Originally titled Sweet Savior and later given the more
appropriately sensationalistic moniker The
Love Thrill Murders, this tacky drama/thriller essentially retells a
version of the Charles Manson story as softcore porn, with the added insult of
implying that Manson’s victims were asking for trouble by embracing a swinger
lifestyle. Former 1950s heartthrob Troy Donahue stars as Moon, leader of a
small cult mostly comprising nubile young women. After several innocuous
adventures, Moon leads his gang to a mansion in the Hollywood Hills, where the
cultists have a sex party with rich people. Then Moon orders his followers to
murder the rich people, and the killers escape justice. Suffice to say, The Love Thrill Murders is neither
shocking nor suspenseful, given the parallels to familiar real-life events.
Instead of tension, the movie offers an abundance of bad taste. The opening
scene features Moon initiating a new member via some pagan ritual that climaxes
with Moon mounting the young woman in front of his congregation. Moon does a
number on his followers’ minds by claiming that we’re all one person, so having
sex with anyone is like having sex with Moon—hence the “comic” scene of a
shapely cultist servicing a small-time dealer so he’ll give Moon a discount on
dope. Upon the arrival of Moon’s group at the party house, one of the rich
folks exclaims, “Oh, the freaks are here!” (The movie’s best line.) During the
party scene, an over-the-top gay character cross-dresses in order to seduce a
male cultist, leading to an extended conversation about sexual-reassignment
surgery. Huh? In the film’s trashy nadir, the same compliant cultist who serviced
the dealer gives an epic dance performance complete with fully nude cartwheels
and handstands—all of which complements such other party-scene vignettes as the
endless lesbian sex scene and the strange bit of a cultist licking a statue of
a cobra. If The Love Thrill Murders
was supposed to be about anything besides titillation, themes got lost in the
shuffle of amateurish acting, bargain-basement filmmaking, gratuitous nudity,
and silly Manson allusions. As for leading man Donahue, he cuts an interesting
figure with his Jesus-trip beard and long hair, but he comes across more like
the egotistical leader of a second-rate rock band than a messianic sociopath.
The Love Thrill Murders: LAME
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