The suspense screws up tighter than a drum-head. The characters remain believable; we have a conflict of personalities, not stereotypes. The action coexists seamlessly with the message.

Though somewhat overplayed and coy about its destination, the film packs a helluva wallop.

This kinky game of murder and eroticism is preposterous but never boring.

The best thing this film has going for it are the outstanding performances of Pitt and Lewis as a sort of white trash Romeo and Juliet cum Henry Lee and Becky. Pitt is especially believable, so much so that he eerily captures the sociopathic persona of a real-life killer from a true-crime book: the thin, easy-going veneer that masks an evil sense of an absent conscience.

Kalifornia is disturbing, and, while it doesn't overdo the blood, neither is the violence understated.