The Killing Kind is an effective portrait of a young psycho, Terry Lambert, as played by John Savage. After two years in prison for a gang-rape he was forced to take part in, Terry returns home to the delight of his overprotective, doting mother Thelma (Ann Sothern). The young man quickly settles in, doing odd jobs around his mother's boarding house, but his true malevolent nature soon comes to light as he spies on pretty lodger Lori (Cindy Williams), kills his mother's cat, and takes revenge on those responsible for his incarceration: the girl who accused him of rape and the inept lawyer who failed to defend him.
Savage is suitably menacing as nut-job Terry, his murders utterly callous, but this is Sothern's movie, the actress putting in a wonderful performance, Thelma a strangely sympathetic character even if the terrible situation she finds herself in is of her own making: left to bring up Terry on her own, it is her loving but somewhat perverse relationship with her son that has created a monster - a manipulative young man who had way too many 'uncles' while growing up, has always had his own way (chocolate milk on tap), and who reacts to affection from the opposite sex with violence. Such is Thelma's devotion to her son, she even helps him to dispose of the body of one of his victims! In a touching final act, which sees the police called by repressed nosy neighbour Louise (Luana Anders), Thelma takes her own son's life rather than see him arrested once again.
Savage is suitably menacing as nut-job Terry, his murders utterly callous, but this is Sothern's movie, the actress putting in a wonderful performance, Thelma a strangely sympathetic character even if the terrible situation she finds herself in is of her own making: left to bring up Terry on her own, it is her loving but somewhat perverse relationship with her son that has created a monster - a manipulative young man who had way too many 'uncles' while growing up, has always had his own way (chocolate milk on tap), and who reacts to affection from the opposite sex with violence. Such is Thelma's devotion to her son, she even helps him to dispose of the body of one of his victims! In a touching final act, which sees the police called by repressed nosy neighbour Louise (Luana Anders), Thelma takes her own son's life rather than see him arrested once again.