Hotel Exotica

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"!

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.

Two sisters, go away for the weekend. One is upset at her non-attentive husband; the other has just caught her artist boyfriend cheating on her. Both need time to find themselves and boy do they. The Bed and Breakfast they go to is magical. All the couples staying there seem to get lost in lust. The most memorable scene is a very sexy dream that one of the sisters have about a kitchen sex-capade with her sister. Wow. In the genera of sexy movies, at least this one has a story.

...Hey Surrender Cinema, what happened to the great editor(s) that created what we've come to expect in the incredible 'The House of Exotic Wax' and (the first) 'Femalien'? Ever since the release of these I've lost sleep eagerly awaiting your new flicks anticipating another cutting-edge scene that depicted unquestionable and believable 'soft' action (that's some really great faking or...). Now all you're producing is the typical ho-hum bedroom boredom available in any Shannon Tweed flick.

This serious disappointment had about four scenes where the hottest action was undercovers, always two people constantly pulling the sheets up over each other -- come-on people, it's all-too-obvious that they're ONLY playing "footsies"! Where were you intending for this to get released, in Saudi Arabia? And why did you disguise this celluloidal waste with an Unrated sticker when what you should've slapped on it was "Disney quality PG-13"?

Sorry guys, or maybe you should be sorry, 'cuz I no longer support your efforts to 'pull the covers' over my eyes. Geez, I've seen more skin and action on daytime soaps...