Stone Cold Dead

Stone Cold Dead (1979)

Runtime: 109 minutes

Directed by: George Mendeluk

Starring: Richard Crenna, Paul Williams, Linda Sorensen, Belinda Montgomery, Chuck Shamata

From: Ko-Zak Productions

Here is a random movie I saw last night; I found out about it as I sometimes do, that being on a messageboard. I explain the whole thing via my Letterboxd review posted below:

About a month ago, I found out about this movie; yes, it was via someone on a messageboard. He noted that it was showing on MGMHD one morning; I don't get the channel anymore but it's also on Amazon Instant Video so I could see it that way. I finally watched it last night. The plot revolved around sleaze (a mysterious sniper is killing prostitutes, and Richard Crenna is a loose cannon cop who not only wants to find the killer but he also wants to clean up the streets of Toronto) and what really caught my eye was that playing the role of a pimp and heroin dealer was PAUL WILLIAMS. Yes, that Paul Williams, the diminutive singer and songwriter who seemingly vanished for years due to a bad alcohol and drug problem and he worked on Daft Punk's last album. I was so amused at the thought of him playing that character, I had to give this a watch.

Overall, I'll say that this was fine. There's certainly plenty of sleaze between the killer (they use a wacky sniper rifle with a Canon camera on it so they can take pictures as they make those kills; I imagine it'd be a lot more difficult to shoot such a contraption w/ a camera weighing it down, but I probably thought more about that than the movie did), multiple ladies shooting heroin, multiple women appearing topless, shots of what was then the red light district of Toronto, and a rather uncomfortable bit with a reverend who turns out to be a pervert. But to me the highlight is Williams as the pimp and dope dealer. He's dressed as a white pimp from the 70's and with the way he acted, it was tremendous. He is part of a certain sexual act and his reaction to that greatly amused me.

As for the movie, it is slowly paced and is 109 minutes long. Yet I was always interested in the story being told, even if the lead did not make much headway at first in solving this case. He also acted like a real heel at times and was not the sensitive type, pet fish at home aside. In one scene the pimp and heroin dealer Williams came off as more sympathetic, which I thought was interesting. But otherwise I was amused at him being a loose cannon cop, even in this day and age some of it comes off as a little awkward. I heard others say that this has giallo elements and I can't disagree between the kills with the sniper and how they were dressed. The funky score from Paul Zaza was pretty rad, I say. In terms of other people in the cast, there's Belinda Montgomery in a supporting role, Linnea Quigley in the beginning, a one scene role from George Chuvalo as-shock of shocks-a boxer and a blink and you miss it role from the great Michael Ironside.

The movie isn't a must-see but I was still entertained by this obscure flick; there were some unintentional laughs and the final act was nice as we find out who the killer is and the motivation is rather interesting. I have no knowledge of the novel Sin Sniper that this was based upon (both titles are awesome, in my eyes) but I can say that this movie is at least fine.