Lady
Stay Dead
(1981)
Johnny's
comments:
You
know what I haven't done
in a while? An
Australian Classic of a
film unavailable on DVD.
Lady, Stay Dead is a
1981 thriller about
Gordon (Chard Hayward),
a gardener who is
obsessed with pop star
Marie Coleby (Deborah
Coulls). Gordon just
happens to be working on
Marie's property and he
wants to have sex with
her. Marie is about to
go away for a shoot and
her sister Jenny (Louise
Howitt) is going to stay
at her house. Except
Gordon really wants to
have sex with Marie.
But, she does not want
to, so Gordon forces
himself on her and then
when she rejects him, he
drowns her in the fish
tank. Then, the
housekeeper from across
the way comes over.
Gordon kills him. Then,
Jenny arrives and it's
just never going to end
for poor Gordon. First,
he tries being friendly
with her, then she gets
suspicious of him, so he
decides to kill her
next. Except, she's
proving harder to kill
than her sister... From
the director of some
quite sleazy films Night
of Fear, Plugg and Inn
of the Damned (all films
I must get around to
capturing at some stage)
and bizarrely, the
rather sensitive Little
Boy Lost, it comes as no
surprise that Lady, Stay
Dead begins so sleazily,
I wondered how much more
sleazy it could get.
Thankfully (or not...),
it's toned down in the
second half. It's a damn
shame this film isn't
all that good because at
times it threatens to be
a decent little
thriller, but it keeps
shooting itself in the
foot with some clunky
moments. The cop played
by Roger Ward feels like
comic relief which
pricks whatever tension
was built up. Chard
Hayward is surprisingly
good as the Norman
Bates-ish psychopath who
keeps digging himself
into a bigger and bigger
hole. If only the
clunkyness and the
sleaze were toned down,
it could've been a
contender. Ah well, the
sleaze is nice though.
As with all movies taken
from VHS, be advised
that the quality isn't a
good as DVD, although
this one came out
alright. There's a
lengthy video with the
entirety of Deborah
Coulls wearing a
see-through dress with
no underwear underneath.
She go out on the town
like that? Also, I tried
making another video
with Louise Howitt
wearing an apparently
see-through blouse,
possibly made from the
same fabric, but we
never get a good look.
Maybe a DVD or heaven
forbid, a Bluray of the
movie could tell us
more. I'm surprised this
isn't on DVD considering
Night of Fear and Inn of
the Damned are in a
double pack. And Inn of
the Damned is an
appalling film, way
worse than Lady, Stay
Dead, plenty of good
sleaze though ...
Deborah
Coulls film clips
 
Louise
Howitt film clip
 
unknown
actresses film clip
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