User Reviews

After a quick and passionate few weeks of dating, Rafer (John Clarence Stewart) and Suzie (Marija Juliette Abney, Dora Milaje from the Black Panther movies) get married. At first, they like the freedom that they give one another, he for guy night and she for therapy. However, that's not the truth. Both of them have a secret that will either destroy them both or bring them together forever.

Rafer tells his wife that he works at Red Light Insurance with Travis (Christian Campbell), but the truth is that he's a killer for money, being given targets by a mysterious agency that sees all. He's worried that Suzie is cheating on him, which he seemingly confirms when he catches her making out with a man in the back alley of a bar. The truth? She's a serial killer, killing men who date rape women and cutting off the lobe of their left ear as a trophy.

Meanwhile, Detective Jane Flough (Summer Crockett Moore) and Detective Bob Reyes (Manny Perez) find that their cases are matching up as they find several bodies of men missing their lower left ear. As they get closer to Suzie -- whose revelation has bonded her closer to Rafer -- Detective Flough learns that her marriage is suffering as she keeps so much of her work from her partner.

Directed and written by Tony Glazer, A Killer Romance is one of the better Tubi originals that I've seen. There are people with actual problems in this, real feeling people in an unreal story of murder and contract killing. When Rafer keeps his life from his wife, he starts to destroy the trust that she had given him. You know, you may not be a killer and your wife might not murder men, but there are some relationship lessons that you can learn from this movie.

I also really dug Tao (Suo Liu), the philosophical agent who explains to our heroes that they have something that very few people will ever find and yet, he still must slice them to pieces. Yet because they have awakened a love for killing that has broken through the sadness and ennui he's been experiencing, he feels that he must thank them. Between that and the random serial killer artwork that pops up in the background, A Killer Romance -- originally called To Have and To Hold -- has the right quirks, as well as solid cinematography from Tiffany Armour-Tejada and even giallo-style lighting in the bar scenes, that make it break out from the pack of been there, done that movies.

I'm honored to be the first reviewer for this film, not only because it aired both theatrically AND on TUBI TV today, but because I also had a small background role in the film. More on that later. I watched it this morning on TUBI and then attended a cast and crew screening at a Regal Cinema in Fishkill, New York, just over the Hudson River from Newburgh where most of the picture was filmed. Casting bias aside, I thought this was a pretty good film with competent performances, skilled directing and neatly edited cinematography. The story concerns a short time married couple who both harbor a devastating secret at the beginning of their marriage. Rafer Bennett (John Clarence Stewart) is a contract killer, and wife Suzie (Marija Juliette Abney) kills to avenge a horrific rape years earlier. The picture can be described as a comedy murder thriller with plenty of humorous moments, many provided by Rafer and his assassin partner Travis (Christian Campbell) as they take their assignments from a vaguely defined 'Headquarters'. When tensions in the marriage erupt, Rafer and Suzie find themselves in a heated confrontation reminiscent of 2005's "Mr. And Mrs. Smith, starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. As befitting the title of the movie, the couple eventually settle their differences, but not before leaving a trail of dead bodies in their wake.

Now, as for my involvement, I'd have to say it's somewhat laughable. I play a precinct cop that's barely visible in a scene where Detectives Jane Flough (Summer Crockett Moore) and Bob Reyes (Manny Perez) discuss a murder at the hands of Suzie Bennett, though they don't know it at the time. Filmed through a station office window, I'm completely dissected by a partition from top to bottom! I only know it's me because I was there! Those police station scenes were recorded at the Umbra Sound Stages in Newburgh, New York.