Hollywood rip-offs are nothing new. When something is popular, there is a rush by studios to copy the formula, and inevitably run it into the ground. Films like that are reprehensible enough, as it is. Then you have schlock movies made by production companies like The Asylum, which include blatant low-budget rip-offs like “Atlantic Rim,” “Transmorphers,” “The Terminators,” and “Snakes on a Train.” But even below those “films” is a new level of shamelessness. I would like to introduce you to Robert Kovacs and “Death Kiss.”
Before we get to the new trailer that almost made me throw my laptop out of the window, a little story, first. Every day, I am inundated with email requests from studios and production companies for The Playlist to share the latest, greatest trailers. Sure, it may seem like we share quite a few each day but I assure you the number we share is nothing compared to the number we are sent. But one trailer, that we would probably not feature normally, stood out this morning.
Here’s the subject of the email (exactly as sent): “CHARLES BRONSON IS BACK IN “DEATH KISS”!!? TRAILER ARRIVES FOR OCTOBER RELEASE.”
Immediately, I was taken aback. Charles Bronson? The late-actor who made a career in the ‘70s and ‘80s playing ruthless cops and vigilantes is back from the dead? And he’s starring in a new film? Whaaaaa?
The first line in the email is “BRONSON IS BACK IN DEATH KISS.” Okay, seriously, what’s going on?
You can imagine my surprise when I see that the trailer is for a film called “Death Kiss” (sounds like “Death Wish,” get it?), and it stars someone clearly impersonating Charles Bronson, a Hungarian actor named Robert Kovacs. And the trailer is exactly what you are picturing, a rip-off of Bronson’s most famous film, complete with the lookalike dubbed to sound like the late actor. It’s bonkers.
Yes, there is something infuriating with a company clearly misleading folks into thinking that there’s some new, previously-unreleased Charles Bronson film about to be released. But honestly, I can only hate it so much. At the end of the day, good for Kovacs. Good for filmmaker Rene Perez. And good for Daniel Baldwin (who co-stars, and clearly needs the work). You trick worked. You got me.
For those interested in “Death Kiss,” here’s the trailer (and below, I’ll put the “Death Wish” trailer as a palate cleanser):
