Cyberella: Forbidden Passions

This review is for the UK DVD. This example of the erotic drama came as quite a pleasant surprise.When choosing to watch a film of this type, it is obvious that one is going to see a certain amount of nudity and simulated sex but what can lift a film above the banal and into entertainment is a good script and sympathetic characters. This film also delves deeper into human spirituality and, dare I say it, "Life, the universe and everything in it."

The plot revolves around a computer programmer, Mara (Debra K. Beatty) who, after a tragic accident, finds herself in a spiritual limbo between Heaven and Earth and in order to progress to her destiny must learn a lesson which, it should be obvious by now, requires much taking off of clothes. If she fails, she will return to Earth. Here we touch on reincarnation.

Overall this film and especially the women do not disappoint in any way. Shayna Lee in her scene with Kevin Walls (Debra stays clothed for this one) is outstanding. Ms Beatty gets naked several times and she shares a girl/girl scene with dancer Amy (Rebecca Taylor). My one reservation with this film is the use of extreme close-ups which appear to be out of focus, rather like the effect of enlarging a photo too much. Perhaps the powers that be got cold feet about the copious nudity and panned and scanned some of it out but despite this, in my view this is one of the better of its type so 7 stars.

Well, this is about as enjoyable as a softcore film can get, but that doesn't mean that this is good. One good thing about this movie is that it isn't just non-stop simulated sex. There is an honest attempt to have a good story here. The final results aren't all that satisfying, but this has a bit of heart, a little comedy, and a decent story, even if it is more than a little far-fetched. Since it lacks the wall-to-wall nudity that is often found in these films, some fans of the genre may be disappointed by the finished product, but I think it stands out as better than most of the direct-to-video erotica. However, even though the story actually isn't bad, and even though Debra Beatty looked absolutely fabulous, I still can't go so far as to call this a good movie. It's a decent way to kill some time, but nothing more.