Private Obsession (1995 Video) User Reviews

An Exploitation Master's Sad Last Gasp

[ascheland · 4/10 · 28 July 2008]

I realize Shannon Whirry was the main draw for "Private Obsession," but it was the director, the late Lee Frost, who was my reason for seeking this title out. Frost directed some of the grittiest and meanest grindhouse movies in the 1960s ("The Defilers," "Hot Spur," "The Pick-Up") and some of the more entertaining drive-in movies of the 1970s ("Dixie Dynamite," "Black Gestapo"). Even his hardcore films (most notably "Climax of Blue Power") were a notch above the usual porno fare.

But the fast-paced narratives, brutal violence and gritty style of Frost's earlier work aren't found in "Private Obsession," his last movie. Instead, it's just another humdrum direct-to-video erotic thriller, only it's not even that good. The story--about a psychotic male chauvinist (Michael Christian) obsessed with a famous fashion model/feminist icon(!)--should have been right up Frost's alley. After all, it's just a '90s update of "The Defilers." But his heart just doesn't appear to be in it this time. Even though Whirry's character is kidnapped and held against her will, there's no real tension or suspense. The torments inflicted on her are the equivalent of a bratty little kid locking his babysitter out of the house. The script, written by Frost, often meanders, with story points that appear made up on the spot, like when Christian's character inexplicably books a trip with a gay travel agent (Rip Taylor) to the Caribbean. I don't begrudge Taylor getting work, but his scene could have -- no, make that *should* have-- been left on the cutting room floor.

If Michael Christian's name rings a bell, he was titular Eddie in the notorious "Poor Pretty Eddie." In that movie he managed to be goofy, creepy and menacing. In "Private Obsession" he's just goofy (and 25 pounds heavier) playing the role as if it were written for William Shatner at his most desperate. As for Whirry, she's OK if a bit shrill at times, but most viewers won't be concerned about her acting. Though she gets topless periodically throughout the movie, the softcore action doesn't happen until the movie's final third. It really isn't worth the wait.

It's a shame that Lee Frost's last movie was this forgettable thriller. Other than its misogynistic attitude and the director appearing in a small role as a bumbling investigator, there's really nothing that distinguishes this as having been directed by Frost at all.

Engrossing

[BlackJack_B · 11 November 2001]

Unrated version reviewed - Shannon Whirry is the soft-core world's answer to Christy Canyon. The similarities are eerie. They both have long thick reddish hair, they're both left-handed, and they both have those big natural assets, although Christy's are sadly sinking. I'd follow Shannon anywhere she'd go, and this leads to this engrossing film from 1995.

Whirry plays Emanuelle Griffith, a supermodel who is also a woman's rights leader. She just wants a 50/50 split for the two sexes in everything. A man named Richard (Michael Christian) is obsessed and repulsed by her, and this leads to him kidnapping her and holding her hostage in his house, where he tries to brainwash her with his views and to break her will by making her a prisoner, with no water, light, or food. And so, a psychological game of cat-and-mouse goes on between them, while the police tries to look for her in a ridiculously pathetic style with movie heavy Bo Swenson playing the hapless detective trying to find a lead on her; all the while Emanuelle is drinking toilet water to quench her thirst.

Whirry delivers a good performance and delivers her goods in terrific fashion, especially in a concocted escape attempt in which she seduces Richard with a striptease and lovemaking. Michael Christian is sinister, although it seems as if his voice is dubbed. Rip "Confetti Lover" Taylor makes a cameo as a travel agent who describes a trip to Tahiti like it was making love; I don't know why Richard would go on a trip when he's kidnapped someone. Not a bad film, you'll want to see this one to the end. Shannon Whirry rules.

Not Shannon Whirry at her best...

[jordison-23652 · 2/10 · 4 February 2024]

Obscene Privacy is an erotic thriller (not very) with an above average script and performances. It's practically a tour de force between the goddess Shannon Whirry and the great Michael Christian, who plays Richard. The film belongs to both of them and that's why the nude scenes are restricted to Whirry's beautiful body.

The film is longer than usual and the nude scenes are more than halfway to the end. The focus is much more on the bondage plot than on eroticism, but no one can resist a naked Shannon Whirry... that little White lingerie set of hers was to die for... oh oh oh

Shannon exhibits fine acting in addition to her always fantastic body. Though some aspects of the movie could have been better, Shannon makes it all worth while.

But her bust is at its best, as always. Not a top-of-the-line evil nude kinkfest from Shannon Whirry, but it might turn the crank of some of you. The best scene is when Whirry tries to escape and jams her huge funbags in a doggy door... They end up greasing her up, which I have always wanted to see.

