Illicit Dreams 2 (3½ Stars)

Jeff is a fashion photographer who is still grieving over the death of his wife in a car accident. After five years alone he begins to date the advertising chief of a large cosmetics company. But the romance does not go as smoothly as he expects.

This is an erotic thriller. This is a film genre that is a crossover between traditional thrillers and soft pornography. Typically there's a murder, someone has to solve it, and during the solving of the case the main character has sexual encounters, often with the murder suspects. The best known film in this genre is "Basic Instinct". Unlike "Basic Instinct", almost all erotic thrillers are low budget productions that are never shown in cinemas. They make money for the filmmaker by being rented in video stores, or by being shown on television film channels. Films like this were very common in the 1990's, but they're losing in popularity now.

There was a series of three Illicit Dreams films. They have nothing to do with one another. They have also been released with different names, which is something that always distresses me. The second film, which I'm reviewing now, was released in 1998. The DVD cover features a photograph of Julie Strain, who only appears in the third film. They must have got confused. I wish the film companies would put more effort into DVD releases.