"You have lovely feet."
What is the Work?[]
Based on the 1995 James Patterson novel of the same name, Kiss the Girls is a 1997 thriller film centering on Alex Cross as he attempts to rescue his niece from the clutches of infamous serial killer/rapist Casanova. The fiend is known for kidnapping beautiful women and keeping them in his lair, and raping them. Anyone who breaks the rules will either die of lethal injection or be tied to a tree in the woods and left to die. After one of Casanova's victims, Kate McTiernon escapes, Alex is able to track down not only Casanova but his accomplice, The Gentleman Caller, to his lair, where he keeps his victims. Alex manages to kill Rudolph and then Casanova (later revealed to be Det. Nick Ruskin) once the latter tracks down Kate to her house in a failed attempt to kill her.
Who is He? What Has He Done?[]
Will Rudolph, also known as the Gentleman Caller, is an infamous serial killer who has been collaborating with Casanova in raping and killing young, beautiful women (one of which we know was a homecoming queen, mind you). Unlike Casanova, however, Rudolph is way more direct in his killings. He sometimes kidnaps them and chains them to the walls of his apartment, rapes and kills them, and keeps their body parts as trophies. Will is also a plastic surgeon, and supplies Casanova with the drugs needed to sedate his victims with. When Alex and his gang manage to track him down to his cabin as he tries to take one of his victims, his victim is saved, but Rudolph escapes out of his cabin and shoots one of Alex's men, Henry, to death. When Alex has his gun at him, Rudolph merely rams into Cross with his car and injures him before escaping. Cross and the police find Rudolph's freezer, where he keeps the victims' body parts, as well as newspaper clippings and pictures of his victims. Rudolph also leaves a paper clipping of a doctor behind to trick them into thinking he's Casanova, but this proves unsuccessful.
Will invades Casanova's lair and makes Naomi play for him and his victims. Once the Great Lover arrives, Rudolph and Casanova argue over who is worst at keeping the police away. Rudolph tries to make Naomi play one last time, and he molests her just to taunt Casanova over his lack of control over her. Casanova threatens him by shooting at him, and Rudolph tries to manipulate the latter into believing that he would be nowhere without him. Their argument is interrupted by Cross and the police, who break into the lair. Rudolph and Ruskin escape to the woods, where they shoot at Alex, however, the detective manages to fatally shoot Will down and asks him for Casanova's identity, but the psycho just taunts Cross over how he'll never find him before he dies.
Mitigating Factors.[]
You see, unlike the novel, where Will and Nick are shown to actually care for each other, no such connection is made clear in the film. While they do exchange photos of their victims over the internet, and Rudolph tries to divert the police away from him, nothing about this suggests that he cares for him. You have to remember that Casanova has made clear that he continues to "[clean] up [his] slop" (seriously, f-ck that guy, just ewww), which to me implies that he helps Will get away with his crimes, so keeping Casanova out of jail is beneficial to him. I mean, sure, he tries to convince Casanova that he would be "alone" without him, but this is more to boost his ego since they were making jabs at each other over their competence, and Casanova threatened to kill him earlier, so he's trying to make himself seem useful. It's clear neither of them cares for each other, which is made clear when Will invades his lair against his wishes and taunts him over his lack of control over Naomi. While he is shown to be prone to violent outbursts where he talks to himself, nothing suggests he suffers from moral agency issues. He knows how to manipulate people, and he does his damnest to make sure he doesn't get caught by authorities.
Some people may argue that Will suffers too much from offscreen villainy. I...could not disagree more. We see the freezer where he kept his victims' body parts, even if we don't see the parts themselves, and a whole wall with pictures of his victims next to a wall of Casanova's victims because he likes to compare their killings, and the number is HIGH! Plus, when the police investigate his whereabouts further, we see chains hanging on his wall from where he kept his victims hostage. Plus, we literally see him shoot a detective to death on screen in his effort to escape, as well as his attempt on another victim in the same scene. Plus, we see the aftermath of Casanova's own victims after exposure, which, need I remind you, is made possible by Rudolph supplying him with the drugs used to sedate his victims. So not only does he have a high body count on his own he also aids Casanova in gaining his. Once more, he refuses to give away Casanova's identity, but we don't know if this is to protect Casanova or just to taunt Alex. However, there's a lot more evidence for the latter case; as I said, they don't really get along.
Heinous Standards[]
He easily passes the heinous standards. None of the bad guys in the film's sequel, Along Came A Spider, come close. Let's compare their evil acts shall we?
Gary Soneji-Two murders, one kidnapping of a child followed by an attempted kidnapping of another child and attempted murder of the protagonist.
Jezzie Flannigan-One murder, one attempted murder of a child and the protagonist.
Ben Devine-One kidnapping and attempted murder of a child.
Casanova and Gentleman Caller EASILY set the heinous standard for having the highest kill count and the most brutal of killings, including teenage girls. Now, for anyone who is wondering, no, Will is not just Casanova's sidekick. It's made clear that both of them have their own schtick and do what they do to compete and compare their own individual killings. Neither one made the other into who they are. Neither one is following orders from the other. They each act according to their own schemes and aid each other when it benefits them. And like I said before, Will Rudolph easily meets the heinous standards with Casanova not just for having an equally high body count but also for aiding him in weakening his victims to make them easier to overpower, some to the point of dying by lethal injection.
Conclusion?[]
I say this sick f-ck qualifies.