‘Kill Me Again’ Discovers It’s Better the Second Time Around : Movies: The perseverance of film makers, and a little help from critics, has breathed new life into the low-budget thriller.

After a disastrous regional opening last fall, “Kill Me Again” was thought to be dead and nearly buried--and destined for a video afterlife. It’s only because of the perseverance of its film makers--and an assist from the critics--that “Kill Me Again” is playing again.

The resurrection of the modest, film noir- ish thriller is under way at the Mann Westwood Theater, where the first two weeks’ ticket sales topped $28,000. That’s brisk enough business to warrant additional theaters, says Barry Glasser, senior vice president of publicity for the distributing MGM/UA. And so, on Friday, “Kill Me Again” will make its way into “a yet undetermined number” of additional Los Angeles-area theaters. “We’re moving carefully. We have to,” says Glasser, stressing, “This isn’t a mainstream movie we’re talking about. It doesn’t have superstars or a science-fiction gimmick.”

What “Kill Me Again” has are blatantly familiar noir elements--including the down-on-his-luck private eye (played by Val Kilmer) and the femme fatale (played by Kilmer’s wife, Joanne Whalley-Kilmer); plus, the noir look--complete with the obligatory Venetian blinds.

The first feature for producer David W. Warfield and director John Dahl, co-writers of the project, “Kill Me Again” was filmed last spring for about $4.5 million. Propaganda Films, known for rock videos and commercials, produced in conjunction with Polygram Pictures and MGM/UA.

As it turned out, “Kill Me Again” was one of a number of small films that the once-lofty MGM/UA ultimately chose to release regionally. And so, late last October, “Kill Me Again” made its way into 220 theaters. With the exception of San Francisco, they were located primarily in the South where the ad campaign stressed the picture’s action-thriller elements.

“We died immediately,” remembers Dahl. “We didn’t even last out the week at a lot of the theaters.”

It looked as if “Kill Me Again” was going to join the myriad of titles that have had to find their audience via video. Then--appropriately--came a plot twist (plot twists, after all, are a film noir convention). Reviews began trickling in--some from cities where the movie had been pulled before the reviews even ran. To the surprise of Warfield and Dahl, most critics--including those from the trade papers, Daily Variety and the Hollywood Reporter--had given their picture a thumbs-up.

Armed with reviews from places like New Orleans, Oklahoma City and Little Rock as well as San Francisco, Warfield and Dahl went to MGM/UA to ask for a second chance.

Actor Michael Madsen, who co-stars as Whalley-Kilmer’s psycho ex-con boyfriend, also got into the act--putting in telephone calls to studio executives, including head of distribution Jack Foley.

The first week’s ticket sales in Westwood were an impressive $18,000. Week two brought in a respectable $10,000. Reviews have been equally respectable. KABC-TV’s Gary Franklin gave the film an “8” (of a possible “10”). KNBC-TV’s David Sheehan called it “a fairly classy little thriller.” The Times’ Michael Wilmington found it “easy to praise, because it’s small, cool and craftsman-like.”

The real test, however, continues to be at the box office where the competition is suddenly heating up, following a sleepy start to the film year. Ironically, MGM/UA--which hasn’t released a major movie for months--is providing some of the competition, with its release of the just-out “Stanley & Iris,” starring Jane Fonda and Robert De Niro.