Der eisige Atem des Todes

THIS IS A SEXY FILM WITH A CAST OF UNSCRUPULOUS CHARACTERS. IT DEPICTS CORRUPTION, DECEIT, AND REMORSE. YOU KNOW THE CHARACTERS ARE CRUEL WHEN THE ONE WITH THE MOST SINCERITY IS THE "HITMAN". BEN CROSS NAILS HIS ROLE AS A HITMAN, LADEN WITH GUILT OVER A HIT GONE WRONG, THROWN INTO ANOTHER HIT INVOLVING A CORRUPT BUSINESSMAN, HIS EQUALLY NASTY PARTNER AND THE WIFE WHO IS INVOLVED WITH BOTH MEN. CROSS'S PERFORMANCE SHOWS RANGE AS THE COOL CALM OF A HIRED, PROFESSIONAL KILLER, THE ORDINARY FAMILY MAN WITH ORDINARY MARITAL PROBLEMS, AND GUILT RIDDEN MURDERER AS HE DEALS WITH THE REALIZATION THAT PEOPLE ARE NASTY, AND SOMETIMES THE INNOCENT GET HURT.

Family man Mark Cahill (Ben Cross) has a secret life as an assassin for hire. He is haunted by his last victim. Beth Moore (Shannon Tweed) is cheating on her jealous cold husband Larry (Dave Thomas) with Mitch (Adam Baldwin) and Larry's business associate Sean Mathieson (Henry Czerny).

This is an erotic thriller. The erotic part is basic sexploitation. There is a fun little guessing game as to who will hire the killer to kill who but the movie has nothing after that. Ben Cross is a pretty good cool assassin. I don't like any of these characters. There is no rooting interest whatsoever. I couldn't care less if they all died in a blaze of bullets. At least, that would be more fun. The story gets convoluted. I don't understand their individual actions. As a thriller, I'm not thrilled.

Mark Cahill as a cunning hit-man who decides to take another mark against his better judgment as his former kill has been haunting him at the most in opportune times. However the money's right so perhaps he can do this last job before his newfound conscience gets the better of him or his wife finds out thus ruining his pretty good family life.

But anyways, I digress, this crime drama film had enough twists, turns and titillation to earn a thumbs up from me. One of the very few serious roles Dave Thomas embodied and still he manages to be oddly funny. I find it a bit weird that a Shannon Tweed film this good has only had 3 IMDb reviews (4 counting mine) However I won't dwell on it.

Decent entertainment for an evening, with today's standard themes of business conflicts, greed, betrayal, and murder, and, of course, Shannon Tweed cheating on her husband with two different affairs. I thought Baldwin's performance was the best among the men, tho maybe because his character was the least distasteful, but it at least added a little humor and elan to the generally sordid overtones. Cross was somewhat stiff, and his character was a little hard to swallow. (A hit man with later moral conflicts brought about by a ghost?) The ghost of the murdered woman was OK, but this had no blend with the main plot. In any event, male watchers are treated to steamy scenes with Shannon Tweed, even one with whipped cream, and there will be few objections to these.

Mark Cahill is a good family man with a loving wife and two wonderful children. Mark also happens to be a hit man who is haunted by his last victim, a blonde, who keeps appearing in his bedroom at the worst of times.

Not to say this is a bad movie, as it has some good themes about overworking and the whole hit-man aspect is cool, even if not necessarily realistic. But it seems as though the film was made specifically for the purpose of putting in explicit sex scenes. They go well beyond what was needed and more than you typically see in a movie.

There is also the overuse of a song (I will call it "Too Much Pride")... the film would have been better served with more of a score and less of that song on the soundtrack.