Written for the screen & directed by Maggie Greenwald.

Starring Loretta Gross, Jackson Sims, Cathy Haase, Steve Monroe, Andrew Lee Barrett and Jorjan Fox.

Cinematography by Declan Quinn.

Grim but Worthy - Low-Life Study

Maggie Greenwald’s dark, low-budget adaptation of The Kill-Off is considered one of the finest translations of a Jim Thompson novel from page to screen. Completed in 1989 the movie documents the sleazy lowlife of an East Coast nowheresville and its inhabitants who share a common hatred of monstrous bed-ridden gossip Luane (played by Loretta Gross) who terrorizes the town with her tales and accusations. ER semi-regular Jorja Fox features as the naive junkie daughter of the local bar-owner who has half-hopes of escaping to a better existence. Claustrophobic and very slow-paced, The Kill Off makes for grim but worthy viewing.

It received a limited cinema release in New York City and was screened at the Sundance Festival. Reviews have been overwhelmingly favourable but the film remains largely unknown to most people. It was screened by Channel Four in the UK on May 13 1997. The Kill-Off marks Irish-American cinematographer Declan Quinn’s first feature.

Several novels from hack pulp-meister Jim Thompson have now been made into films including * The Grifters*, *After Dark My Sweet, The Getaway (twice!) and the French productions Coup de Torchon , based on Pop.1280 and * Serie Noire, adapted from A Hell of A Woman. Despite the additional dialogue credit, Thompson wrote the screenplay for Kubrick’s * The Killing *and had some kind of hand in adapting Paths of Glory for the same director. Increasingly frustrated and shunned by Hollywood he later wrote scripts for TV sitcoms as his career hit the skids amid chronic alcoholism and illness. He died in 1977 before his books enjoyed a publishing renaissance.

Reviews

“The locations are appropriately weathered and run-down and the photography relentlessly grim. The cast, mainly composed of New York stage actors, captures the hopeless meanness of the characters with exceptional conviction, and the score is hauntingly sleazy.” -* Movie Guide*

“For her second feature Greenwald almost gets it perfect…she revels in the laconic dialogue, vicious motivations and downbeat mood beloved by Thompson fans…As a thriller however, the movie is short of real suspense: comparison with Blood Simple highlights Greenwald’s slow pace.” - Time Out

“One of the best adaptations of the work of pulp novelist Jim Thompson this is a film whose low budget works in its favour, evoking the oppressively fatalistic atmosphere at which Thompson excelled. A must-see for fans of film noir.”

Source:

The Kill-Off was out of print for several years but Vintage Crime published a new edition in 1998. The film version has significant differences from the novel but of course its always worth checking out the original source material.

Corgi edition 1988