Back in the late 1940s, Martha Beck was an obese, angry and lonely lady. When she met Ray Fernandez through a lonely hearts club, she became extremely dependent on him and agreed to follow him on his exploits. As for Ray, he was a con-man and made his money marrying women--after wards, he or Martha would soon murder them! They are known to have killed four people (including a 2 year-old) but estimates are this serial killing couple killed as many as 20! Not surprisingly, the story was a huge sensation when the press got involved!
About 20 years later, this film version of their exploits was made. It obviously was a very low-budget project and was shot in black & white (by 1970 hardly any films were made this way) as well as had unknown actors (some of which, such as Tony Lo Bianco and Doris Roberts, became famous later). Interestingly, the only American filmmaker I can think of still making black & white films at this point was John Waters...and I can't help but think the movie was have been AMAZING had Divine starred as Martha! Playing it for camp instead of as a straight drama would have been interesting!
So is this film any good? Well, a lot of it depends on the audience. If you are a serial killer junkie, then you have to see it. As for me, I don't particularly enjoy seeing dramatizations of serial killers' exploits as sometimes the films are incredibly graphic and may tend to glamorize these evil folks' exploits. "The Honeymoon Killers" generally is NOT very graphic, though when they use a hammer on one of their victims, I gotta admit that she was really, really annoying I was rooting for them to killer her...and quickly! The acting is better than you'd expect with a cheapo project and the film does hold your interest. Still, it is very yicky at times and is something I'd rather not see again!
By the way, the way the couple got caught was probably fiction. I read about this hellish couple and this film's ending didn't exactly jibe with police records. Quite a few of the other incidents in the film have been altered a bit to seemingly make the film more cinematic and interesting (such as never mentioning that Marth had two children before meeting Ray). The clothes and hairstyles also make the film look like this happened about 1970...but it actually was set from 1949- 51.
About 20 years later, this film version of their exploits was made. It obviously was a very low-budget project and was shot in black & white (by 1970 hardly any films were made this way) as well as had unknown actors (some of which, such as Tony Lo Bianco and Doris Roberts, became famous later). Interestingly, the only American filmmaker I can think of still making black & white films at this point was John Waters...and I can't help but think the movie was have been AMAZING had Divine starred as Martha! Playing it for camp instead of as a straight drama would have been interesting!
So is this film any good? Well, a lot of it depends on the audience. If you are a serial killer junkie, then you have to see it. As for me, I don't particularly enjoy seeing dramatizations of serial killers' exploits as sometimes the films are incredibly graphic and may tend to glamorize these evil folks' exploits. "The Honeymoon Killers" generally is NOT very graphic, though when they use a hammer on one of their victims, I gotta admit that she was really, really annoying I was rooting for them to killer her...and quickly! The acting is better than you'd expect with a cheapo project and the film does hold your interest. Still, it is very yicky at times and is something I'd rather not see again!
By the way, the way the couple got caught was probably fiction. I read about this hellish couple and this film's ending didn't exactly jibe with police records. Quite a few of the other incidents in the film have been altered a bit to seemingly make the film more cinematic and interesting (such as never mentioning that Marth had two children before meeting Ray). The clothes and hairstyles also make the film look like this happened about 1970...but it actually was set from 1949- 51.