Sins of the Night

This has got to be one of the best erotic thrillers ever made. It may be a bit far-fetched at times but the erotic content in this movie is fantastic, especially Deborah Shelton. She plays Roxy, the ex-girlfriend of insurance CEO Ted Quincy (Matt Roe) who wants her back and her husband dead in order to collect the insurance. The plot is a bit convoluted but the obvious standout scene is the one with Miss Shelton and Nick Cassavetes, Jack, the ex-con insurance investigator who is - sorry, no spoilers. A mention also goes to Michele Brin who plays the suspected insurance fraudster early in the film. It is a pity we do not see more of her.

Despite the praise for this film mentioned above, two stars have been deducted because I feel that there were missed opportunities for more erotic content; Michele Brin mentioned above; Courtney Taylor has legs to die for so we could have seen more; and there is a hint of a girl/girl relationship. In conclusion, if you are a fan of the erotic thriller genre, this film is a must-see.

Sins of the Night attempts to weave a suspenseful thriller shrouded in mystery and noir aesthetics, yet struggles to maintain a steady grip on its narrative and tonal ambition. The film's atmosphere vacillates between moody tension and moments of uninspired pacing, creating an uneven cinematic rhythm that occasionally disengages the viewer. Cinematography leans heavily on dimly lit interiors and shadow play, effectively establishing a noir-ish texture but often sacrificing clarity and narrative momentum.

Performance-wise, the cast delivers competent work, though no single actor emerges as a standout beacon. The leads embody their roles with professionalism, but the script's thin character development and dialogue limit the emotional impact and depth they can convey. Director's choices reflect an earnest effort to build suspense and intrigue but fall short of fully realizing the story's potential.

Ultimately, Sins of the Night feels like a middling thriller that flirts with classic genre elements but is weighed down by a predictable plot and uneven execution. It offers occasional glimpses of atmosphere and intrigue but fails to sustain a compelling grip across its runtime.

Erotic thrillers were one of the strong points of 1990s cinema, giving the world successes like "Basic Instinct" or "Eyes Wide Shut," in contrast to the absurd number of erotic comedies of the two previous decades. This film is just another example of these films where sex, more than an accessory or a mean of capturing audiences, is an essential part of the plot.

Produced by Andrew Garroni and directed by Gregory Dark, the film tells the story of a convicted criminal who gets a job at an insurance company during his parole. His task is to investigate fraud and prevent the company from wasting its money on scams, and he's good at it, employing his cynicism and criminal experience for a good purpose. It turns out he's also a pathological womanizer who can't resist a woman's legs, and ends up involved with his boss's ex-lover, who is now married to an extremely dangerous mobster and manages a luxury brothel. What he doesn't know is that she's eager to get rid of her husband and get her hands on his life insurance money.

In general, the film will appeal to those seeking acceptable artistic softcore, that is, those who want to see some bare skin without resorting to the infamous internet pornography, or those who see artistic nudity as some bizarre form of liberation or empowerment. I, who watched the film basically to write about it, wasn't impressed. The many sex scenes, in my opinion excessively long and graphic, end up serving as an intermission and could perfectly be heavily cut in post-production that wants, for example, to make a more palatable version with a lower rating. In other words, the film "pauses" to show the sex, and that didn't work well for me because it leaves the feeling that the plot is just an excuse to justify that scenes. To make matters even more tiresome, the plot itself is full of hard-to-swallow logical holes, one of the most obvious being the lack of reason for an insurance agent to be tasked with investigating a situation that supposedly happened years ago. It's an excuse for that chairman to get information about that woman, so obvious that it undermines much of what happens afterward. The relationship between the female characters is also not very well-developed, and several seem to have been included only to provide more sex.

On a technical level, the film also has flaws. Besides the pacing problems, it fails to properly recreate the tension and suspense inherent in noir movies, which it desperately tries to imitate both in the plot and in the aesthetics! The film wants to be noir, but it can't; it lacks the tension or suspense to be so. The soundtrack (which is one of the film's strong points) does everything it can to help with very sensual and warm melodies, and the hazy cinematography blends well with the night scenes, illuminated by streetlights and neon signs... but none of this creates suspense without a competent plot.

The actors, in turn, do what they can to help, but their efforts are hampered by the poor conception and development of the characters and dialogues. Nick Cassavetes and Deborah Shelton are the big stars, and both have consistent chemistry and a sensuality that allowed them to thrive in this type of cinema, but they don't work miracles. Miles O'Keefe does a good job to deserve our disdain, but that's basically all he's in the film for, and he can't add much more.

I caught this on late night on Showtime or one of the Movie channels and low and behold to my shock and surprise there was totally hot Deborah Shelton, 1970 Miss USA, who used to be on Dallas, and Meline Griffith played her body double in the movie Body Double. Well, in this flick Deborah goes all the way. Her body is a perfect as I always imagined it would be, those many times fantisizing about her from Dallas and Body double. This flick is worth it for her scenes alone.

Jack Neitszche is one of those small-time ex-cons who never seem to catch a break. Now he is forced to track down Roxanne Flowers, an ex-stripper who has too many skeletons in her closet -- all of the kind that Jack should avoid like the plague. But Roxy is one woman who can't be ignored, and Jack falls hard -- even though he knows he shouldn't -- and very soon he finds himself in a dangerous triangle with none other than Tony Falcone, a mafia-type who has a penchant for violence and making people suffer. Very soon all hell breaks loose, and when the dust clears there are dead bodies, broken lives, and a dangerous world whose rules never seem to change.

Sins of the Night is a surprising sleeper of a movie whose low budget filmmaking actually adds to its appeal and in the process rivals much larger films like Basic Instinct. Besides creditable performances by Deborah Shelton, Nick Cassavetes, Richard Roundtree, Miles O'Keefe, and the rest of the cast, an added bonus is the writing. Russell La Valle is clearly a writer who should be watched, as he has a natural flair for dialogue and character development, and knows how to weave them into a compelling story. Certainly a talent to watch.

I hope Hollywood takes notice and understands the entertainment value of films like Sims of the NIght and begins duplicating the formula for good small budget movies that have been missing for too long.