Haunting Desires (4½ Stars)

I can already hear my readers screaming that I've made a mistake. The film is called "Grave Desires". That's what it says on the Blu-ray box. Yes, I know, but the film's original title was "Haunting Desires" when it was released in 2003. The title was changed for the new release for copyright reasons. But I'm glad that I finally have it in my hands. I say finally, because it's the only Medina film which hasn't been released until now, apart from a censored version that Fred Olen Ray put together for Blockbuster.

The film is about a strip club in which the dancers are vampires. They make no attempt to hide their activities. They leave the corpses of their male customers naked and drained of blood where they're easy to find. The police are quick to investigate. Detective Trout (Jay Richardson) is aided by the newspaper reporter Jill Connor (Beverly Lynne). Or is he hindered by her? It's a bit of both.

For me, the person who carries the film is Evan Stone as the vampire Adrian. Evan is a prolific actor who's made over 1200 films, but I consider this his best role. This was his second film with Fred Olen Ray after "Tomb of the Werewolf", and they went on to make another 12 films together.

For some reason, Eric Masterson isn't credited, despite having a lot of screen time. He plays Jill Connor's unfaithful husband.

I find it difficult to believe any man would be unfaithful to a woman who looks like this. Beverly Lynne must be one of the most beautiful women on the planet.

The film isn't available from Amazon. It's sold exclusively by Makeflix, like most of the other recent Retromedia films.

Here's a summary of the Retromedia films so far, with the Blu-ray releases marked.

The Medina Collection

1. Thirteen Erotic Ghosts (2002)
2. (BR) Bikini Airways (2003)
3. (BR) Haunting Desires (2003)
4. Curse of the Erotic Tiki (2003)
5. Bikini Carwash Academy (2004)
6. Erotic Dreams of Jeannie (2004)
7. Teenage Cavegirl (2004)
8. The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful (2005)
9. Bikini Chain Gang (2005)
10. Ghost in a Teeny Bikini (2006)
11. Bikini Girls from the Lost Planet (2006)
12. Harlots of the Caribbean (2006)
13. Girl with the Sex-Ray Eyes (2006)
14. Bewitched Housewives (2006)
15. The Girl from BIKINI (2006)
16. Super Ninja Doll (2007)
17. Tarzeena (2007)
18. Voodoo Dollz (2008)
19. Bikini Royale (2008)
20. (BR) Bikini Frankenstein (2009)
21. (BR) Twilight Vamps (2009)
22. Bikini Royale 2 (2009)
23. (BR) Bikini Jones and the Temple of Eros (2009)
24. Housewives from Another World (2010)
25. Lady Chatterley's Ghost (2010)
26. Bikini Time Machine (2010)
27. Sexual Witchcraft (2010)
28. Bikini Warriors (2010)
29. The Teenie Weenie Bikini Squad (2011)
30. Dirty Blondes from Beyond (2012)
31. Busty Housewives of Beverly Hills (2012)
32. (BR) Baby Dolls Behind Bars (2012)

The McKendrick Collection

1. Strippers from another world (2013)
2. Big Bust Theory (2013)
3. Intergalactic Swingers (2013)
4. (BR) All Babe Network (2013)
5. Great Bikini Bowling Bash (2014)
6. Stacked Racks from Mars (2014)
7. Atomic Hotel Erotica (2014)
8. Lolita from Interstellar Space (2014)
9. Sexy Warriors (2014)
10. Bikini Avengers (2015)
11. (BR) College Coeds vs Zombie Housewives (2015)
12. Lust in Space (2015)
13. Erotic Vampires of Beverly Hills (2015)
14. Invisible Centerfolds (2015)
15. (BR) Cinderella's Hot Night (2017)
16. (BR) Sleeping Beauties (2017)

The Apocrypha

1. (BR) Bad Girls Behind Bars (2016)
2. Vixens From Venus (2016)
3. Cyborg Hookers (2016)
4. Cosmic Calendar Girls (2016)
5. Escape From Pleasure Planet (2016)
6. (BR) Paranormal Sexperiments (2016)

The Medina Collection consists of films directed by Fred Olen Ray using the pseudonym Juan Medina. The McKendrick Collection consists of films directed by Dean McKendrick. The Apocrypha consists of films directed for Retromedia by other directors.

Notes:

(1) "Bikini Carwash Academy" (Medina 5) was re-released with a different opening credits sequence, listing the director as Sherman Scott.

(2) "Tomb of the Werewolf" (not listed above) was directed by Fred Olen Ray using his own name, but it's in the Medina style. It has almost the same cast as "Haunting Desires".

(3) Dean McKendrick made seven erotic thrillers for Retromedia, not listed above.

(4) Apocrypha? If you have a better name for these films, let me know.

That's 12 out of 54 films released on Blu-ray so far. At the current speed they won't all be available on Blu-ray until 2040. I'm hoping Fred will speed up, but there are problems with the early Medina films. The first films were made in single density, so they'll need time-intensive remastering to be prepared for Blu-ray. Fred will only do that if he's 100% certain he'll make a profit. The later films shot in high density can be transferred to Blu-ray with a minimum of effort.