Scarecrow-88 Animal Instincts has quite a cast of characters for such a trashy movie. The delectable Shannon Whirry(the camera worships every inch of her succulent, ravishing body)is the bored wife of an underpaid cop who is consumed with money and what it brings. David Carradine is a drug-dealing pimp who operates a strip club and is tired of councilman Jan Michael Vincent, on a crusade against titty bars so that he can be elected mayor. Maxwell Kaulfield is the cop husband of Whirry who catches her in bed with the cable repair man and finds that he is aroused seeing his wife having hot sex with other johns. Setting up camera equipment and recording Whirry's trysts with powerful men such as lawyer, doctors, and other prominent clientèle offers an opportunity for Kaulfield to make some easy cash, and attempts to blackmail, through Carradine, Vincent when they have him on tape screwing around with an unknown woman in a mask. Sleazy premise provides director Gregory Dark with a chance to film soft-core sex between Whirry and a host of men(..and Delia Sheppard who actually offers to take her to Paris!). We get to see her in lots of lingerie and plenty times naked. John Saxon stops by at the tail end of the movie, an attorney representing Whirry and Kaulfield, feeding the press a cock-n-bull story about a woman's case of nymphomania due to a reaction towards a prescribed drug and how her husband was actually attempting to help her with such a problem by addressing what it was that affected their sex life. Carradine seems right at home in this smut and Whirry is rather comfortable and uninhibited in front of the camera performing..for quite a jubilant audience, I presume(..unless you are bothered and/or disturbed by the naked body of a gorgeous woman). The material is quite raunchy, but photographed in such a seductive way, mainly because, in my opinion, Whirry commands your attention. And, she has this smooth voice and soft lips which can only heighten her hypnotic grasp over you if you are willing to let go, allowing her to work her magic spell. The film is told in flashback with Whirry interviewed by a journalist, as she returns us to her story's origins. Many of the sex scenes are cut rather short, not getting too explicit. Vincent and Saxon have roles that aren't that significant, with each maybe in the movie five minutes tops. Carradine, however, makes quite an impression, he's such a maleficent, poisonous creature, and has some memorably depraved dialogue, where his character speaks fondly of his profession, the kind of man he is, pride evident in how he talks about himself.

mligorio Among the first soft-porn I ever saw was the made for TV "Emmanuelle" series starring Krista Allen. It got my attention, but I had two main problems with it: 1) It looked too much like an endless series of orgies and not enough like the love story it was supposed to be; 2) I didn't see anywhere near enough gratuitous footage of Krista Allen as I would have liked in various states of undress. The second shortcoming was by far my biggest grievance.After seeing numerous other soft-porn flicks, I gave up trying to find one that would give me what I wanted. I actually got Animal Instincts thinking it was a drama, and I almost deleted it after seeing a few scenes of ugly prostitutes in a sleazy night club. Fortunately, Shannon Whirry (Joanna) satisfied the most important criterion for the lead actress in this kind of film; i.e., she had good overall proportions and looked good in revealing attire. I especially liked her firm, well rounded derriere, although her breasts were too over-sized for my taste. That being said, she is not a bad actress either.If you stick with this film, you may find that the plot proves to be intriguing. Far from being the laughable joke that many soft-porn flicks are, Animal Instincts exhibits dramatic irony, conflict, suspense, and even clever wit, but it still has some logical flaws. The most critical of them, beyond and doubt, is that we are supposed to imagine a young couple in love, but the relationship between Joanna and her husband (David) wasn't developed enough to even come close to achieving this end. They should have shared more intimate secrets with each other, and the emotional and psychological links between the two should have been accentuated, even when they were not together in the same room. If you want a good example, read the following spoiler.{Begin spoiler} One day David comes home and finds Joanna in bed with another man, who he chases away. Then to our surprise, after what seemed like months of neglect, without a word Dave finally has sex with Joanna. Apparently, he was turned on by seeing her have sex with a perfect stranger. That might be true, but we are supposed to see that the relationship he shares with her is special and goes beyond a casual lay. It would have seemed more intimate if he had at first became enraged with jealousy. Then, after a passionate argument and a teary eyed moment where the two lovers kiss and make-up, finally we would enjoy a prolonged and intimate love scene. Certainly the sex between David and Joanna should have been the best in the film {End spoiler}.To sum it all up, in the context of a fairly intriguing drama, I found a soft-porn film that does a fair job of revealing the more appealing assets of the lead female role; not a trivial point, given that this is the raison d'etre of the film. Unfortunately, I have yet to find one good skin-flick that draws a clear distinction between true love and wanton sex.

Jackson Booth-Millard When I first saw the title I guessed it was something to do with actual creatures, but in my younger days I was much happier with what actually appeared, seeing it again however was a good idea to get a better opinion. Basically Joanna Cole (Shannon Whirry) feels the passion in her relationship with police officer husband David (Maxwell Caulfield) is going, it is like he is not interested in her anymore, and she is sexually frustrated. Needing some sexual attention and passion she does have sex with another man, which David sees and does nothing about, and the second time he catches her again, watching her a little bit, before getting rid of him. He makes it clear to Joanna that he is not angry at all, he has found a higher attraction for her through his love for voyeurism, and both agreeing they decide to have some more fun. So they get an article put in the newspaper advertising for men, women and couples to join Joanna for the evening for sexual passion, while David with the hidden camera watches on screen and gets turned on. Of course slowly they realise there are small consequences with what they are doing, including getting a gangster come in on them and force the husband to blackmail gangster like crook William Lamberti (Kill Bill's David Carradine). Also starring Jan-Michael Vincent as Fletcher Ross, Delia Sheppard as Ingrid, Mitchell Gaylord as Rod Tennison, John Saxon as Otto Van Horne, Josh Cruze as Hernandez, Tom Reilly as Ken, Erika Nann as Dianne, Kelly Royce as Jessica and Frank Swann as Officer Tom. Naturally being a teenager it was easy for me to be turned on to the sight of Whirry with another woman and exposing her breasts very often, as well as the occasional sights of other women in the film naked, but it is a rather ridiculous story that only soft porn can come up with, and not even sexual scenes can save it being dull, why did Carradine agree to be in it? A silly erotic thriller. Adequate!

flanagad There's really only one reason why you'd be watching a film like this. This film accomplishes everything one could hope for in this genre and not much else. If you don't know why you're watching it, stop, but if you do, you'll agree it's as close to perfect as possible.