During the prime of Cinemax After Dark, producers realized that they needed to create films to appeal to their number one fans: computers nerds. Normally when a nerd appears in a movie, they are depicted with the stereotype of a guy with pocket protectors, dorky Elvis Costello glasses, bad haircut and clothes that their mother bought him. Computer nerds didn’t want to see themselves portrayed that way. They wanted to at least be shown as slightly cool hackers who didn’t need to hit the asthma inhaler between kisses. Skin Max’s double feature of Forbidden Passions and Lurid Tales: The Castle Queen gives nerds an OK name. Both movies feature virtual reality headsets leading to erotic adventures. This was a major jump in technology since most online computer took hours to download after calling up AOL on a 56K modem.
Forbidden Passions (1996 – 78 minutes) features a VR enthusiast’s ultimate nightmare. Mara (Debra K. Beatty) is a computer programmer who discovers that her boyfriend isn’t that into her outside of the friends with benefits level. He leaves and she puts on her bulky virtual reality headgear to get lost in the world she created. Because she’s inside the helmet, she has no idea what’s happening in her apartment. She finds herself taking with a character in a place she doesn’t remember making in the game. Turns out that’s because she’s dead, but this isn’t quite heaven. Because she was using her VR headset, her spirit is temporarily captured in the Virtual Domain. She has a small amount of time to make a difference in the lives of four other people using VR before she must go to the great beyond that’s non-binary. Mara has no problem hooking up with guys or a gal in the virtual world. She has to deal with the fact that her ex has claimed her VR project as his own. The movie has also been released as Cyberella: Forbidden Passions. It’s fun to see what people thought VR was going to be like before the rise of Oculus.
Lurid Tales: The Castle Queen (1997 – 82 minutes) is another virtual tale of hotness. Thomas Dunsmore (Carnal Crimes‘ Shannon Dow Smith) is a history nerd who heads down to the local arcade. The owner tempts him into trying her latest game which uses a headset that looks more like what they put on your head on the electric chair than a prototype of the Oculus. He ends up in 18th Century England where he has to help a royal family that’s having issues. One of the issues is a mother who needs her daughter to understand something that only Thomas can teach them. The history nerd really gets into the immersive historical scenario and the two daughters. There’s a lot of romance novel cover action on the screen. Thomas gets freaky in a castle set with hundreds of lit candles surrounding him and his local gal – just like someone must have envisioned when playing Naughty Dungeons and Dragons. Any history wonk can easily see Lurid Tales: The Castle Queen as their dream VR experience.
Both movies were written by Randall Fontana. He tapped into the erotic elements of VR simulation. He had a bit of a background with small roles in 2 major Hollywood VR related ’90s films with Lawnmower Man and Virtuosity (with Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Denzil Washington). He must have heard a lot of stories about VR while hanging on those sets. Randall Fontana was able to turn two small roles into two produced scripts. That’s something you might imagine happening in a VR simulation program.
The depiction of nerds in these films must have been a relief to real nerds that checked out the VHS tapes from Videorama. Mara and Thomas are not spazzes that speak in goofy voices. They’re a bit awkward and slightly introverted. Programmers and history fanatics could embrace them as much as the other unclothed characters in the films. Forbidden Passions and Lurid Tales: The Castle Queen is filled with so much seductive VR that you’ll skip using the Oculus tonight and break out the DVD player.
The Video is 1.33:1 full frame. Both films appear to be shot on film and edited on standard definition video. They were made for the video market. The Audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. You’ll hear the panting on either side of the screen. The movies are subtitled.
Trailers for Different Strokes, Forbidden Passions, Galaxy Girls, Lurid Tales of the Castle Queen, Midnight Temptations and Petticoat Planet. The films are part of the second wave of releases from Skin Max.
Skin Max presents Forbidden Passions and Lurid Tales: The Castle Queen. Directors Jackie Garth & David DeCoteau. Screenplays by Randall Fontana. Starring Debra K. Beatty, Marshall Hilliard, Rebecca Taylor, Daniel Namath, Landon Hall, Lesli Kay, Kevin Patrick Walls, Shayna Lee, David Millbern, Shannon Dow Smith, Kim Dawson, Cristi Harris, Betsy Lynn George, Mihaela Mihut & Crenguta Hariton. Contents: 2 movies on 1 DVD. Rating: Rated R. Release Date: April 23, 2024.
