Lust in the Woods

Paul Thomas specialized (among his hundreds of Adult movies) in life-style stories: a genre akin to soap operas but usually with more depth. This one made for Vivid Video with contract star Hyapatia Lee at its center emerges as a quite pleasant Couples movie -easy to take but light as a feather.

As per the rather dull IMDb synopsis, it's uneventful, more of a one-dimensional character study than the promised adventure. In short, the quick-to-bicker married couple of Mike Horner and Hyapatia quickly get lost in the "woods" (a rather barren area, not much in the way of trees, however) after their car has a flat tire. They find a tepee for shelter and interact with another couple (Joey Silvera and Megan Leigh), whose free spirit attitude opens up a new avenue of enjoying life for Mike & Hyapatia, especially uptight Mike who is only anxious to get back to civilization and the pressures of his real estate industry job.

Adding to the "free spirit" theme is an extraneous encounter with a sexy, nudist-oriented Dutch couple (statuesque blonde model Tanya DeVries and Mark DeBruin). This pair had a brief porn career, always working together sexually on screen.

No screenplay credit for "Lust" is a red flag - it needed some meat on the bones of an otherwise timid sort of romantic idyll. In mainstream films as disparate as Hepburn/Finney in "Two for the Road" or MacLaine/Eastwood in "Two Mules for Sister Sara", a strong story and in-depth characterizations give an audience something to latch onto, lacking here. Saving grace is an excellent jazz score (piano trio, and guitar soloist) credited to Barry Boxx.