We love a bit of Ken Russell craziness and Crimes of Passion is right up there with his most outrageous. The film is all sumptuous visuals, complex psyches and highly charged erotica, deftly blending the sleaze with strokes of horror and romance. Russell’s triumph is that Crimes of Passion manages to be both sexy and scary - but what else could you expect from a film that stars both Jessica Rabbit and Norman Bates?

Director
Ken Russell (Altered States, The Lair of the White Worm, Tommy)

Actors
Kathleen Turner (Body Heat, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Serial Mom)
John Laughlin (Footloose, The Rock, The Hills Have Eyes Part II)
Anthony Perkins (Psycho, The Trial, The Black Hole)
Bruce Davison (X-Men, X-Men 2, TV’s Harry and the Hendersons)

SHE IS WATCHED. SHE IS WORSHIPPED. AND SHE MUST REMAIN A MYSTERY.

In the early eighties, British enfant terrible Ken Russell travelled to America and placed his unorthodox imprint on a pair of US movies. The first was Altered States, so out-there its screenwriter disowned it. The second was the equally crazy Crimes of Passion, starring Kathleen Turner (Body Heat, Serial Mom) at the height of her powers.

Fashion designer Joanna Crane (Turner) leads a double life. By night she is China Blue, a prostitute who’s attracted the unwanted attention of two men. One is a sexually frustrated private detective hired by her employees. The other is psychopathic priest (played by Norman Bates himself, Anthony Perkins) in possession of a murderous sex toy.

With its outré screenplay by Barry Sandler and over the top score by Rick Wakeman, Crimes of Passion may just be the most outrageous Ken Russell film ever made and that’s quite some feat!

Crimes of Passion brings together the enfant terrible of British cinema, one of the best and sexiest actresses ever to come out of the States, and an icon of horror cinema to create a truly bonkers erotic thriller that only Ken Russell could make.

Kathleen Turner is wonderful to watch as her character, Joanna Crane, leads a double life: fashion designer by day and the prostitute, China Blue, by night. As she enacts the deepest, darkest fantasies of her clients (leaving us startled by the rather unorthodox use of a nightstick!) and becomes a figure of obssession for more than one man, the film explores the hypocrisies of its characters, exposing them in all their sleazy glory. From the hooker with a heart of gold to the unhappily married man and the psychotic priest who purchase her services, no one escapes Russell’s scrutiny.

The best bit of Crimes of Passion is the way all of the disparate elements come together. Russell’s gorgeous visuals perfectly complement Barry Sandler’s screenplay, and are in turn complemented by a delicious score from Rick Wakeman, all combining to create a darkly comic, highly erotic thriller.

“... this is in the main a comedy so black that it recaptures some of the cinema's long-lost power to shock.” - Time Out

“10 gleaming razor dildos out of 10!” - Battle Royale With Cheese

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

Brand new 2K restoration of the film from original film materials
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations of the director’s cut and unrated versions of the film
Optional subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary with director Ken Russell and producer-screenwriter Barry Sandler
Seven deleted/extended scenes with optional commentary by Sandler
Brand-new interview with Sandler recorded especially for this release
Home movie footage of Ken Russell visiting Florida for a retrospective screening of Crimes of Passion at the 2009 Florida Film Festival
Theatrical trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Twins of Evil
Illustrated booklet containing new writing by Ken Russell’s biographer, Paul Sutton, correspondence between Russell and Kathleen Turner, and an on-set interview with Russell