Espejo de pasiones

Jeff Conaway is a long way from his TAXI and GREASE days but he is the best thing about this slow-moving erotic thriller which features pretty decent sex scenes. Hippolyte was on a role in the early 1990s with his chain of erotic thrillers featuring more dialogue scenes and non-penetration sex scenes to disguise the pornographic tones that he would normally suggest as Gregory Dark. Nonetheless, this one is probably the best of his series. And don't forget to watch Dick Van Patten's son, Nels, embarass his father by repeatedly ordering Delia Shepperd to "Say my name! Say my name!!" 4/10

This film essentially begins with a woman by the name of "Kaitlin Blair" (Delia Sheppard) having problems with her husband "Jeffrey Blair" (Jeff Conaway) due to the long hours he puts in as a campaign manager for a California gubernatorial candidate named "Carter Sayles" (Richard Arbolino). Then, one night, she gets a frantic phone call from her twin sister "Shauna Jameson" (also played by Delia Sheppard) telling her she needs money right away in order to get out of town fast. Quickly wiring the money to her, Kaitlin then decides to go to Shauna's apartment to try to talk to her before she leaves. When she gets there, however, she realizes that she is too late and, being quite bored with her own lifestyle, decides to don Shauna's clothing and impersonate her for a night or two. What she doesn't count on, however, is that there is a dangerous rapist who is stalking Shauna-and he has plans to visit her very soon. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this certainly had potential but the actors weren't given the script necessary for them to succeed. Not only was it badly written but the minimal plot and annoying saxophone music played every other scene didn't help matters either. Admittedly, there were several attractive actresses like Julia Strain (as "Gina Kaye"), Lee Anne Beaman ("Rebecca") and the aforementioned Delia Sheppard to keep things interesting but it just wasn't enough for me to rate this movie any higher than I have. Below average.

"Mirror Images" is another softcore romp from Gregory Dark, the so called "Scorsese of B-movies". Do I even need to tell you that the protagonist is a neglected housewife of a powerful politician, who is putting all his energy into his career, and none into pleasing her?

Neglected housewives are soft porn's stock in trade.

The movie also features an early performance from Penthouse pet and b-movie siren Julie Strain.

An unusual twist is the inclusion of a rock band, and some glamour girl who dances on stage with them - the sister of the neglected housewife. These movies almost always take place among corporate executive types.

I guess the politician in the movie has reason to be focussed on his career. He apparently thinks that pornography is an acceptable way to advertise his campaign, and so doubtless must pay close attention to do damage control when it blows up in his face.

The bored housewife disguises herself as her sister, who, as a twin, is of course her polar opposite. The twin seems to return the favour (I think) and they both start having sex with each other's partners.

As if this wasn't enough, there's also a serial killer on the loose, running around with a mask on to hide his identity from people he's going to kill anyway.

I generally appreciate the way that the neglectful husband in these movies is generally shown to be a good guy, only "neglectful" because he's trying to make a better life for his wife and him. In "Mirror Images", though, there's really no attempt to make him likeable.

A director as limited as Dark shouldn't have gone for the old "identical twins switch identities" plot line. This would be confusing enough. Here it is so confusing as to be tiresome. You don't know who you're supposed to be watching.

There is a lesbian scene with Julie Strain which is surprisingly brief, and skimps on the nudity. It will be disappointing for any fan of hers.

John O'Hurley, known as J Peterman on "Seinfeld", has a small role, but even he, a wonderful comic actor, can't inject any life into the proceedings.

This is actually one of the more tedious straight-to-video erotic thrillers I have seen. It's impossible to care enough about the plot or even to try to follow it, and long stretches of the movie seem pointless.

Typically for '90s softcore, it ends seemingly without resolution. You only know it's over because the credits start rolling, not because the plot has been resolved. Unusual, though, that I was happy that that meant I didn't have to watch it any more.

This film's script tells a tale of identical twin sisters, played by Delia Sheppard, who have little to link them other than appearance, and of how one must pay for attempting to usurp her sister's place when the latter disappears. Kaitlin, although unhappily married, has wed into wealth and resides in a mansion; meanwhile, her sister Shauna is a stripper in a sleazy bar who mysteriously tells Kaitlin she needs money with which to immediately leave town. Kaitlin impulsively takes Shauna's place during the dark hours and soon discovers that everything is not quite all right with her sister's life style, which includes sexual and drug excess. While she more or less frolics, complications abound, including murder, and Kaitlin becomes increasingly aware that her nocturnal impersonation does not provide compensation for the difficulties with which she must deal. This scenario wobbles about as it is merely an interstice for the doffing of garments by Sheppard and others preparatory to thrashing about in various sexual liaisons, one or two of which might possibly have something to do with the plot, such as it is. There is nothing fresh here as one illogical scene follows upon the other far too slowly, to the viewer's discomfort, with the abysmally poor dialogue and tiresome exposure of flesh merely resulting in an example of softcore pornography, and that devoid of any real eroticism or any other purpose.

One of those movies you would find hard recorded to a VHS tape, 'Mirror Images' is surprisingly high in style and reasonably well made considering its small scale.

Delia Sheppard is actually quite good at realistic subtlety - she genuinely looks and behaves like a real human being rather than an over the top theatrical caricature and I have a preference for that method. Jeff Conaway is not a good actor and seems bored and childish. John O'Hurley impresses more and is the best male character in the film.

The film dabbles into the themes of lesbianism and bisexuality in a respectable way and overall as a story/plot piece and erotic softcore content, it's quite meaningful and surprisingly wholesome.