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Nightkill
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Wikipedia article
'Nightkill' is a 1980 West German-American crime horror thriller film directed by Ted Post and starring Robert Mitchum and Jaclyn Smith.[https://archive.today/20130821042528/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/35344/Nightkill/details The New York Times] The screenplay concerns an adulteress who hatches a plot to murder her millionaire husband while her lover assumes his identity. Robert Mitchum's role is touted in NightKill's promotion and credits. Though his part in the movie is very minor with minimal screentime, and needed only for the finale plot twist.[http://allmovie.com/work/nightkill-35344 All Movie Guide]
Plot
Unhappily married to unscrupulous Arizona businessman Wendell Atwell, the beautiful Katherine has been carrying on behind his back with Steve Fulton, his assistant. Knowing that a million dollars in cash has been stashed by Wendell in an airport locker, Steve plots behind his lover's back to poison her husband, then impersonate Wendell on a flight to Washington, D.C. to make it appear he is still alive.
When police detective, Lt. Donner, turns up asking questions, claiming Wendell never turned up in Washington for a scheduled business appointment, Kathy panics and decides to move the body. But when she opens the freezer, instead of finding Wendell's corpse inside it, she finds Steve's. Kathy is constantly questioned by Lt. Donner. Later one evening, Kathy goes to take a shower while Lt. Donner fakes a phone call, just to set the possible murder of Kathy in motion. Lt. Donner shuts off the main water to the shower, with Kathy inside the shower wondering how the water stopped and now the steam turning on, Kathy is trapped inside the shower as Lt. Donner tied the doors shut. Once unconscious in the shower, Kathy's body is moved by Lt. Donner to the bathroom floor. As Lt. Donner takes the money and flees, we see Kathy on the floor calling for help on the phone as the scene fades out.
Cast
*Jaclyn Smith ... Katherine Atwell
*Robert Mitchum ... Lt. Donner/Kelly Rodriguez
*James Franciscus ... Steve Fulton
*Mike Connors ... Wendell Atwell
*Fritz Weaver ... Herbert Childs
*Sybil Danning ... Monika Childs
*Tina Menard ... Consuela
*Belinda Mayne ... Christine
*Angus Scrimm ... Desert rat (scenes deleted)
*Michael Anderson Jr. ... Lt. Donner
*Melanie MacQueen ... Alice
Release
'Nightkill' was released in the United States on television, airing on NBC as the Movie of the Week on December 18, 1980.
References
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