NICOLE KIDMAN   MATT DILLON   JOAQUIN PHOENIX   CASEY AFFLECK

WAYNE KNIGHT   and   TIM HOPPER

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TO DIE FOR

VHS - NTSC - NEW AND SEALED - USA Video Dealer Preview - Not-rated - Features a number of preview trailers before feature - 106-minutes - Colour - 1995-release - Small cardboard box

In Little Hope, New Hampshire, the beautiful and hot Suzanne Stone wants to be famous and is an aspiring TV personality. 

She marries Larry Maretto, whose father owns a restaurant, and convinces him to use this savings for the university buying a Mustang for her and a condo. 

Then she accepts to work for the local station receiving minimum wage to develop her own projects, including one with youths in a public school. 

She meets the punks Jimmy Emmett, Russel Hines and Lydia Mertz and records hours of tapes interviewing them. 

When Larry invites her to work at the restaurant in a talent show that he wants to implement, Suzanne sees a threat to her planned career and decides to get rid of her husband. 

She seduces Jimmy and convinces him that she is in love with him. 

Then she tells that Larry is a brutal man and Jimmy decides to kill him. What will happen to Larry?

A lot of people dislike To Die For. 

The film's detractors largely find fault with its tone and subject matter. It is really the epitome of black comedy, and anyone expecting either pure comedy or pure suspense will be very disappointed.

That said, To Die For deserves a place in film history as one of the sharpest satires of television and fame, ranking alongside films such as Network. Forgive the cliche, but Nicole Kidman's performance is truly a revelation - she shows talents that were clearly invisible in earlier travesties such as Far & Away and are only now beginning to resurface. 

But the real discovery in this film is the magnificent Illeana Douglass. It is scandalous that few people mention her amazing work when discussing To Die For. 

If for nothing else, the film should be seen for the work of Kidman and Douglass. (Note also that To Die For has one of Joaquin Phoenix's earliest roles.)

As other commentators here have suggested, you are not guaranteed to love this film. Nonetheless, as far as I'm concerned, it's required viewing if you're a film fan.