Stone Cold Dead, A Morality Sniper Mows Down Prostitutes

We just don't talk about Richard Crenna enough!  A fabulous actor than never mailed in a role. The gritty actor is a perfect choice to portray a hard-boiled homicide detective in New York City...and today we look at him playing this role.  In a shocking film from 1979, the beautiful will die quite horribly in some ghoulish scenes...and everyone in this film is guilty...of something.  Grimy, deviant, and ominous, today's feature is the uber violent "Stone Cold Dead," directed by George Mendeluk. 

A sniper is murdering ladies of the night in The Big Apple. As our film begins, the lovely Claudia (Jennifer Dale) is taken down in mid stride. Detective Boyd (Crenna) is on the case. This is the second killing...there will be more. He's quite connected with the night life in New York. He has a relationship, professional, with the bi-sexual beauty Monica (Linda Sorensen). Monica is a whore, too.  She also knows many of the victims. Monica does not want to help Boyd.  Boyd puts a lot of heat on a big pimp/dealer in town, Kurtz (Paul Williams). He controls most of the whores. Kurtz is in love with junkie/whore Bernice (Andree Cousineau).  Bernice is also a sometimes lover of Monica.  Yep...Bernice is taken down in mid stride...heartbreaking.

Needing help, Boyd calls in undercover cop/beauty Sandy (Belinda Montgomery). She is quite the babe. She'll get into catfights and even gain the confidence of Monica. In fact, Sandy will have more luck getting into bed with Monica than Boyd has.  Now we find out that Monica has a sultry daughter, Olivia (Alberta Watson). Olivia is a college student with a bright future...and perhaps a psycho boyfriend. Uh oh, Monica may be on the killer's list...and now Boyd finds out Olivia may be in mortal danger. Kurtz gets nasty and goes on a killing spree.  More danger...Sandy's cover is blown.  Boyd better catch the killer fast or everyone will die horribly.

The ending is a shocker...and just about every beautiful woman in this film will die horribly.  Will Boyd ever get in Monica's bed?  Will Sandy gloat and antagonize Boyd about getting into Monica's bed?  Why is Olivia, who is not a whore, in danger?  This is a vicious shocker with a tour-de-force performance by Richard Crenna.  For some gritty 1970s cop drama, see "Stone Cold Dead" and be ready for a high kill count.