Alex da Silva This is the true story of Ray Fernandez and Martha Beck who were dubbed "the lonely hearts killers" in the 1940s and were electrocuted in Sing Sing as a result in 1951. They are portrayed by Tony Lo Bianco and Shirley Stoler who give convincing performances.Outside of the two main characters, everyone else is pretty annoying. The women all seem like slightly stupid nagging types and the film is slow to begin - the women really do grate during this period. The sound quality is also poor throughout the film. However, once the couple get together and do their thing, we have a chilling film. It stays with you.

seymourblack-1 This movie is a real one-off because, not only was it Leonard Kastle's only foray into directing but also its styles of storytelling and presentation were quite unique and largely responsible for it achieving its cult status. The fact-based story of a couple of ruthless con-artists who add murder to their modus operandi, is told in a remarkably detached, objective and non-judgemental style that also avoids either glamorising the criminals or providing any justification for their actions. The resulting coldness and grittiness that this creates is perfectly complemented by the movie's grainy black and white photography and together they contribute strongly to the extremely realistic look of everything that happens on-screen.Martha Beck (Shirley Stoler) is a lonely, overweight, nurse who works at her local hospital in Mobile, Alabama and is generally unpleasant to everyone he meets. After her best friend signs her up to a lonely hearts club, she gets involved in correspondence with Ray Fernandez (Tony Lo Bianco), a Spanish-American who lives in New York City and this leads to him visiting her at her home where she lives with her invalid mother. During his visit, he seduces her and borrows money but after returning to New York City, promptly writes back to end their relationship. Martha isn't prepared to accept this and so, with the help of her friend, convinces Ray that she'd been so devastated by the contents of his letter that she'd attempted suicide. In the circumstances, Ray agrees to her travelling to see him at his home and it's there that she learns that he's a con-man who makes his way in the world by romancing lonely spinsters and widows before stealing their money.Unfazed by Ray's revelation, Martha places her mother in an old people's home and then, posing as his sister, becomes his regular partner-in-crime. Their love affair continues despite the nature of Ray's work but when he marries one of the ladies as part of a scam and she becomes too amorous, Martha's jealousy becomes so intense that she kills the woman by giving her an overdose of sleeping tablets and this becomes the first of a series of murders that the couple commit before their criminal exploits are eventually brought to an end by actions that Martha takes after discovering the full extent of Ray's infidelity.The real-life crimes that provided the basis for this disturbing drama were carried out in the 1940s and a noticeable feature of this film is that the criminal couple never seem to have anyone on their tails and never get involved in any shoot-outs or chases. They simply seem to carry on what they're doing totally untroubled by the police and ultimately become the architects of their own downfalls. The loneliness, desperation and gullibility of the couple's victims add a certain poignancy to what transpires and the gruesome nature of the murders (including that of a child) is profoundly shocking.Considering the movie's incredibly low budget, it's remarkable how effective the final product was and the performances of the actors playing the main protagonists clearly played a huge part in this. Tony Lo Bianco is exceptional as the sociopathic swindler whose slimy charm is such an important part of his success and Shirley Stoler is unforgettable as his bitter, deeply unpleasant and evil partner whose jealousy ensured that she would never find happiness or peace of mind.

BA_Harrison True-life serial killer flick The Honeymoon Killers takes a long time to live up to its claim as a shocking cult classic, spending more time on the killers' unusual love affair than the actual murders; thankfully, when it eventually gets around to depicting the violence, it doesn't disappoint—for a film shot in 1969, the killings are extremely uncomfortable viewing.The film is based on real life killers Martha Beck and Ray Fernandez, an insecure, overweight nurse (played by Shirley Stoler) and a gigolo con-man (Tony Lo Bianco) who fall in love after meeting via a lonely hearts club; posing as brother and sister, the pair trick lonely desperate women out of their savings, but turn to murder whenever their plans go awry.Shot in a lo-fi, docudrama style (no doubt as a result of the very low budget), The Honeymoon Killers is rough around the edges, the pacing is often sluggish, and the dialogue dreary, but the film still achieves a certain sordid appeal thanks to its sickening subject matter and memorably nasty murder scenes, which include a callous hammer attack/strangulation and the drowning of a child.

mgrajam1-1 I loved this movie not only for how it was filmed in b/w but for this terrific cast. A young Tony Lo Bianco stole this movie from the rest of this excellent cast! Mr. Lo Bianco is the most memorable actor for my money and was perfectly casted. I would highly suggest viewing this film and I know you will enjoy it as we did here. I understand that there were a couple of big name directors fired early on in filming this movie mainly because the way they were using only master shots without close ups and or back up takes. I think this was Tony Lo Bianco's first film as I had only seen him acting on stage prior to this film. He always delivered a solid performance in the stage roles that I saw him in but this performance on film surely has to be the reason I started seeing him in more films after Honeymoon Killers. I'll never forget his role as "Sal Boca" in the great film "The French Connection" - if it were up to me he'd have won best supporting actor for that film. But here in Honeymoon Killers, he gets a chance to carry a film on his shoulders and carry it he does - in grand fashion of those great old actors of the B/W film days. I sincerely recommend this film to all film buffs or to anyone who likes a good story, a people picture, not a bunch of special effects, but a real story so well acted by all.