Tattoo (1981) on Netflix
R19811h 43mDramaHorrorThriller
Karl Kinsky, a tattoo artist, is hired to paint temporary tattoos on swimsuit models for a fashion shoot. He grows obsessed with Maddy, one of the models, who has a boyfriend.
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- Netflix2.1/5
- IMDb5.3/10983 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes29%
Trailer
Plot summary
Karl Kinsky served in the United States military in Tokyo, where he had his arms and back tattooed, and now runs a tattoo shop in Hoboken, New Jersey. He refuses to work on two teenage girls. His sister Doris telephones with news that their father has died, and at the funeral in Ocean City she asks him to sell their parents' house. Sandra Benson, from New Fashion magazine, hires him to paint temporary tattoos on swimsuit models for a photo shoot, and Karl designs a different tattoo for each woman, among them Maddy, who arrives late and admires his arm tattoos. After the shoot he overhears her arguing with her boyfriend Buddy, a musician, and she asks Karl to dinner. At the restaurant he orders for her and drives off her drunken acquaintance Albert. She tells him he frightens her.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Tattoo (1981)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Feminist group Women Against Pornography protested Tattoo for allegedly equating violence with love, and defaced its subway advertisements over a poster showing a nude, tattooed woman bound at the ankle; producer Joseph E. Levine reportedly welcomed the free publicity.
- Producer Joseph E. Levine cut the film without telling director Bob Brooks, who fired back an angry letter accusing Levine of prioritizing the opinions of "assholes in Los Angeles".
- Tattoo was the last feature film produced by Joseph E. Levine, marking the end of the producer's feature-film career.
- Singer Siouxsie Sioux wrote the lyrics of Siouxsie and the Banshees' 1983 song "Tattoo" just after watching the film.
