Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me (film)

Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me is a 1992 American comedy film starring Adrienne Shelly, Max Parrish, Andrea Naschak, and written and directed by Joel Hershman.

A raunchy screwball comedy with a romantic subplot, Hold Me follows a small-time criminal hiding from his ex-fiancée and the law in an El Monte, California trailer park, where the production was filmed.

According to The Austin Chronicle, "The strong points of Hershman's film are his wonderfully wacky story in combination with a terrific, top-notch cast whose performances easily render credible, slice-of-life images of life in the lower-class lane.

As of 2013, distribution for the film is handled by Farwest Enterprises, Inc.[2] When small-time criminal Eli (Max Parrish) accidentally shoots his heiress fiancée (Sean Young) in a forced shot-gun wedding, he flees with her fortune.

There's Sabra (Andrea Naschak) a sadistic porno star who collects Barbie dolls; her virginal younger sister Diana (Adrienne Shelly); Olga (Ania Suli) a washed out Hungarian opera singer/actress; her foul-mouthed son Laszlo (Bella Lehcozky), and two aging southern belles (Diane Ladd and her real life mother) who lust after Eli.

[6] The role of Sabra, the nymphomaniacal stripper who takes in Eli, was played by Andrea Naschak, a one-time child actress who moved on to Shakespeare festivals, and who had spent 1990 to 1992 as adult film star April Rayne.

With a budget "significantly under one million dollars," Sean Young contributed props of her own to the production, and Diane Ladd and Timothy Leary were both on set for one day each.

While The Washington Post called it a "crude and unimaginative parody of drive-in movie fare,"[5] The Austin Chronicle gave the film glowing praise, going so far as to write "Move over, John Waters and Paul Bartel.

The strong points of Hershman's film are his wonderfully wacky story in combination with a terrific, top-notch cast whose performances easily render credible, slice-of-life images of life in the lower-class lane.

"[4] A separate review stated "For all the garishness of the setting, in which tackiness reigns supreme, Hold Me largely avoids the gross characterizations that often mar self-consciously hip movies; the residents of the El Monte trailer park all reveal quirks and facets that give them a life beyond pure caricature.

Actor headshot of director Joel Hershman , who also created the scenario and wrote the script
Hershman and cinematographer Kent L. Wakeford on set in Los Angeles
Original release poster
The romance between the characters played by Adrienne Shelly and Max Parrish (pictured on set) was praised by the Los Angeles Times [ 8 ]