
Despite the presence of Bela Lugosi, David Manners, and Edward Van Sloan, all veterans of Dracula (1930), The Death Kiss is not a horror flick, although Sono Art-World Wide Pictures' original art copy certainly hinted that it was. Instead we have a whodunit set in a movie studio, which is certainly interesting enough. Said studio is actually the old Tiffany Productions, which at the time had entered into partnership with Sono Art. With language-mangling Alexander Carr as the studio boss, a harried director (Van Sloan), and a glamorous but headstrong star (played by glamorous but headstrong Adrienne Ames), The Death Kiss is also a sly parody of Hollywood in general. Bela Lugosi plays it straight, however, and is of course highly suspicious.