Midnight Confessions

It is probably fair to describe this piece of direct-to-video exploitation fare as a modern C-movie. The typical B-movie has more plot, more character development, and better production values than this cheapo, but it is still a couple of notches better than the pitiful embarrassments from the bottom of the range.

This erotic thriller centering around a radio psychiatrist may claim inspirations from Play Misty for Me and Frasier but in truth it has a model much closer to home: Sexual Response, a relatively successful B-movie with video queen Shannon Tweed. The focus here is on sex, not on violence, and the sex scenes come just as thick and fast as in a porno - except that this is strictly R-rated. The UK version (which is the one I saw) is 3 minutes longer and presumably a little more daring than the US release.

Ive seen millions of b movies and am a big fan of many of them. This one fits into a category by itself. It looks as though it was a bunch of porno filmmakers trying to go straight...uh, thats exactly what happened as rumor has now been confirmed. If you want to p*** yourself off within 5 minutes, rent this flick. Otherwise just pick any old film at Ma & Pa's video store and feel like a winner because any film no matter how bad beats this one. Rumor also has it that when this production company finished the film it was only 54 minutes long so they had to shoot a couple of extra days. HUH!!!!!!LOL

I've now watched three T&A flicks back to back that used this idea as a jumping off point for sex & murder. 'Midnight Confessions' happens to be the weakest. The radio angle isn't original, but can yield suspense, fun plus the female nudity. This version stuck strictly to the basics - anonymous voices, a killer - and I wouldn't recommend sitting thru it.

Vanessa (Carol Hoyt) host of a nightly radio show gets callers exploring their sexual desires, fears. Unaware that one has become obsessed and begun stalking her. At the same time, there's a serial killer on the loose murdering prostitutes and question becomes are they one in the same. Det. Harris (Richard Lynch) looks into it while Vanessa's producer Mitch (David Millbern) hides deep family secrets.

I was surprised to see Lynch here thought he isn't given much to work with as the routine cop of the flick. Hoyt is attractive - gets naked once - and pulls off the radio host character, but if she's not stuck behind the mic it's her in public being spied on. Nudity comes courtesy of hookers or lovers getting it on. Julie Strain in an early role plays a radio caller getting naked and looks great. Perhaps the best part though an older lady and her young buck next door neighbor was decent too.

'Midnight Confessions' drifted into boredom more than once. It's low budget top to bottom and not always shot very well too. Combine that with no mystery when the flick drops a bomb 25 mins in spelling out who the killer is. It probably won't be the last I see of this plot device, but this entry was the weakest so far.

"Voices of Seduction"/"Midnight Confessions" does have some beautiful women in it - the lead, Carol Hoyt, is an elegant redhead - and the premise of a late-night radio show where the listeners call the host and reveal their secret erotic fantasies and desires could make for an effective erotic film with a different approach, but someone thought it was a good idea to "enhance" the film with a dismal and distasteful, not to mention stupid (for example, are prisoners usually allowed to make obscene phone calls to the outside at night?) exploitation plot about a nutcase knocking off prostitutes. Note to the filmmakers: when we are watching an "erotic" film, we want to be turned on, not off. Oh yes, Julie Strain's picture is on the DVD cover, but her part is nothing more than a 3-minute cameo. (*1/2)