Straight-laced pre-med student Glen Marshall (a solid and likable performance by Rick Barnes) gets in way over his head after he meets and falls for the kooky and uninhibited Greta (a delightfully brash and beguiling portrayal by fetching brunette Merideth Haze), a porn actress who also plays piano at a seedy nightclub. Glen finds himself drawn into a dangerous netherworld involving blue movies, multiple personalities, and a strange group of rich jaded folks who regularly engage in inventive variants on Russian roulette for sick kicks.
Director John Carr relates the compellingly bizarre story at a steady pace, presents a fascinating exploration of a freaky and seamy subculture, and tops everything off with amusing bits of quirky humor (the running gag about the voyeuristic elderly couple is a total hoot!). Philip Yordan's offbeat and original script makes a poignant point on the great lengths and risks one is willing to make to save someone that you love. This movie further benefits from a neat array of colorful idiosyncratic characters: J. Martin Sellers as decadent millionaire George Youngmeyer, Toni Covington as the wicked Contessa Pacelli, William Charles as the suavely sinister Federico Libuse, and Norm Keefer as fey homosexual Mary Contrary. Moreover, this picture's very strangeness gives it a singularly haunting and hypnotic quality. The sharp cinematography and Jaime Mendoza-Nava's melodic score are both up to snuff. Worth a watch for fans of outré fringe cinema fare.
Director John Carr relates the compellingly bizarre story at a steady pace, presents a fascinating exploration of a freaky and seamy subculture, and tops everything off with amusing bits of quirky humor (the running gag about the voyeuristic elderly couple is a total hoot!). Philip Yordan's offbeat and original script makes a poignant point on the great lengths and risks one is willing to make to save someone that you love. This movie further benefits from a neat array of colorful idiosyncratic characters: J. Martin Sellers as decadent millionaire George Youngmeyer, Toni Covington as the wicked Contessa Pacelli, William Charles as the suavely sinister Federico Libuse, and Norm Keefer as fey homosexual Mary Contrary. Moreover, this picture's very strangeness gives it a singularly haunting and hypnotic quality. The sharp cinematography and Jaime Mendoza-Nava's melodic score are both up to snuff. Worth a watch for fans of outré fringe cinema fare.