Plot: What’s it about?
The realm of erotic cinema isn’t known for complex, well crafted storylines, nor performances that garner immense amounts of awards. Even so, there are standards to an extent and while some rise above the watermark, some also sink below that line. So in other words, if your writing or acting is bad by softcore porn standards, you might want to consider changing lines of work, or at least taking some kind of instructional courses. I say all this because while I usually write a brief synopsis in this opening paragraph, I struggled to write more than a few sentences with Hot Desires, which is, yes, bad even by softcore porn standards. I watched this because it came in a double pack with Tropical Passions, which looked interesting from the cover, which seemed to promise an erotic slasher picture. But that movie was made the same folks behind Hot Desires and while not as bad, Tropical Passions still isn’t good. The plot here concerns the wife of an insurance salesman, who gets lonely and greedy, so she indulges in a series of sexual escapades. She seeks out whatever partners she can and wastes little time in getting down to business, which means some poorly shot sexual encounters. How this comes together as a plot is mystifying even by any erotic standards, as even hardcore porn is more coherent than this.
This is about as bad as low rent softcore porn can be, with minimal positive attributes, especially in terms of technical filmmaking. The writing is poor, the budget must have been paper thin, and veteran softcore helmer Mike Sedan’s direction is flat. So without the usual stuff like a good plot, solid production values, and skilled direction, Hot Desires tries to skate by on the sex appeal of its stars. As a fan of sexploitation cinema, I’ve seen a lot of bad movies saved by beautiful women, but those are usually ones that also offer humor of some kind, even if its unintentional. So while the cast here is overflowing with hot bodies, even their physical specimens can’t save this clunker. The main chick here is Kara Styler, who is by all means a foxy woman, but her acting needs to be polished, to say the least. She might be fun to watch in a more comedic picture, but in Hot Desires, things are too serious and smother any potential entertainment. If you like Styler however, she can also be seen in Women Behaving Badly, Virtual Encounters 2, and of course, Casting Couch. The cast of sultry, yet untalented players also includes Eddie Jay (Animal Instincts II, Illicit Sensations), Jace Panabianco, Naomi Nektare, and assorted other one timers and locals roped into the production. This seems to have been made at the same time as a film called Tropical Passions, which brings back the same crew, but a different cast. But they’re both bad and unless you’re hard up for naked flesh, I recommend you look elsewhere.
Video: How does it look?
Hot Desires is presented in full frame, as intended. This seems to have been at the same as Tropical Passions and it shows, as both films have the same flawed visual presence. So I am simply bringing over my comments from that review, since both films have the same visual properties. This looks like a low budget project shot on video, so in other words, it doesn’t look too good. I watched this on a 61″ screen and it looked very soft, though on a smaller screen, the softness decreases, of course. Even so, you can tell this was shot on a thin budget, as the equipment used is pretty low end and by turn, we’re given an image that isn’t up to snuff. The colors and contrast look solid, but this is simply a visual effort that lacks polish in all respects. You can’t blame Lions Gate however, as this one was doomed from the start, thanks to the filmmakers’ approach.
Audio: How does it sound?
As this one also sounds just like Tropical Passions, I have also ported over my comments in this section. A basic, but acceptable soundtrack is found here, which more than covers the limited needs of this material. This sounds much like a television based mix, with decent left & right separation at times, but no real punch. That never proves to be an issue however, as this material never asks much of its audio presentation. The music sounds good, dialogue is clear, and the other elements are also well presented. This disc also includes English subtitles.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes no bonus materials.
