It
debuted at the scrappy forty-three seat Theater of NOTE in Los Angeles, but you
would be surprised how many high schools and colleges have subsequently mounted
productions. It was exactly the sort of hardboiled film noir send-up they were
looking for. It turns out Bill Robens’ stage play is so durable, it can even be
adapted as an independent film. Danger is Charlie Nickel’s business in Darrett
Sanders’ Kill Me, Deadly (trailer here), which screens
tomorrow during the 2015 Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival.
Nickels
thought there was something funny about his new client and his judgment is sort
of vindicated when Lady Clairmont is mysteriously murdered. Naturally, there
are no shortage of suspects, including the servants she did wrong, Clive, the
man-child son she belittled, and Veronica, the daughter who makes Carmen
Sternwood in The Big Sleep look demur
and responsible. Lady Clairmont’s missing cursed diamond also suggests a potential
motive.
Rather
belatedly, Nickels takes on the Clairmont case in earnest. Fortunately, that
means his considerably more resourceful secretary Ida is also on the job. He
might not like what she turns up, particularly when he gets personally involved
with torch-singer Mona Livingston, a potential “witness.”
Brought
to the big screen by the teams behind the original stage production and the
Euro-spy spoof Scream of the Bikini, KMD has a terrifically rich film noir
look and it offers plenty of hat-tips to classics of the genre. It is also
something of a Criminal Minds reunion
featuring series stars Kirsten Vangsness as Livingston, Joe Mantegna in a small
but significant role as Bugsy Siegel (even winning him HRIFF’s pre-announced
best supporting actor award), and Shemar Moore making a cameo appearance as
Livingston’s piano accompanist. Plus, the previously recurring Dean Lemont
returns to the role of Nickels, which he originated on stage.
Although
KMD is technically a spoof film, the
entire ensemble prefers to dig into the genre for all its worth, rather than
mug for the camera and troll for cheap laughs. There is plenty of scenery
chewing, as well there should be, but Lemont plays it scrupulously straight, in
a Robert Stack kind of way. Both Vangsness and Raleigh Holmes (as Veronica
Clairmont) embrace their femme fatale-ness to the hilt, but nobody can out noir-diva
Lesley-Anne Down as the still seductive but not long for the world Lady
Fairmont. Yet, one of the more subtly shaded turns comes from Sanders, the
helmer himself (prominently featured in Bikini),
who brings a nice world-weariness to in-demand freelance enforcer Louie Shorts.
It
is clear everyone involved with KMD loves
film noir and wanted to make one just as much as they set out to satirize them.
Robens’ adaptation of his play hits all the bases. Mainly, he and the game cast
score knowing chuckles from appreciative fans, but there are some big laughs
down the stretch. Even though it was shot in a mere twenty-six days, spread out
over five years, Sanders and cinematographer Nicholas Trikonis makes it look
seamless and stylishly era-appropriate. Recommended for film noir lovers, Kill Me, Deadly screens tomorrow night
(2/13) as part of this year’s Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival.
