Review of Kiss Me Deadly (1955) by Benny B — 21 Mar 2012

Stupendous noir. From the dramatic and startling opening to the explosive climax, 'Kiss Me Deadly' is an electrifying piece of work from Robert Aldrich that fuses artful direction with low-budget genre trappings. From the very start the plot grips us with a mystery that becomes darker, and more bizarre as the film progresses. The mysterious box or the ''Whatsit', is what everyone is after, and at any cost. Why? The film's brilliance is in keeping the audience off-balance, and visually stimulated by it's innovative and stylistic shots and sequences. It feels very French New Wave inhibited, with elements of horror.

The characters are so richly drawn, and so realistically played (most of which have their own sinister motivations), you are seduced and dragged along for the ride. The film is also remarkably sadistic and mygonistic for it's time. There's no doubt the film most likely inspired Polanski's 'Chinatown'.

This is noir at it's most nihilistic and cynical. Darkness is omnipresent.