"Animal Instincts" is one of those softcore b-movies that were in the "adult" section of the video shop back when video shops still existed. It's not a "Red Shoe Diary" type thing with the faux-arty cinematography, over-zealous acting and goofy soundtrack. The direction is actually quite pedestrian, which kind of shows up the actors, among whom are natural softcore queen Shannon Whirry, and performers who had fallen on hard times David Carradine, and perhaps the biggest Hollywood screw up who ever lived, Jan-Michael Vincent. There are times when the actors seem to be standing around, waiting for cues. You can see them ACTING. The guy who made this movie - surprisingly one of few adult filmmakers to transition to mainstream flicks - is no Zalman King or Tinto Brass or any of the other actually competent softcore directors.
The plot is about a neglected wife of a policeman who is investigating an underworld figure who owns strip clubs. The movie uses an ungainly device which shows the protagonist talking to a therapist to introduce different scenes. The movie is quite generous with nudity from multiple women aside from Whirry, so at least it delivers on that score.
The husband's lack of interest in his bodacious wife is kind of hard to believe, especially when she parades in front of him in the chicest of mid nineties lingerie.
For some reason the movie often focuses on the sight of tongues lapping at each other.
Inevitably, the Whirry character cheats, and is caught out - but the husband isn't angry, he's turned on. They agree that she will continue to find lovers, and will film her activities so that he can watch.
The first guy who responds to her personal ad just wants to talk, which seems unlikely given the nature of the ad. He also seems uncomfortable and nervous with Whirry coming onto him.
Shannon Whirry has amazing breasts. We're treated to a montage of her having sex with various people. She, and her partners, dress like it's Elizabethan England in one scene, with wigs and lace. In another scene, she dresses like a man, in a suit, kind of looking like a buxom Justin Bieber.
Whirry ends up getting around so much she even ends up having sex with her husband's partner.
Jan-Michael Vincent finally gets a scene almost an hour and ten minutes into the movie. He seems like some kind of politician. Even in the nineties, did high ranking politicians have pony tails?
Whirry's cop boyfriend sets up JMV to have sex with his wife so that they can film it for the sleazy nightclub owner, played by David Carradine, though how he does this is kind of left unexplained. It's like everybody who needs to have sex with Whirry for the needs of the plot, does, without much hassle. How small is the town in which the movie is set, that all these assignations can be made so easily?
Whirry's character inexplicably becomes a celebrity as a result of her having sex in front of the camera. Too bad that didn't happen to the real Shannon Whirry. John Saxon also makes an appearance at the zero hour.
Nude Shannon Whirry might be a sight to behold - though the movie doesn't feature enough full frontal nudity from her - and the movie's plot is enjoyably silly, but I didn't find it particularly erotic. I hope Whirry was in other movies that made better use of her physical form, if not her lack of real acting chops. This is the first one of her movies that I have seen.
