Love Me Deadly

Plot

Attractive Lindsay Finch (Mary Charlotte Wilcox) has a habit of dressing in mourning and attending wakes for men she never knew. When everyone else leaves, she kneels before the coffins and kisses the corpses passionately. However, at the many parties she holds at her house, she shows no interest in any of the (living) men. She is also fixated with her deceased father (Michael Pardue), frequently daydreaming about her childhood with him and putting her hair in pigtails to visit his grave.

Her friend Wade Farrow (Christopher Stone) is romantically interested in her, but she rejects his affections. Meanwhile, mortician Fred McSweeney (Timothy Scott) notices Lindsay's attendance at the wakes and, although she won't admit to her secret passion, he recognizes her as a kindred spirit. McSweeney has a Satanic coven that meets after hours in the mortuary for necrophilic orgies with the latest cadavers. At one point, McSweeney picks up a male hustler and brings him to the mortuary where McSweeney straps him down and embalms him alive by pumping him full of formaldehyde. McSweeney eventually coaxes Lindsay to join his group. When Wade follows her to the funeral home, he stumbles across one of the group preparing a body for the coming orgy, and is killed and becomes a special “guest” for the group himself.

At one of the wakes, Lindsay meets and finds herself drawn to the deceased's brother, art gallery owner Alex Martin (Lyle Waggoner). An intense romance begins, Lindsay's first real relationship. The two get married, but Lindsay can’t bring herself to consummate the marriage, and Alex is confused and frustrated by his new wife’s inability to return his affections. Alex gets suspicious and reads a registered letter to Lindsay that comes from McSweeney’s funeral parlor, leading to a disturbing twist ending.