If Looks Could Kill

My review was written in December 1987 after watching the film on Republic video cassette.

"If Looks Could Kill" represents a departure for filmmaker Chuck Vincent, entering the thriller genre after specializing in comedies and dramas. Like his subsequent horror piece "Deranged", pic is interesting mainly for its structure. It debuted domestically via home video.

Using a claustrophobic technique drawing upon Hitchcock's "Rear Window" as its model, pic details the travails of the aptly named George Ringer (Tim Gail), a young man who videotapes parties and bar mitzvahs until shady lawyer Jac Devonoff (Jamie Gillis) hires him to set up a surveillance camera on the apartment of suspected embezzler Laura Williamson (played by Kim Lambert, better know as Sheri St. Claire and previously billed as Kim Kafkaloff).

Ringer becomes obsessed with this job, peeping at the beautiful woman while recording evidence of her shady doings with her love slave Carson (James Davies), a bank employee. Ringer's girlfriend Jeannie (Jeanne Marie) gets fed up with his neglect and splits, but things really go awry when Ringer finds out Devonoff is a fake and he is being set up as the fall guy in an embezzlement/murder plot. Pic concludes with several effective plot twists but a disappointing chase and police shootout.

Pic's main surprise is an effective turn by Sheri St. Claire as the mystery woman, in a role which combines some dramatic opportunities with uninhibited (within the confines of an R rating) sexuality, drawing upon St. Claire's extensive experience in Adult films. Also doing well as the villain is the ubiquitous Adult film performer Jamie Gillis (billed here as J. Gillis). Leads Tim Gail and Jeanne Marie are overshadowed by the supporting cast.