My review was written in March 1988 after watching the movie on United Home Video cassette.
"Murder Rap" is an interesting thriller film made for home video, which could have been a whole lot better with upscale casting and more concise scripting. Austin, Texas-made opus is an okay rental title.
John Hawkes (previously seen in a very small role in "D. O. A.", also shot in Austin), is the naive hero who gets caught in a web of murder that is spun rather derivatively from several pics, notably Lawerne Kasdan's "Body Heat". He loses his job at a hamburger joint for talking back to a beautiful but uppity customer (S. Kathleen Feighny). They next meet in a nightclub where she's friendly to him, gets him a job in a record store and ultimately beds down with him.
Hawkes is soon duped into committing a murder which turns out to be revenge for a euthanasia killing shown in the film's prolog. Like "Body Heat", a girlfriend of the heroine whose identity is unclear becomes the key cog in the thriller plot line. Ultimately Hawkes fakes his own death and one-ups the heroine in the manipulation department, with pic's title referring to a hit record he creates using the sound effects involved in the murder plot and frame-up.
A fresh, unglamorized performer, Hawkes is believable and engaging in the central role, while lovely model Feighny, a Tawny Kitaen type, needs a lot more coaching on acting and ditin (her line readings sound like those of the so-called superstars of an Andy Warhol film). Coquina Dunn and particularly Sara Roucloux make good impressions as, respectively, the woman who dupes Hawkes and his friend from the record store.
Filmmaker Kliff Kuehl shows promise here, but has got to speed up the narrative flow and suppress his urge to segue into music video sequences. Tech credits are okay.
