Losing Control

Losing Control is another offering in the erotic thriller genre which could be considered as the pulp fiction of the film world. Usually, they involve a roundabout route to murderous intent, interspersed with copious disrobing. This is not a complaint, especially when it is done by the stunningly beautiful women who invariably inhabit this make-believe world.

Kim Ward (Kira Reed) is suffering a bout of writer's block. Just by chance, (or is it?) she meets a man (Doug Jeffery) who engages with her in ever more risky sexual encounters. The man refuses to divulge any information about himself, yet Kim steadfastly refuses to stop the affair. Her agent, Alexa (Anneliza Scott) thinks it will do wonders for her book sales. As in most films of this type, the denouement comes near the end but some things do not add up. I have seen enough of this kind of film to think, no change there, then - but I like them. They are so undemanding.

Performances of the cast vary. Doug Jeffery carries the film as the psycho/sociopath you do not want to cross. Kira Reed looks good but fails to convince as the woman in peril. Clay Greenbush as the PI did not convince either.

Finally, a note of caution about the DVD under review. Both the cover and the disc state R-rated and running time as 93 minutes but the run time is less than 86 minutes. This probably explains why the sex scenes appear truncated and why Jennifer Ludlow's performance is cut short just as she's getting started. Beware of the Greek promo disc which has been cut down to only 72 minutes. 4 stars.

Losing Control is about a romance writer who's losing her stuff and who gets it back when she enters an affair with a mysterious man whom she oly knows as "Jack." Jack tells her to go places, she goes there, they have sex. That's about as kinky as it gets in a film that's basically about a maledom/femsub relationship. No submissiveness on Kira's part, other than going to the rendezvous, and no dominance on the guy's part, other than telling her where to rendezvous and smirking a lot when they talk.

Because it did not have the honesty or the understanding or whatever to tell a maledom/femsub romance story, which even ROMANCE writers are quite capable of doing, the film fails even as explotation. What's more, the sex scenes are very skimpy for a Skinamax erotic thriller. In fact, there's a scene toward the end in which Kira hunkers down on her man, still clothed, and then the next thing you see is her leaving the premises. I think the people who suspect censorship may have something here. The film I saw on U.S. cable ran 1 hr and 25 minutes from the start of the opening credits to the last of the end credits, which would make a version that includes longer scenes unusually long for a Skinamax flick. If anyone out there has seen a longer version, well, that would be revealing.

The movie is beautifully photographed. Kira Reed, Anneliza Scott and Doug Jeffery do a far better job with the lines than the script deserves, and yet it's a total nothingburger. Worst of all, a waste of Kira Reed.

I've heard that the DVD version of this movie in the US has been heavily censored, well it seems here in the UK we've been lucky with the UK DVD version being uncensored! In its uncut form, this is a real sizzler of an erotic thriller with a great performance from the lovely Kira Reed and some really exciting to watch (and quite graphic) scenes of (usually) kinky sex between the principals. If you're looking for a topnotch erotic thriller- look no further! Just make sure you see the uncensored version! (also i like the fact, like a previous reviewer commented) that the sex scenes are not ruined by overdubbed music- you can hear every pant and groan!

All in all, this wasn't a bad flick for the soft-core genre. The acting was not great, but better than most movies of the this ilk. It tried to stake itself in believability, but lost its credence about halfway in when the novelist heroine kept putting herself in crazier and crazier situations.

Still, the movie was involving and featured some great sex. Usually, movies in this genre overlay some loud score over every scene, which while sugar-coating it, takes away much of the titillation. Not so in "Losing Control". You can hear everything during the passionate scenes, and it really adds a lot to the movie. Not a bad rental for you and a significant other if you are looking to generate some heat.

All Kira Reed fans MUST see this. The film's premise has struggling romance novelist Kira unable to come up with any new ideas. She's also getting over a divorce. However, she meets this guy at a restaurant and he helps her out of her shell (and clothing). They go into a corner room and they do it. Thankfully, Kira gets a condom out (Now don't ever tell me these Playboy films are worthless piles of soft-core fluff. Remember kids, safe sex). Later, she marvels to her publishist how great it was, but she didn't get his name. Despite this, the guy finds her and they continue their kinky games. But eventually she tires of his sneakiness and wants to know more. When she does, all hell breaks loose, and I'll leave it at that. This is easily the best of these soft-core Playboys films I've seen. Check this out, and marvel at the greatness of Kira.