A Girl to Kill For

My review was written in June 1990 after watching the film on RCA/Columbia video cassette.

Aptly titled direct-to-video feature is a winner that in some bygone age would have deserved a careful theatrical push as a sleeper.

Problem is that "A Girl to Kill For" lacks the scope now necessary to escape the video trap. Specialized pleasures of this well-made thriller include its original scripting and effective thesping by a small cast.

Title character Karen Medak gets her hooks into young Sasha Jensen for a wild weekend of thrills.

Plot elements are well-laid as Medak's pranks (leading Jensen into stiffing a posh restaurant on the check and stealing a car) shift into Leopold-Loeb territory for a proposed random killing spree. Pic builds tremendous suspense as to whether Jensen will figure out in time that he's the fall guy.

Resolution ol the mystery is genuinely surprising.

Jensen plays off Medak effectively while both Alex Cord and Karen Austin shine in character roles. Robert George's script has surprising depth, injecting a Nietzchean undertone to the hedonistic youngsters' attitude toward street people and adults in general.

Tech credits are fine in a small film that would have received more exposure (and probably suffered from it) if it had it gone the big stars/big budget route.

This is a very rare movie I saw way back when (it came out on hbo or showtime) at a very late hour. The first thing you will notice (the only thing) is Karen Medak. She makes this movie watchable simply because of her presence. The movie is terribly written and directed but her acting and beauty as a seductive criminal at work makes the ride worth taking more than once. The "theme" song is also somewhat good. It's a very low budget movie, but still worth watching. Call it a guilty pleasure. We all have them. This was Karen Medak's only starring role and that is a shame. I highly recommend this movie to simply watch her in action. It is only available in VHS right now (laserdisc too! BUT who has one anymore? not me!)and you might find it hard to pick up a copy... well, anywhere. So good luck.

How do I start? I love this film! OK, now that I have got that off my chest... Unfortunately, 'A Girl to Kill For' is a very rarely seen film and the only feature that the stunning Ms Medak ever appeared in, and that is a travesty! I first saw this movie in the early nineties on one of those late night movie channels. Most of the films shown on those channels were so bad that I would fall asleep within 10 minutes of the opening credits. However, none of those films featured Karen Medak. The girl had presence, a body to die for and was not shy about showing it either. Are you sold yet? Well you should be! This film is all about its star and the only reason that you should move heaven and earth to find the long-deleted VHS. Then, maybe you too, will have seen the 'girl' to kill for -- fictionally speaking of course!