Naked Obsession
This is one of those "erotic thrillers" that are so popular in the video stores. Personally, I don't like them, and I generally avoid them. Every once in a great while, someone will use the genre to come up with something that is imaginative and compelling to watch. Examples that come to mind are Exotica and Liquid Dreams. I have to assume that "erotic thrillers" appeal to men, because they usually have lots of nudity and steamy sex scenes. Naked Obsession is an erotic thriller. First of all, I only got this video because Michelle Bauer was in it. You have to realize that my expectations are very low for these "erotic thrillers." And also, many of the movies that Michelle Bauer appears in are terrible. So, I'm happy to report that this movie is actually watchable, and even shows a fair amount of imagination and flair. It also has a huge amount of nudity, full frontal and all. I'm not so happy to report that Michelle is barely in it at all. In fact, I didn't even see her when I watched it. I had to scan through the movie a second time to find her. A lot of this movie centers around a strip club, and in one scene, the two main actors are talking in the bar. In the background is Michelle, on top of a table doing some of the things that strippers do, but she is clothed. And if you're paying attention to the guys talking, you won't even notice what's going on in the background.
This guy who is a city councilman decides to go to the bad part of town to do "research". He's thinking about introducing a proposal that will clean up the bad part of town. He immediately gets mugged, knocked unconscious, and his car is stolen. A bum wakes him up and befriends him. The bum takes him into a strip bar and this is the start of a couple of days of very bizarre happenings. In the end, the bum is some sort of "angel" or savior and changes the councilman's life in a spiritual sense.
There are a bunch of women in this movie who get nude. One is Maria Ford, who is in a lot of these modern sexploitation movies. There is also a former porn star who does a striptease, and of course, I don't think that's right. Using porn actresses in real movies isn't fair.
The movie actually isn't too bad. It does keep your interest and has some bizarre visuals. It also shows a good sense of humor in places. On the down side, it does have the kind of pandering crap that you usually find in these erotic thrillers. But, if you had to go to the video store and rent one of these, you could do a lot worse (like selecting anything with Andrew Stevens in it). I'll give the movie a strong 3.
Oh, and our good buddy Fred Olen Ray plays a role as the MC at the strip club. Always good to see Fred.