Michael Zen remains something of an oddity within the usually secular adult industry, i.e. a successfully fence-straddling film-making talent whose gay features (including the highly imaginative FALCONHEAD movies and the deliriously camp SODOM) are as - if not more - respected and revered as his straight movies. The latter category includes his all star farce THE FILTHY RICH, with outrageously funny turns by genre goddesses Vanessa Del Rio and Lisa DeLeeuw, and the multi-award-winning Jenna Jameson vehicles SATYR and BLUE MOVIE. He was still just an eager young upstart with a batch of Swedish Erotica loops under his belt when he made this unfairly overlooked little gem. Three decades down the line, it's high time for a re-appraisal.
Tackling surprisingly disturbing subject matter (as he did on both SOFT PLACES and EXPENSIVE TASTES), William Dancer's intriguing screenplay takes viewers into the dark recesses of the incestuous household of Bob and Connie, memorably portrayed by Paul Thomas and the late Kristine Heller in an unusually intense performance that might rank as a career best if more people had actually seen it. They're brother and sister who have been getting off together since their pre-teens (relax, this is only talked about, never shown), unbeknownst to parents Bonnie Holiday and Tyler Reynolds. When cousin Joan (XXX royalty Annette Haven) comes to visit during the folks' absence, all hell breaks loose. Turns out Joan carries the traumatic scars from being humiliated by her lovin' kinfolk way back during puberty and she's plotting revenge...
Suspense and eroticism build in almost equal measure thanks to deliberate pacing and gorgeous cinematography by Ron Garcia (a/k/a "Rahn Vickery"), erstwhile sexploitation purveyor of the star-studded TOY BOX and super-sleazy SWINGERS MASSACRE with Marsha Jordan. Zen takes his time teasing and tantalizing the audience prior to the explicit pay-off which rarely fails to raise the temperature. Kristine performs oral sex over a condom (possibly the first appearance thereof in an adult film ?) on John Leslie in the film's opener, a backseat b.j. witnessed by a blue balls P.T. who's just been blown off by Annette in his rear view mirror. The look exchanged between brother and sister at scene's end signifies their complicity, showing up her recalcitrant coyness as a mere act. Shades of Zen's "other" occupation come through in Kristine and John's appreciative discussion of Bob's penis, following hot on the heels of Leslie's protests that he's not gay !
Bob spikes Joan's orange juice so he can have his wicked way with her, stopped just prior to penetration by a shocked (and jealous) Connie who proceeds with the sexual assault, strapping a dildo to the sleeping beauty so she can impale herself ! Leslie and lovely Linda Wong, the premiere Oriental adult actress of the '70s, pull off the hottest number on a stepladder in yet another display of intimate ingenuity extending far beyond the missionary position. The big shocker is saved for last when Bob and Connie throw an orgy that's supposed to lure their cousin into their clutches of her own free will. But Joan still has another trick up her sleeve, proving that she's as capable of playing games as her twisted siblings. This elaborate party sequence has brief appearances by carnal cult favorites Christine Kelly (from Richard Kanter's UNTAMED and Sam Weston's ORIENTAL BABYSITTER) as the masked lady in the kitchen with Linda, husband and wife team David and Sandi Pinney and the ever-ready Joey Silvera.
