Intimo

My review was written in March 1991 after watching the movie on Viewer's Choice pay-per-view.

The Italian feature "Midnight Seductions" offers okay diversion for voyeurs as a direct to pay-per-view release Stateside, not available in other media such as video stores.

Made in 1987 as "Intimo", film belongs to a then popular genre in Italy, the thriller set in the world of fashion. Such pics as "A Taste for Fear" and Serena Grandi in Lambeto Bava's "Delirium" set the scene for this Eva Grimaldi vehicle.

Grimaldi portrays a nightclub waitress who has started moonlighting as a lingerie fashion model. She is harassed at boh jobs by Leonardo Treviglio, a sleazy guy who ultimately seduces her with his lame come-on lines, notably "You're missing the best".

Film's most cryptic element involves a devil figure played by Thomas Arana, who works as the porter at Treviglio's hotel and intone portentously from time to time as if controlling the action. Film resolves cornily as Grimaldi goes back to her boyfriend after a fling on the wild side.

Punched up by some decadent musical numbers performed by Liquid Eyes, the film (especially the curvaceous Grimaldi) is easy to watch. The main drawback is evident re-cutting for the U. S. market and an R rating.

Pic is typical of the sor of product in use for a decade in closed-circuit hotel situations for the tired traveler to watch. That's a natural niche for the burgeoning pay-per-view market; a month later Spectradyne supplies the similar Spanish film "Forbidden Passion" in the same mode.

Most likely inspired by the (then) recent success of "9 and 1/2 Weeks", "Intimo" tells the story of a beautiful fashion model / waitress (Eva Grimaldi) who gets sucked into a strange, sadomasochistic relationship with a mysterious man and starts to ignore her loving but "square" boyfriend. Grimaldi is a just about perfect woman, everything about her - from her hair to her calves - exudes sensuality comparable to that of, say, Sophia Loren. "Intimo" is fairly well made for its genre, however I personally don't like erotic films where women are put in compromising positions without their consent or are attracted to creeps, or where the men are calling the shots all the time. All of the above happen in this film, so if you also have a problem with any of it, you've been warned; if you don't, go ahead and watch it. I won't be throwing my copy away, but I won't be watching it again for a long time, either. (*1/2)