.

****SPOILERS**** Hard to phantom horror movie with the wild eyed and zombie like looking Felice Dunbar in that she seems to make no sense at all with this curse punt on her, as a little girl, by her possessed by the devil Aunt Irene when she was traveling by rail out of the Belgian Congo to settle back home in Europe. It's now 25 years later with Felice fully grown and a top fashion model coming to Albany New York to see her long separated sister Hilary Halloran to continue the devil's contract, through the kiss that she received back in the Congo, with her niece Amy Hilary's 15 year old, and all filled out, daughter. Before the two sisters can meet Hilary ends up getting killed in a spectacular car accident that seems to have been orchestrated, through some kind of mombo-jumbo like blood ritual, by her sister Felice. In fact Felice seems to put the whammy on a number of Amy's friends who suspects that there's something that's not all that kosher about her.We get to see Amy who's got the body of a Greek Goddess, but the brains of a a Dodo Bird, always finding time to get herself wet by jumping in the family swimming pool at every occasion even taking nightly skinny dips in it. It's when Felice is finally discovered by Amy's good friend and surrogate mom Heather things have by then gotten completely out of control with Felice who's having an affair with Amy's dad Jack Holloran being exposed as a combination walking dead zombie and blood sucking vampire rolled into one.****SPOILERS**** Determined to keep her blood line, whatever that is, active Falice tries to give Amy a kiss that would turn her into the monster that she is before she turns, since she's dead already, to dust. There's also this Tasmanian Devil like critter, mistaken by everyone to be a feral black cat, that pops up every now and then who's reason for being in the movie is never really explained. But it, the critter, adds to the shock and excitement in the film just by being in it. In the end Poppa Jack Harrolan finally wakes up and smells the coffee and realizes that Felice is no good and in his attempt to keep her from turning his what seems like, in not knowing what's going on, clueless daughter Amy into a zombie by kissing her that he puts an end to Felice and her plans to keep her bloodline continuing. That's by finishing her off in one of the most explosive movie finals since that of the movie "Jaws" back in 1975.

Amy (Meredith Salenger) finds her world turned upside down when her mother is killed in a freak accident. Soon her mother's estranged sister, fashion model Felice (Joanna Pacula), has moved in and begins working her way into the family, starting by seducing dad Jack (Nicholas Kilbertus). Naturally she has ulterior motives as she wants to pass on an ancient African curse via a slimy demon that must be passed from mouth-to-mouth. This Canadian chiller came out during a seemingly endless supply of evil demon women flicks (THE UNHOLY, NIGHT ANGEL, SPELLBINDER, THE GUARDIAN, SATAN'S PRINCESS) and does alright for what it is. You're not going to get a horror classic, but you do get bloody killings, a pulsating medical dummy, a drooling demon cat and Pacula performing rituals naked. The end is particularly over-the-top with the big showdown in the family's pool, complete with hedge trimmer stabbing and a barbecue propane tank flamethrower (only in the movies). Tri-Star barely released this in theaters in October 1988 in the United States, which is odd as they funded a special trailer for it that features a minute or so of "trailer only" footage.

This movie is about an evil enity passed down from generation to generation in an unfortunate family. It's an evil snake-like creature that controls the body ( if you've seen Jason Goes To Hell, it's similar to that ). The movie opens with two young sisters in Africa. One is leaving to Europe with her Aunt. During the ride, the Aunt passes the creature into her niece's body through a "kiss". 25 years later, the other sister has a husband and daughter named Amy ( Meredith Salenger from The Journey Of Natty Gan, and most recently Lake Placid ) who live in New York. The mother dies in an accident, and 5 months later the sister, Felice ( Joanna Pacula )shows up. Now Amy most protect herself before it's to late because Aunt Felice wants to give her a deadly kiss. It's better than it sounds. Meredith Salenger and Mimi Kuzyk ( she plays a friend of the family ) are very likeable in there roles and Joanna Pacula is good at being creepy. Favorite line : Amy : " I want some fritos, I want a f**kin' diet coke " ( after her Aunt has given her all this " healthy food " crap ).