Body of Influence: No Sexiness, only Cheap Thrills
These people who make all of
these sex thrillers that fill the so-called erotic section of the video store
have some severe problems. Most of these movies apparently always
have something to do with a sensual and dangerous woman who snares yet another
man (usually the “hero”) into her trap, has lots and lots and lots of steamy
sex with that man, before getting his life in danger. Usually some
depraved sexuality is thrown into the mix so as to make the atmosphere even
more dangerous. Really gives you a lot of hope for the future of romantic
relationships, doesn’t it? Granted, people who actually rent
these things have some severe problems of their own; if they consider mindless
sex on-screen some form of entertainment, are these people lacking something…………..but
if I were to go further, than I’d be implicating myself now, would I???
But seriously, doesn’t it tell you something if most of
these soft-core films have evil at their core (evil-core?), instead of something
beautiful, sexy, or just silly? Obviously, these filmmakers really
think sex is unclean, and are ashamed that they enjoy it, so by making a
movie where the sexy people are really bad, the filmmakers can have their
cake and eat it too. Body of Influence 2 is one example of this.
The lead character, a psychiatrist, is still getting over an experience with
a patient who had herself killed in a sex crime, which he witnessed while
breaking the bonds of his profession to actually attempt to genuinely save
her from her problems. He gets a new patient, a woman who claims
to be having erotic nightmares, in which she feels threatened after waking
up. She also claims that somebody is out to kill her, maybe her husband.
No points for guessing that she has some other dark secrets up her sleeve,
and that the psychiatrist oversteps his boundaries once again, this time
to sleep with this woman.
Well, is this movie sexy? Not really. Actually,
I think this was the R rated version, because the sex scenes are very short.
One is obviously cut, as the music jumps from a fast (during sex) to slow
(post-coital) tempo without any musical logic, while the sex scene never
even got going. I will say, however, that Jodie Fisher does look
good in black leather; then again, black and red are my favourite colours,
at least when it comes to women’s choices in clothing! As well, some
of the other sexual content takes place in a S&M club, and I don’t find
whipping and pain exactly my idea of a good time.
The storyline itself isn’t sexy, either. What is
so titillating about a movie which hinges on fatal sex crimes, psychological
problems, manipulation, and threats? It’s obvious that the makers of
this movie wanted to make a sexy movie, not a gripping thriller, so why didn’t
they just make it a silly story about a psychiatrist fooling around with
his patient, instead of putting in all this killing and sick stuff, as if
that’s supposed to make it sexier? What sort of mindset do these filmmakers
have? Do they like sex? Do they like women? The women in
this movie are either bad, dead, or underdeveloped. And the psych’s
brother, a PI who spends his time messing around with many women, is the
moral centre -- he says he knows two indisputable facts about women, which
can be paraphrased as that they are completely manipulative, and, nevertheless,
are quite handy and desirable if you want to get laid.
If you want to rent a silly sex movie, maybe it would
be better if you rented something like
Temptations, which stars soft-core favourites Monique Parent and Lauren Hays, in
a cute trifle of a story where everybody has sex (a whole lot more than in
Body of Influence 2!), but still remains good friends in the end. It’s
a dumb movie, but charming in its effort to actually make a sexy movie that
appeals to normal, healthy mindsets of both sexes. Most erotic movies,
however, are more into shocking us with taboos than turning you on, which
is also why hard-core pornographic movies (the very few that I’ve ever witnessed)
are, for the most part, thoroughly disgusting.
I will admit that there are a few interesting psychological
aspects in this film, but I can’t say too much without revealing completely
the entire plot. This movie is far more credible than
Night Shade, a really bad erotic thriller with a lame attempt at a supernatural/crime
story. At least this movie tries to create a bit of suspense
involving the credibility of the distressed woman, even if the facts are
familiar from many other crime stories. The acting is pretty
bland (the psychiatrist sounds like a boring announcer from some cheap finance
commercial), and the presentation is low-budget in the style of a cable movie.
I’m giving the film two stars because it is a serviceable low-grade thriller.
Still, I’m a little unhappy that this film wasn’t as sexy and fun as it could
have been. Like I said, if they dropped the whole sex crime thing,
and just focused on the fooling around, I wouldn’t have felt as unclean as
the filmmakers must have when they conceived the project.
Rating: **
Discuss the film itself or the subject matter of the film.
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Body of Influence: No Sexiness, only Cheap Thrills