A documentary on one of the hallmarks of the early home video era — the erotic thriller — has been acquired by Yellow Veil Pictures ahead of its world premiere at the Overlook Film Festival in New Orleans, which opens March 30.
We Kill for Love — written, produced and directed by Anthony Penta — is slated for domestic release later this year, with an international sales launch at the upcoming Marche Du Film in May.
The film also will get a DVD and Blu-ray Disc release later in the year.
We Kill For Love chronicles the birth and development of the erotic thriller genre, which soared to popularity in the early 1990s and revitalized the videocassette rental business prior to the launch of DVD. Erotic thrillers combined bodily pleasure with danger, and while some films, such as 1987’s Fatal Attraction and 1991’s Basic Instinct, were box office successes, most erotic thrillers were produced and released exclusively to the home video market by such companies as Prism Entertainment and Academy Home Entertainment.
“We Kill for Love is part film essay, part documentary, and part casefile,” Penta said. “It’s a record of my prolonged investigation into a forgotten but once lucrative film movement — the direct-to-video erotic thriller — as well as a fantasia on its themes. For six years I tracked down the prime suspects of these films and I recorded their stories. I travelled the country to interview the academics and film writers whose books and articles explored its mysteries. I’m very happy to be partnering with Yellow Veil Pictures on the release of this film, and I’m sure it will serve as a permanent monument to not only a lost film subgenre, but a bygone era of American cinema.”
Joe Yanick, co-founder of Yellow Veil Pictures, added, “We Kill For Love is a home run for erotic thriller fans. It’s one of the most in-depth looks at genre cinema and serves as more than just a love letter but pushes the conversation and spotlights films that have often lost out to their more glamorous theatrical counterparts.”
The film stars filmmakers Andrew Stevens, Jim Wynorski, and Fred Olen Ray; film stars Monique Parent, Amy Lindsay, and Kira Reed Lorsch; film scholars Linda Ruth Williams and Abbey Bender; and others. Media Play News publisher and editorial director Thomas K. Arnold also was interviewed for the film.