In the Cold of the Night

Or is it nightmare woman? No pun intended - and a typical 90s thriller. The acting really isn't up to the - well any standard for that matter. But it is what it is. And this is a movie that has some skin (nudity) to it. While trying to make us feel the thrill from start to finish. Might not work for everyone.

But this tries to concentrate on the story, so there is not that much erotic stuff, if that is what you are looking for. Do not waste your time is what I am saying. Visually this is also quite clearly a product of the 90s. There is not a high budget this is working with - this just meets ends - or however that saying goes.

I only have one thing to say about this movie, and that is that the guy sleeps on a water bed with a fluorescent light *inside* the mattress!

Say what you will about the rest of the film, that alone is one of the dumbest things I have ever seen. No wonder the guy has nightmares.

Probably one of the worst films I have seen. The lead actor is a joke. He should be ashamed that this piece of "work" is in circulation. Not to mention a waste of money.

My review was written in January 1991 after watching the movie on Republic Pictures video cassette.

A very sexy lead performance by Adrienne Sachs highlights the farfetched nightmare thriller "In the Cold of the Night". Pic should score in the sex noir video and cable market; it's available in both NC-17 and R formats.

Filmmaker Nico Mastorakis harks back to the 1982 thriller "Blind Date" (one of Kirstie Alley's first leading roles) for a sci-fi thriller plot that has too many holes and is too attenuated for its own good.

Glamor photographer Jeff Lester is haunted by nightmares starring Sachs as a woman (whom he's never met in real life) that he kills. Shrink David Soul can't help much, and Leter's sex life with beauties like Shannon Tweed (a young vet of this genre) is hampered by his violent craziness brought on by the bad dreams.

Sachs shows up in the flesh in the third reel and pic slows down for endless sack time of her with Lester. Though the viewer knows they're headed for an unhappy ending, it's rewarding to watch this young actress. Lester is a bit bland; the role could have benefited from a name actor.

Film's credibility comes unglued with the introduction of Marc Singer as Sachs' boyfriend, who has rigged up a ludicrous mind-controlling experiment involving implants and laser disk recordings. Finale is a confusing anticlimax.

Mastorakis brings plenty of visual style to the thriller genre, and should attract a following in the wake of similar sex-oriented titles "Night Eyes", "Last Call" and "Deceptions". His in-jokes are poor, such as Tippi Hedren guest starring as Sachs' unlikely mom, who "has this thing about birds" or Lester glumly watching laser disks of Mastorakis' films "The Wind" and "Glitch".

A corny musical score, credited to many people, features a wailing tenor sax whenever the Pavlovian sex is about to begin.

HANDSOME, blonde, romantic-at-heart, pizza-loving, thirtysomething LA photographer (with own neon sign) who specialises in swimwear shoots looking for the girl of his (murderous) dreams. Ride on over and surprise me.

Part 80s lingerie catalogue, part foreigner's Cali love letter, In the Cold of the Night probably isn't what most film buffs consider good cinema... yet, it's got everything that makes cinema good... for the right audience.

Greece's one-man-movie-machine Nico Mastorakis (had his hits and misses, but you can't say he's unambitious), made this along with a bunch of straight-to-video genre flicks in the late 80s-early 90s. For me, it's his most accomplished thriller.

A Skinemax, De Palma and Hitchcock homage (it even STARS Tippi Hedren!), it's filled with 80s style (satin sheets: check, nouvelle cuisine: check, neon bikinis: check, men's short-shorts and Reeboks: check, Venice Beach, Laserdisc... you get the idea). If you love Brian De Palma at his most indulgent (think Femme Fatale or Passion) and late-80s Italian giallo (Nothing Underneath or Too Beautiful to Die), how could you dislike this?

It even features the decade's underused icon Brian Thompson in his usual 'hunk-with-the-one-liners' role ("you ever get the desire to make it with your mother?") who looks fresh off Fright Night II. Shannon Tweed's here, too (in the waterbed), giving a surprisingly tender performance.

Adrienne Sachs (1986's Miss Brazil), looking every bit the high fashion model, takes the Deborah Shelton-in-Body Double role and carries the sexy, mysterious female lead fairly well. Jeff Lester, coming across as the poster-boy from a menswear catalogue, is likeable but wooden as the photographer weekend sleuth.

While it never manages De Palma's flair, is light on story development and lags in the middle, it's still entertaining enough to warrant a great night in - if you're a fan of the erotic thriller and want one which makes a good stab at actually being a thriller.

Make sure you've got 80s cocktails, are appropriately (under)dressed and have a camera watching over you when you go to sleep.

Like an iconic motorcycle, it's stylish and flashy but hard to maintain (although it's a great ride).

I think Doppleganger (1993), by Israel's Avi Nesher (a man whose career is somewhat similar to Mastorakis) shares a lot of this flick's lets-go-to-town DNA.