Truque Mortal

To look at the video box cover for this movie, a woman in sexy clothes leaning against a wall with an exotic background, one might think this is an erotic thriller. It's not, really.

Stephanie is a rich woman (or a woman with a rich father). She also has a drug problem, and when she goes out to buy an "eight-ball" with a recent acquaintance in a bad part of town, her companion gets accidentally shot by Stephanie's gun.

Stephanie goes to visit a friend in Morocco, who has met a man she hopes to marry. When Stephanie and her friend get separated in a market, they hire a young local boy named Moon to be Stephanie's guide and all-around helper.

The friend and her man Jeremy, who Stephanie does not get to meet, go off on a trip together. Moroccan police arrive, interested in Stephanie's friend, and she also meets a man from the US Embassy in Rabat, Morocco. He tells her that her friend may be a victim of a jet- setting serial killer. When she meets a man named Jeremy who matches the description, she offers to help try to determine if he is the killer by wearing a wire.

Stephanie finds Jeremy attractive and charming, though "with an edge." Jeremy is somewhat secretive, and says he's writing a novel.

As I wrote above, this isn't exactly an erotic thriller. When there is a big build-up for a scene of lovemaking, the camera cuts away before anything starts, and the next shot is of the next day. There is no nudity in the movie.

There are, however, some nice street scenes of Morocco, a drive through the desert, and lots of interiors that certainly look as if they were shot on location in Morocco as well. All the local color is nice, and there is also some Arab music on the soundtrack. One does hear the Muslim call to prayer a few times (though religion does not factor into the movie at all), but they avoid the cliché of showing a shot of a minaret while doing so.

The ending is more or less satisfying. Despite the serial killer element to the plot, there are no murders depicted in the movie, nor corpses. On the whole, pretty tame.

A girl (Stephanie) with a drug-addiction from a rich family has a choice: Going to a rehabilitation-center or a trip to Morocco, where a friend is staying. She goes to Marrakech, and before she knows it her friend is missing, after a date with her boyfriend. Stephanie (Lisa Zane), now all alone, is visited by a detective who has been hunting a serial-killer for quite a while, and she gets help from a man from the U.S. embassy, who just happened to be in the neighborhood. They decide to go after the man, using the charm of Stephanie, but it seems that the killer is not working alone....

I've seen this movie several times now, and I enjoy watching it every time. The acting of Lisa, Nick Chinlund as Jeremy Avery the serial-killer, and Whip Hubley as Peter Masters from the U.S. embassy is pretty good. Overall a pretty good movie.

I am amazed that an effort like has received scant attention from anyone in the industry or the critics or even Maltin.

Every minute of this movie is watchable in spite of there being absolutely no use of swear words, nudity, sex and violence - with me it was watchable because of that very reason. Have we become so blind to people who attempt to entertain without resorting to these, that they barely get noticed?

This movie is an epitome of elegance. The main characters, Lisa Zane and Nick Chinlund are so beautiful and tasteful, you can keep watching them for ever. The photography in the Moroccan setting is so stunning it has to be seen to be believed. The music is so subdued and tasteful you can barely perceive its haunting presence in the background.

However, I must concede that the story line and the revelation is a little predictable.

If this entire team worked on a better story line, they could do wonders and come up with a winner. Lisa Zane sparkles like champagne, I wonder why she has not made it big time in the movie industry - I suppose Hollywood may not have what it takes to spot an intelligent, if wilful girl and make her into a star.

Her near European refinement and charm probably is too different from white bread American middle classiness to appeal to the steak and potatoes Hollywood film makers. May be she should try her luck in Europe which I am sure, will receive her most gratefully. She should aim beyond the B Movies she has been acting in so far.

Style tussles with substance in this artistically absurd work that is punctuated by wedges of uninspired dialogue and, while ofttimes in the realm of cinema style prevails, that is not the case with this piece, limply directed by first (and last) - timer William Cole, as the affair is glutted with plot holes stemming from failures in logic and continuity. Stephanie Montgomery (Lisa Zane)'s predilection for cocaine use is propelling the Southern California woman towards the serving of what will be lengthy prison time, whereupon her wealthy and influential father (performed by Zane's actual parent) intercedes for her, therewith giving her a choice. He will suspend her income if she does not either enter a drug rehabilitation facility, or elect to take a lengthy vacation far from her customary haunts and companions. Stephanie, not in favour of a rehabilitative process, decides upon going to Marrakech, in Morocco, to visit with a friend. Immediately following her arrival, the friend is apparently a victim of a serial murderer who is preying upon young women. The film then expends most of its energies in focussing upon Stephanie's predictable falling into a condition of hapless lust with the ostensible killer, Jeremy Avery, played by Nick Chinlund. In addition to this entanglement, she becomes a type of amateur investigator utilised by a Moroccan-based United States Government official, Peter Masters (Whip Hubley) who through her assistance, intends to end Jeremy's maniacal actions. A viewer may find difficulty in determining any hidden motivations, if any, behind the actions of Masters and Avery, since the script provides only unconvincing reasons for Stephanie's demeanour toward them. When the various plot conflicts come to a head, it becomes clear that overt melodrama is the principal purpose here, rather than the construction of a mystery to be untangled. After the film's somewhat incoherent beginning, the picturesque city of Marrakech and its environs assume a significant part in the tale, unquestionably to the satisfaction of those viewers whose interest may stem less from the weakly crafted narrative and the actions committed by the primary characters, and more from some arresting architecture of the ancient city. Zane's no-nonsense style of performing is appropriate for her role as Stephanie, while the charismatic Stinlund garners the acting laurels with his turn as the mysterious Jeremy Avery.