Shannon plays a male-hating super-model. She's abducted by a stalker-stile obsessed fan. He attempts to brainwash her - tries to undo her hate and turn her into a sex-slave. She fights for her freedom and sanity, willing to do anything to escape. A battle of will and manipulation ensues between them.

This is enjoyable, but not worth it's cost here.

Rating: 2.7/5.

Extraordinary!

[Groverdox · 7/10 · 20 January 2019]

"Private Obsession" is another direct to video erotic thriller starring the queen of such things, Shannon Whirry. At least it wasn't directed by Gregory Dark, whose movies I was getting a bit tired of. No, this is by Lee Frost, who was a grindhouse stalwart in the sixties and seventies.

In this one, Whirry plays a world famous fashion model who is also a famous feminist.

Again, she plays a woman who has sex on camera with a man watching, but in this case it is against her will. She is abducted by an obsessed fan who also appears to be a surveillance hobbyist, whose equipment must have cost a fortune in 1995.

At first I thought that Whirry's acting wasn't as bad in this one as it has been in other movies. But when she gets abducted, she doesn't even seem worried about the situation. She's more curious about her new digs. The movie also doesn't play like this situation is all that unusual. In reality, wouldn't she worry that she might be murdered, or forced to stay in captivity for years?

Instead she curses her captor like a spoilt tourist in a French restaurant. The movie makes HER seem like the bad guy! Not, you know, the guy who ABDUCTED this young woman, and now wants to HOLD HER AGAINST HER WILL.

Unbelievable.

Apparently, some of director Lee Frost's past films had a misogynist tone, and he certainly shows that here. Whirry is introduced as a "feminist", which seems to entail her complaining about men, and is then put in her place by a man, in one scene trying to escape her cell by crawling through the doggy door.

It feels like the movie believes that Whirry's feminism - inextricably linked to her foul mouth - was aberrant behaviour, and that this obsessive criminal sociopath is doing her a favour by taking her under his wing - and into his sex dungeon - and teaching HER the proper way to behave. Um, sure, Whirry swears a lot in this movie. But she doesn't abduct anyone, nor hold them captive in a private dungeon. I'd say that's a tad worse.

To help Whirry back through the doggy door, the kidnapper gets a tub of butter to grease her up with, devoting particular attention to her breasts, which he has bared by ripping her nightshirt off. As if the situation wasn't humiliating enough.

And get this: we see the hole in the door later, and it is clearly much too small for her to ever have gotten through even only half way. She might have been able to get her head through it. That's all.

The captor turns off Whirry's water, so guess what? She considers drinking from the toilet. Yes, that's right: another stage in her humiliation is introduced.

Shannon, supposedly imprisoned in a hermetically sealed room, is actually in a room with windows. Why doesn't she just break the windows to escape? How stupid were the filmmakers, that they didn't choose a room without windows to set the movie in?

And then Whirry strips for her captor, and they have sex. This is not a spoiler - it's a softcore flick. You knew they were going to do that. Though WHY she would want to have sex with the man who abducted her is a question you probably shouldn't ponder.

The movie suggests she did this to gain the upper hand so that she can try to escape, but it certainly doesn't seem that way. Nor is there ANY attempt to make it seem like she doesn't want to have sex with this sociopath.

Whirry does, eventually, drink water from the toilet, while clips from her feminist speech are played. Oh, how the mighty have fallen? Or, look who's been put in her place, finally?

The movie then makes a belated attempt to show the silly efforts to find this poor woman, who has disappeared off the face of the earth, and is probably dead in a ditch somewhere - as far as they know. The police aren't all that interested, though - she's only a woman, and a feminist, to boot. Instead we get a private detective, and scenes of his failed investigation that play like a gag reel.

I have noticed something strange about these softcore flicks. Sure, they have a lot of nudity, and simulated sex scenes. But they rarely, if ever, show women fully naked, from head to toe. You hardly ever even see Whirry's bush. It's strange. These things are supposed to be like Playboy centrefolds come to life. Why are they reluctant to show full nudity?

I give this movie credit, though, for ending in a way I didn't expect, and for generally being ridiculous enough to be entertaining. I say check it out.

Don't Bother

[RainOnMe · 13 September 1999]

This movie wants to be thrilling, but it falls so woefully short that you wonder why they even bothered making it. Shannon Whirry's character is kidnapped within the first 10 minutes, and the first two-thirds of the movie is spent with her locked in the basement, with her captor alternately taunting her and roaming through the town, and Whirry's clothes staying ON! (Unlike so many erotic thrillers with nudity before the opening credits have ended, this one makes you wait, and wait, and wait.....) The ending comes as no surprise, making the entire affair a waste of 90 minutes. If you want to see more of Shannon Whirry, watch Lady In Waiting instead.