STONE COLD DEAD – The Blu Review

Review by Roger Carpenter

A mysterious sniper is shooting hookers in The Big Apple and managing to take photos of them at the exact moment of death.  These photos are being sent to police, along with notes daring the police to stop the killer.  Sergeant Boyd (Richard Crenna) is a detective who has managed to alienate everyone in his life.  His obsession with police work—and with criminal mastermind Julius Kurtz (Paul Williams)—has caused his partner to quit on him and his wife to leave him.  Even his new partner, a tough-as-nails female undercover cop, doesn’t like him much.  He works night and day in pursuit of criminals, even having to create a contraption rigged to his telephone that feeds his fish when he calls his apartment.

As more girls are killed The Brass get more and more agitated which in turn increases the pressure on Boyd.  He’s convinced Kurtz is the killer. But as he continues to investigate, the few clues he discovers only serve to muddy the water.  First, there’s high-class “hostess” Monica (Linda Sorensen), who comes into contact with Boyd.  It’s clear the two are attracted to each other, but the more Boyd investigates, the less there is to like.  First, there’s the moral dilemma for a cop to become involved with someone in the prostitution racket, no matter how beautiful she may be.  Second, he discovers Monica is a heroin user.  Strike two.  Finally, he discovers she knows more about the killings than she is letting on…but how to get her to divulge her secrets?  Then there is Monica’s daughter, Olivia (Alberta Watson).  She’s a smart college girl who has a problematic relationship with her mother due to Monica’s line of work.  She also has a problematic relationship with a college professor who pursues her even though Olivia has clearly told him she has no interest in him other than platonic.  The professor is obsessed with Olivia and stalks her endlessly, breaking into her home and even threatening Monica in a bid to control Olivia.  Boyd must solve the string of crimes before more girls die.  And though he likes Kurtz for the crimes, he can’t rule out Monica, Olivia, or Olivia’s weird stalker at the college.

Stone Cold Dead (1979) is a workman-like, by-the-numbers thriller.  True, it boasts some stellar character actors (Linda Sorensen; Belinda Montgomery; Alberta Watson) as well as some real star power in Crenna and Williams.  However, the story is fairly standard and the music is overly melodramatic.  But what lifts the film above numerous other thrillers of the time is its obvious influences from Italian gialli of the time period.  For those who may not be in the know, giallo is the Italian word for yellow.  In the first half of the Twentieth Century lurid murder mystery paperbacks were printed with bright yellow covers in Italy, so giallo also became slang for these mass market paperbacks.  In the late 60’s and into the 70’s lurid murder mysteries on film became all the rage in Italy; they, too, were dubbed gialli (the plural form of giallo).  By 1979 several Italian gialli had become hits across North America, so it probably isn’t a coincidence that Stone Cold Dead seems to have borrowed heavily from some of these films.

For instance, the killer’s face is never shown until the big reveal at the end.  Instead, only black-gloved hands are shown exposing pictures in the darkroom, pulling the trigger of a gun, and spelling notes with newsprint letters.  This is one of the most common tropes in gialli.  Many gialli also feature a flamboyant character.  Paul Williams as the slimy pimp Kurtz fits that bill to a tee.  Many gialli focus on mental aberrations caused by sexual deviancy or a past traumatic event.  The theme of prostitution fits that bill.  And gialli are famous for upping the sleaze quotient, for both sex and violence.  While Stone Cold Dead never really gets terribly violent (the video cover overstates the level of sleaze by a mile), there is plenty of nudity, heavy petting, and implied sex in the film.  Though filmed in Toronto, some shots were taken on New York’s 42^nd Street as well as Toronto’s Red Light District.  Filmed in late 1978, these shots of various burlesque halls, grindhouses, and porno theaters—complete with films such as Wanda the Wicked Warden and Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Shieks—lend the film a gritty, sleazy authenticity that’s hard to ignore.

Crenna does a good job as the crusty cop with high morals but a gentle heart.  Likewise, Sorensen is the high point in the film and plays her character with a genuine sensitivity you can see in her face.  Williams is also fun to see as the colorful pimp.  Of course, Williams was always a weird dude anyhow—who can forget his performance in De Palma’s Phantom of the Paradise?    Here he isn’t given much to do but he’s such a strange persona with such an odd look, his mere appearance lends an extra shiver of creepiness to the proceedings.

Williams was already an award-winning and multi-platinum composer, songwriter, and recording artist.  He had already written hits for Three Dog Night and Karen Carpenter and had been nominated for or won several Oscars, Golden Globes, and Grammys for his musical work in films such as A Star is Born, Phantom of the Paradise, and The Muppet Movie.  Why Williams wasn’t tapped to work on the soundtrack is a mystery to me.  Perhaps the budget wouldn’t allow it or perhaps Williams was simply too busy.  Regardless, the soundtrack is not one of my favorites and features some overly melodramatic songs that don’t quite fit the film in my opinion.

With a plot twist at the end—another typical characteristic of gialli—that may or may not surprise the viewer with a “big reveal,” Stone Cold Dead is a bit of an anomaly. It has a great cast and a good enough story with some excellent vintage Skid Row footage.  There’s also plenty of stripping and nudity for the more prurient audience members.  But the film still fails to generate many thrills and chills and is simply an average film.

Kino Lorber has included several extras for this new Blu-Ray release which include a 9-minute interview with director George Mendeluk, the original theatrical trailer, several trailers for KL’s latest releases, and an audio commentary with film historians Howard S. Berger and Nathanial Thompson.  It can be purchased directly through Kino-Lorber at kinolorber.com or through Amazon.