Love Me Deadly

Love Me Deadly

Year: 1972

Runtime: 95 mins

Language: English

Director: Jacques Lacerte

DramaHorrorIntense violence and sexual transgressionGory gruesome and slasher horrorGothic and eerie haunting horror

A haunted young socialite battles an insatiable necrophilic hunger, torn between the tender affection she feels for a compassionate businessman and the dark liaison with a mortician who provides her with fresh corpses. The film explores her macabre cravings and conflicted love.

Warning: spoilers below!

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Timeline & Setting – Love Me Deadly (1972)

Explore the full timeline and setting of Love Me Deadly (1972). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

early 1970s

Set in the early 1970s Los Angeles milieu, the film reflects a period of shifting social mores and occult curiosities. The era's urban glamour contrasts with a growing fascination with taboo desires and subcultures. The characters' relationships unfold against a backdrop of evening gatherings, funerary rituals, and fashionable salons that define the period's mood.

Location

Los Angeles, Mortuary/Funeral Parlor, Cemetery, Alex's country home

The story is anchored in modern-day Los Angeles, where Lindsay navigates an affluent social circle and hosts lavish wakes at her house. Key scenes unfold in a mortuary that houses a Satanic coven and necrophilic rites, making the building a dark epicenter of the plot. A cemetery visit to her father's grave and a country-dinner setting at Alex Martin's family home punctuate the couple's romance and Lindsay's traumatic past.

🎭 High society 🏙️ City life 🕰️ 1970s

Last Updated: October 05, 2025 at 08:28

Main Characters – Love Me Deadly (1972)

Meet the key characters of Love Me Deadly (1972), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Lindsay Finch (Mary Charlotte Wilcox)

Lindsay is a young Los Angeles heiress who dresses in mourning and attends wakes for men she never knew. Her charm conceals a disturbing fixation on death and her deceased father, around whom she builds a childlike fantasy. Her marriage to Alex brings genuine emotion but she cannot fully commit, and she becomes entangled in Fred's necrophilic underworld before choosing to confront him.

🎭 Heiress 🧭 Obsession 💀 Death

Wade Farrow (Christopher Stone)

Wade is Lindsay's friend who is romantically interested in her but is repeatedly rebuffed. He follows Lindsay to the mortuary, where he discovers the cult’s activities and is killed before the group can expose him to Lindsay. He represents the movie's doomed—but yearning—romantic impulse.

💘 Unrequited love 🧭 Loyal friend 🕯️ Danger

Fred McSweeney (Timothy Scott)

Fred is a mortician who leads a Satanic coven conducting necrophilic rites after hours. He manipulates Lindsay into joining the group and commits violence, including the murder of Alex. He is eventually slain by Lindsay in a climactic struggle.

🔪 Predator 😈 Cult Leader 🕯️ Manipulator

Alex Martin (Lyle Waggoner)

Alex is an art gallery owner who falls in love with Lindsay and marries her, only to become suspicious of her strange behavior. His desire for normalcy clashes with Lindsay's fixation, and he discovers the mortuary cult before being murdered by Fred. His romance with Lindsay ends in tragedy.

🎨 Art 🕵️‍♂️ Suspicion 💔 Romance

Lindsay’s Father (Michael Pardue)

Lindsay’s childhood is marked by an intense attachment to her father; she would visit his grave daily and even deceive herself into ritual-like visits. In her youth, she accidentally shot her father, an event that left a lasting scar and feeds her fixation with death throughout the film.

👨 Father 💔 Tragedy 🕰️ Memory

Last Updated: October 05, 2025 at 08:28

Major Themes – Love Me Deadly (1972)

Explore the central themes of Love Me Deadly (1972), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

🪦 Death Obsession

Lindsay's fixation on death is introduced through her mourning outfits and frequent wakes for men she never knew. Her secret attraction to corpses and the cemetery routine blur lines between longing and revulsion. The necrophilic cult led by Fred intensifies this fixation, making death a substitute for genuine intimacy and affection.

💔 Forbidden Romance

Lindsay's relationships are marked by instability and secrecy, from her rejection of Wade to her intense, unconventional bond with Alex. Her inability to consummate her marriage with Alex becomes a source of frustration and danger. The romance is tested by fear, manipulation, and the shadow of Lindsay's past, culminating in a fatal confrontation between love and murder.

🕷️ Cult and Control

Fred's mortuary coven exerts mastery over Lindsay and others, exposing her vulnerability to manipulation and coercion. The cult normalizes necrophilia and uses secrecy to mask its predatory acts, ultimately leading to violence when confronted by Alex. The clash between individual desires and coercive power drives the film toward a shocking, deadly resolution.

Last Updated: October 05, 2025 at 08:28

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Love Me Deadly Summary

Read a complete plot summary of Love Me Deadly, including all key story points, character arcs, and turning points. This in-depth recap is ideal for understanding the narrative structure or reviewing what happened in the movie.

Love Me Deadly Summary

Love Me Deadly Timeline

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Love Me Deadly Timeline

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