Legendary adult film star Gloria Leonard (who played the title role in Radley Metzger's MARASCHINO CHERRY) once famously remarked that the difference between erotica and pornography was in the lighting, a lesson clearly taken to heart by Charles Grey whose minimal early '90s output (the best of which was undoubtedly X FACTOR : THE NEXT GENERATION, a sequel to a minor Hal Freeman classic) was characterized by the imaginative use of colored gels and Bava-esquire pools of red and blue light. Another in the long line of industry one trick ponies, his style salvages this meager ROCKY HORROR take-off hardly an original idea even at the time (beaten to the punch most spectacularly by Alex de Renzy's DR. PENETRATION and Kim Christy's massively underrated SQUALOR MOTEL) by elevating it to an artistic level that this inaugural effort for then fledgling production company Sin City would otherwise not possess. A visibly limited budget barely even gets in the way.
Spoiled Samantha Strong and her long-suffering spouse Mike Horner find themselves stranded along a deserted road when their car breaks down in the middle of the night. Fortunately for them, a stretch Limo containing the mysterious Sinello ("Sin" for short, get it ?) Mentor, essayed by veteran performer Jamie Gillis with his customary professionalism, happens by. He offers to take them back to his club "Sin City" where they can call for help. Once there, they're immediately separated, sexy yet prude Samantha led down to the basement for some much needed attitude adjustment from Gillis in a peculiar encounter that has the performers teasing the hell out of each other (and the viewer) but never really touching. Horner on the other hand has to search his way through the club, encountering a whole variety of delightful deviants in his attempts to retrieve his wayward wife. He spies on then husband and wife team Jon Dough and Diedre Holland making out in the jacuzzi. A lazy lesbo liaison involving Chanel and Meekah catches fire when diminutive Napoleon joins in. Ageless sex goddess Ona Zee finally releases Mike's pent-up frustrations with her personal brand of Master Class lovemaking in an almost scholarly demonstration of the pleasurable possibilities her various orifices can provide. Seeing how most of these relatively simple set-ups yield maximum eroticism, the convoluted climax comes as a bit of a disappointment. Strong's handling of three studs is somewhat uneasily spliced together with several couplings occurring around them at the same time, the best of which might be pretty Oriental Anisa's spirited number on bulky Wayne Rogers culminating in a rather splashy facial finish fans will surely appreciate.
Limited locations and a horribly chintzy synth score illustrate that even shot on film porn was going through a slump as the '80s gave way to the next decade, but a decent cast with Strong (star of Gary Graver's superb EROTIKA) in particular looking and performing better than she usually did and Grey's sense of style actually make it worth revisiting.
Spoiled Samantha Strong and her long-suffering spouse Mike Horner find themselves stranded along a deserted road when their car breaks down in the middle of the night. Fortunately for them, a stretch Limo containing the mysterious Sinello ("Sin" for short, get it ?) Mentor, essayed by veteran performer Jamie Gillis with his customary professionalism, happens by. He offers to take them back to his club "Sin City" where they can call for help. Once there, they're immediately separated, sexy yet prude Samantha led down to the basement for some much needed attitude adjustment from Gillis in a peculiar encounter that has the performers teasing the hell out of each other (and the viewer) but never really touching. Horner on the other hand has to search his way through the club, encountering a whole variety of delightful deviants in his attempts to retrieve his wayward wife. He spies on then husband and wife team Jon Dough and Diedre Holland making out in the jacuzzi. A lazy lesbo liaison involving Chanel and Meekah catches fire when diminutive Napoleon joins in. Ageless sex goddess Ona Zee finally releases Mike's pent-up frustrations with her personal brand of Master Class lovemaking in an almost scholarly demonstration of the pleasurable possibilities her various orifices can provide. Seeing how most of these relatively simple set-ups yield maximum eroticism, the convoluted climax comes as a bit of a disappointment. Strong's handling of three studs is somewhat uneasily spliced together with several couplings occurring around them at the same time, the best of which might be pretty Oriental Anisa's spirited number on bulky Wayne Rogers culminating in a rather splashy facial finish fans will surely appreciate.
Limited locations and a horribly chintzy synth score illustrate that even shot on film porn was going through a slump as the '80s gave way to the next decade, but a decent cast with Strong (star of Gary Graver's superb EROTIKA) in particular looking and performing better than she usually did and Grey's sense of style actually make it worth revisiting.