During the ‘90s, the erotic thriller was a hot genre, but you wouldn’t have known this if you hung out at the cineplex. These were spicy films made directly for the home video market since they sensed the viewing audience wanted a little privacy. Who needed a nosy usher or the sound of others ooing and awing in nearby seats? The only thing they wanted to hear was a VCR loading a tape. The Queen of the genre was Shannon Tweed. The Canadian had won Playmate of the Year honors for 1982. Unlike so many women that appeared in the magazine, Tweed actually got her acting career going with appearances in Hot Dog…The Movie, Meatballs III: Summer Job and the TV series Falcon Crest. She had plenty of supporting roles in the ‘80s, but her big breakthrough happened in the ‘90s when the erotic thrillers took off at video stores. A lot of Mom and Pop stores and major chains had to get rid of their beaded curtain adult sections because of local law enforcement shaking them down or just corporate policy. The stores wanted carnal elements to the films without the explicit elements. Quite a few production companies were ready to provide films that would fill this niche. They’d have rather sensual covers promising an alluring actress with a weapon to remind us that this was an erotic thriller with a plot. Shannon Tweed had the two things that worked for the genre, decent acting chops to keep a thriller tension and ability to lose her wardrobe when the movie needed the erotic element. Illicit Dreams & Indecent Behavior is a double feature from Shannon Tweed’s glory days as the Queen of Erotic Thrillers.
Illicit Dreams (1994 – 97 minutes) has Moira Davis (Shannon Tweed) has a rich wife trapped in an abusive marriage. Her husband David (Green Book’s Joseph Cortese) wants her to keep the house clean while he’s off in his home office banging his secretary. It’s a loveless marriage and she can’t afford to leave him. The only thing keeping her happy is a recurring dream of her meeting a stranger and hooking up. Her astrologer tells her that this is more than a dream. What Moira doesn’t know is that the stranger exists. He’s home renovation guy Nick Richardson (Night Eyes 2’s Andrew Stevens) who has been having dreams involving getting freaky with Moira. When the two finally meet, things get sizzling fast. But how is Moira’s husband going to deal with her getting a little side action. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who is cool with an open marriage concept.Things get rough quick with the hothead David. Things might not end well for this pair of dream lovers and few other people. Andrew Stevens’ mom Stella Stevens (The Silencers) has a role in the film.
Indecent Behavior 4 (1997 – 94 minutes) is also known as Human Desires. You don’t have to see the other three films since Shannon Tweed isn’t playing relationship therapist Dr. Rebecca Mathis. Here she is Alicia Royale, a fashion company owner who is launching a new lingerie line with a fancy pajama party. The party turns into one of those parties with supermodels snorting blow and getting out of their party costumes.The launch gets plenty of press when the spokesmodel for the underwear line turns up dead in the swimming pool. Model Zoe Taylor (Warlock: The Armageddon’s Dawn Ann Billings) doesn’t think her friend ended up in the pool under the police explanation. She gets Dean Thomas (Sorceress II: The Temptress’ Christian Noble) to poke and snoop to see if it was a suicide. Alicia cooperates with Dean although her husband wants to buy off the P.I. and make him go away. He doesn’t need anymore bad press lurking out there. Dean’s investigation leads to flashbacks of the model hooking up with various suspects. It’s like a frisky Citizen Kane. Noble’s Dean is reminiscent of a young Joe Don Baker in Mitchell. They’re both rather slovenly investigators who somehow hook up with women that are way above them. Guess the ladies can’t resist the hoarder apartment atmosphere. Ladies can’t also reist Alicia’s husband with his hairdo borrowed from jazz great David Sanborn. The biggest tension in the film is when Dean interviews Alicia and we keep waiting to see her sensual flashback story involving the girl in the pool, but then the filmmakers pull out a twist. I won’t spoil the magic. Whether you consider the film Indecent Behavior 4 or Human Desires, this movie delivers the goods at making sure all suspects get freaky on screen. They do such a good job that you forget there’s a murder mystery at the core of the film.
Rarely do you hear discussions of the cinematic achievements of Shannon Tweed in the ‘90s. But if you went to a video store in the ‘90s, she was a huge star as big as Bruce Willis and John Travolta. Nowadays Shannon Tweed is best known as Gene Simmons’ wife on the old Family Jewels reality TV show. It’s been 11 years since it was canceled. This double feature shows her real screen talent that made people pick up her video cassettes from the shelf with all the other steamy box covers. She wasn’t the same character in all her films. Illicit Dreams lets her play a wife trapped in a nightmare relationship. Indecent Behavior 4 has her as a successful business woman who doesn’t want one bad party to destroy her dreams. The only thing her characters have in common is a desire to strip down with guys who need a shave. Illicit Dreams & Indecent Behavior
The video is 1.33:1 full frame. The films were made for home video and cable channels so this is their true aspect ratio. They also appear to have been transferred off a standard video master. I’m guessing the movies were shot on film, but edited on video since VHS was their core audience. This was a popular approach to post-production for TV dramas in the ‘80s and early ‘90s. The audio is Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 which was also the original mix for the VCR crowd. The movies are subtitled in case you need to turn down the volume so anyone else in the house won’t know what you’re watching.
Trailer Gallery includes Bare Exposure, Illicit Dreams, Indecent Behavior 4, Midnight Confessions and Test Tube Teens from the Year 2000. All the movies are coming out from Skin Max in the coming weeks on double feature DVDs.
Skin Max presents Illicit Dreams & Indecent Behavior. Directed by Andrew Stevens & Ellen Earnshaw. Screenplays by Karen Kelly & Todd Smith. Starring Shannon Tweed, Andrew Stevens, Stella Stevens, Christian Noble & Ashby Adams. Boxset Contents: 2 movies on 1 DVD. Rating: Unrated & Rated R. Release Date: January 24, 2023.
