Phantom Love

"Phantom Love" really surprised me. I didn't think it would be as good as it ended up being. I'm gonna talk about various plot elements, so if you really.....REALLY want to see this movie, don't look down!

Michelle von Flotow stars as a romance novelist looking for inspiration for her next book. She takes a few days off and heads to Florence. The lady of the house leaves a book on her bed one night and she begins reading.....that's when the fun begins!

The rest of the movie is primarily in flashback form. Griffin Drew stars as a woman living during the turn of the century, struggling with the newly-christened women's movement of the era and the traditional values of her family. The book Michelle's character reads is her journal.

She comes back home from America after the death of a close relative. After she re-acquaints herself with her aunt and her three gorgeous cousins, she finds out she's been arranged to be married! How horrible! Although it's traditional for women in her country (it's never mentioned exactly what country, but I suppose it's a European country) to be in arranged marriages, she learned in America that a woman has control over her own destiny. She goes back and forth, learning about a man she doesn't even know and looking for true love in other places.

Yeah, I know....I made it sound like a "Lifetime Movie of the Week", but don't get me wrong. There's sex, sex, and even more sex in this flick. Michelle von Flotow only gets naked once, at the very beginning, but the rest of the girls (including Griffin) more than make up for that.

The fake-sounding accents remind me of "Hidden Beauties: The Awakening" (see my review of that flick for details) and the story wasn't all that bad.

Overall, it gets a well-deserved A.

Sex: A Women: A- Story: A Overall: A

I saw this under the title of To Love A Ghost on Tubi. I thought it was going to be similar to Meridian but not as good. At least Meridian had decent acting and a better story. Still this isn't too bad but the acting is not great and while the sex scenes are entertaining, the rest of the story isn't.

Not one of Full Moon's best which is a shame because they can make some pretty good movies.

Another title for the movie - maybe to get some more interest going for the movie itself? Who knows ... in Germany they remarket movies with different titles - sometimes getting a new audience to watch movies they didn't seemed interested in the first place.

Have to admit, not sure what the target audience is. Those who love romantic movies, but don't mind a modicum of flesh being shown? Is there such a thing? Even so, do they not have a standard, that the movie does not really reach? Maybe it is an invisible goal (no pun intended) ... you decide, but the story is quite weak at best, while the actors I reckon try their best. Not much saving grace in this one.

Cable softcore romantic movie "Phantom Love" opens with a cornball damsel in distress story replete with crummy swordfight and timid sex scene, making fun in pantomime with voiceover the genre.

It turns out to be novelist Ellen handing in her latest pirate saga to her publisher, who advises her to get inspiration (suggesting his childhood stomping grounds of Florence, Italy as a travel location) to come up with some fresh ideas for future books.

Everything here is old-hat and flatly presented, even the structure of a romance novelist imagining and presenting her fictional work. Griffin Drew stars in the story within the story taken from a 19th Century journal Ellen reads (and cribs from) as the strong woman who must save her family estate, Tamarind Manor (where Ellen is currently staying in Hollywood-set Florence, a b&b).

Griffin must choose between marrying a wealthy man to save the family legacy or go with the man she loves. Along the way half a dozen softcore sex scenes are included.

This sort of entertainment was frequently produced for cable TV two decades ago, sometimes even casting big-name Adult stars like India Summer and Kaylani Lei, but has gone out of fashion, often replaced by censored versions of hardcore porn movies. It's easy to see why, given how stale and tired this movie is, almost acknowledged in the early scenes of self-mockery.

I have seen plenty of Skinemax flicks in my life but this is the best one. All the women are hot. The scenes are long. A fantastic lesbian scene. Why do people that write comments about movies like this talk about plot or acting? If its late at night and you got the urge.......Phantom Love will take care of you.