Hotel Exotica

This is one of those movies that really should have been better. First, take it for what it is worth - a jiggle film. Given that, the scenes are pretty risque: bottomless front shots of women and all that (that is, if you see the unrated version, I guess). The two female leads, Landon Hall and Ahmo Height, are both well suited to this type of movie. Height, a glamour model in her second movie, is particularly energetic in her roles. She reminds me of Lisa Boyle (Cassandra Leigh) from several years ago. Hall is clearly less concerned about emoting a performance, but then again, she's been around for a while. The men are, as usual, cookie cutter and unmentionable.

What I think is too bad is that the movie set itself up for interesting scenes, but then pulls back to the basic mid-range bed shots for the lovemaking. Why bother? Height's romp in the inn's kitchen is a good example. Rather than going whole hog 9 1/2 weeks-style with the props at their displosal, Height and her female friend (Taylor St. Clair) bump and grind on the counter. Again, watching Height is an experience (all 3 of her sex scenes have a definite attraction to them), but couldn't they have done something more?

Many watchers of this film will see other wasted opportunities. Given the physical talents of the cast, it just seems to be a waste to go to all this trouble, then not do something more interesting with them than what turns up.

I'm not normally a big fan of softcore stuff (or hardcore, for that matter), but I happened to catch this one on late night cable, and while it has the same horrible script, lame acting, and cheap budget as other softcore flicks, I will say that on its own terms, it succeeds quite well mainly because of a few excellent scenes. One is where a girl fantasizes about being with another girl who she would (hopefully) not normally fantasize about. Another is when a guy has just learned how to be more attentive to women during sex, and he uses this on a girl he has just met. This scene, in particular, has to be the wildest sex scene I've ever seen in a movie, and both scenes are very erotic. Don't expect Henry V or anything, but if you're into these kind of movies, you'd probably like this one.

What I saw I taped from Cinemax late night TV. It didn't seem edited to me, although it is basically soft core porno with no sex organs actually shown and with a lot of panting and heavy breathing but with a final climax not actually depicted.

The girls and guys are beautiful as usual, and the acting and production values are of a pretty high order for a film in this genre.

Heterosexuality seems to be the case in all of these although there is an occasional lesbian scene (guys seem to like watching those).

A fair amount of female dominance and fetishistic S&M although hardly of the 8mm variety.

All in all, good clean fun (!) to watch..

Those of you familiar with Surrender Cinema Films are well aware of what type of film this is. Softcore at its best, well maybe close to it. I have rented the uncut or "director's cut" version of this film and it was not bad. It actually was rather entertaining. When I finally saw this on DVD at a store with the label "directors's cut", I immediately purchased it. I was horrified to find out that this was not the same hot film that I saw but rather a watered down R rated version! If you plan on getting this film, be very careful. The distributor, Shadow, is doing a good job of false advertising. I certainly fell for it. Again don't buy this, even though it says "director's cut"!

The gorgeous Ahmo Hight, who stole "Insatiable Wives", steals this one, too; although the lovely but very wooden and stiff Landon Hall isn't much of a challenge to start with. Hight and Hall play Rachel and Carly, two sisters who don't look like they'd be related LOL who are unhappy with their sex lives. Rachel has been two-timed by her artist boyfriend (who must be an idiot to not enjoy Rachel's prowess in the sack) and Carly's husband is a good man who's too busy with his career to even need to get down to his birthday suit and...

Carly's husband comes up with a place for them to spend the weekend: The Hotel Exotica. However, he's waylaid by business, so Carly takes the rambunctuous Rachel with her. Then the fun begins, with a psychic played by Taylor St. Claire fortelling the futures for their sex lives, along with plenty of steamy sex and lurid fun for the viewer. Eventually Carly's husband and a MFV hunk friend of his make a surprise visit, and it gets very interesting.

As with all MFV soft-core erotica, the acting is negligible and the storyline is hackneyed. The "money shots", which are the point of this film being cobbled up, are summed up in two words: Ahmo Hight. Nobody in the history of cinema can say she's put Sharon Stone's sex scenes in "Basic Instinct" to shame but her. Ahmo is a dynamo in the Unrated version of this film; whether man or woman as her partner, she delivers a temperature-rising performance in her sex scenes. Using her athleticism and gymnastics, she makes you forget that this is "simulated sex". Landon Hall, on the other hand, delivers a less than exhilirating ride, which probably explains why her husband isn't itching to bed her. LOL

Bottom line: it's too bad Ahmo doesn't make these films any more, because she was stellar in the two I've seen with her. She makes this film. I would have liked to see her in a film with Jennifer Burton, that would be a scorching hot film. Good stuff.