Bedroom Eyes (3 Stars)

This is the 23rd film directed by Dean McKendrick, made in 2017. It's the last film that he made for Retromedia.

"Bedroom Eyes" is another erotic thriller, and it follows the usual pattern of a woman killing men either during or immediately after sex. The plot is somewhat more complex than in Dean McKendrick's other films. Two detectives, Parker and Jake, are hunting for a serial killer who leaves her victims dead in bed. The prime suspect is Jake's girlfriend, who works as a webcam model, and he's torn between his professional duty and his personal feelings.

The film's highlight is a brief appearance by the ever delightful Beverly Lynne. Apart from that, I find the film disappointing. I don't understand why I rated the film so highly the last time I watched it. After watching all of Dean McKendrick's films in order, I find this the weakest of his erotic thrillers, possibly the weakest of all his films. I think the complexity of the film spoils it. I have nothing against complex plots, but in this case it isn't done well. It was obvious from the start that the detective's wife couldn't be the killer, and as soon as all the characters had been introduced I knew who it was. It was so obvious that there was no mystery at all.

"Bedroom Eyes" is still available from Amazon on DVD, if you're curious about it. It's a must-buy for Beverly Lynne's fans.

High Heel Homicide (4 Stars)

The police are hunting for a serial killer. The only clue is a shoe left behind on the lawn outside a victim's house. Is this a variation of the Cinderella fairy tale? Not quite, but it's still the final clue that helps Detective Brent Harvey find the killer.

This is the 21st film directed by Dean McKendrick, made in 2017. It's his fifth erotic thriller, but it's the first film in which he's captured the essence of the films made in the 1990's, the golden age of erotic thrillers. If you've watched as many erotic thrillers as me, you'll know what I mean.

Someone is killing ex-policemen and leaving them naked on the floor with a letter painted on their chest. Déjà vu? This is the second time Andy Long has been murdered by a beautiful women at the beginning of a film. He gets an A on his chest.

The second victim gets an L.

The third victim gets another L. He's not naked, because the killer was disturbed and didn't have time to have sex with him.

It's not a secret who the killer is. From the beginning we see Carter Cruise callously murdering her victims. Erotic thrillers aren't necessarily murder mysteries, even if the two genres sometimes overlap. Besides, if a woman is killing men during sex, the viewer wants to see her in action.

We don't discover her motives until halfway through the film, after which we think the rest is predictable, but in the last ten minutes we get a plot twist. I know that I've criticised modern films for overusing plot twists in films, but plot twists are an integral part of erotic thrillers. Dean McKendrick got it right this time.

Brent Harvey doesn't have to solve the case alone. He's aided by his partner, Mia Li, who doesn't believe in wearing a bra. It must be a distraction when he's working on a case. Or is it only me who can't help staring at hard nipples under a flimsy top?

Maybe girls with small breasts can get away with not wearing a bra, but in Mia's case the buttons on her blouse are straining. I'm sure she has accidents when she's chasing a criminal.

Brent Harvey is an excellent actor. This is the second of three films that he made with Dean McKendrick. I'm interested in seeing films that he's made with other directors.

I'm sorry if my review is making "High Heel Homicide" sound like a comedy. It's just the way I write. It's a serious film. It's not just a serious film, it's a very good film. It's still available on DVD from Amazon. Fans of erotic thrillers won't be disappointed, even if the film is in the typical Dean McKendrick style.

Illicit Desires (4½ Stars)

This is the 19th film directed by Dean McKendrick, made in 2017. Like all his other films released by Retromedia, it was made for television. Usually his films were released on DVD shortly after the first television broadcast, but there was a long delay with this film. His later films were released first, making me worry that it would be skipped.

It's difficult to see Dean McKendrick's films if you live outside of the USA. They were all released on DVD, but most of them are out of print by now. (Not "Illicit Desires". You can still order it from Amazon!) Many of his films, about half of them, are available for streaming with Amazon Prime Video, but they're censored. I don't understand that. If the full versions could be shown on television, why not on Amazon? If you want to watch one of his films on Amazon and you're not sure whether it's censored or not, there's an easy test: if it's shorter than 80 minutes, it's been censored.

The film starts with a domination scene, unique for Dean McKendrick. There haven't been any scenes vaguely like this in any of his other films. I'm sure my readers know by now that I'm fascinated by female domination, especially non-consensual female domination. That's what makes this scene so thrilling.

The dominatrix walks away, fully satisfied. After all, female domination is always about the woman being satisfied, not the man. She's masked, but easy to recognise. Those full lips belong to August Ames, who was already shown in the first photo of this post. According to IMDB, this was her last film before her untimely death, although that might just refer to the DVD release date, not when it was filmed in late 2016.

Is Andy Long fully satisfied? It's too late to ask him.

August Ames plays Bridget, a young intern in an advertising company with clear psychopathic tendencies. There are only brief allusions to her history before the film, but she seems to be a serial stalker, who's left a series of dead bodies behind her. "If I can't have you, nobody can". She's only taken her current job at the company M3 because she's followed the career of their advertising manager and wants to work with him. She enters his life, not just sleeping with him, but also rewriting his advertising campaigns.

Brent Harvey doesn't say No to her at first, but he begins to have doubts when he considers that she's only half his age. I've never understood the problem with large age differences. As long as a girl talks and acts maturely, there's no reason why I shouldn't be with her. In fact, many young girls are more mature than me, but that's another matter.

Ted Newsom plays the cool, calculating Detective Hammer. He doesn't let himself be drawn in by Bridget's charm or sex appeal. That's why I could never be a detective.

This is the darkest of Dean McKendrick's erotic thrillers. It's a good addition to anyone's DVD collection. I just wish it could have been released on Blu-ray.

Model for Murder (4 Stars)

This is the 15th film directed by Dean McKendrick, made in 2016. It's the first of his erotic thrillers.

I've already watched and reviewed this film a few times. I don't want to repeat myself, so I'll just publish a few photos of the film's lead actress, August Ames.

Click here for a review of the plot.

R.I.P. August Ames
August 23, 1994 – December 5, 2017

Click here for a report about the circumstances of her death.

Bedroom Eyes (4½ Stars)

I would say that this is Dean McKendrick's latest film, except it isn't quite true. It has only just been released, but it was made in 2016. Some of his later films were released first. I'm sure there's a reason behind it. I was growing impatient because I thought "Bedroom Eyes" would never be released. I was anxious to see it because it was one of the last two films that August Ames made for Dean McKendrick before her death. She only plays a relatively small role as a policewoman, but it was good to see her in one last film.

A woman has been killing men during sex. She seems to be well prepared for her victims, because the surveillance tapes are always removed from the houses where they live. The police detectives Jake and Parker are assigned to the case, but it soon becomes obvious that Jake has a conflict of interests. The main suspect is his girlfriend Willa. She works as a webcam girl using the screen name Bedroom Eyes. Jake already knows about her job and he grudgingly accepts it, because it isn't the same as prostitution. It's only men looking at her on their computer screens.

That's what he thinks, at least. All of her webcam customers live nearby, and she visits them to make extra cash. It's Willa's customers who have been dying.

This is yet another first class erotic thriller from Dean McKendrick. I hope he will make many more.

The portrayal of the webcam industry is unrealistic. It would be highly unlikely for a webcam girl to have a customer who lives in her own town, and it would be impossible for all her customers to be local. It's a career that girls choose in order to remain anonymous. They don't want to be touched or put in any sort of danger. If a man gets too pushy with her she can kick him out of her webcam room or simply turn off her cam. It's so easy.

I've visited webcam sites on and off over the last five years. Sometimes I've talked to girls, but mostly I've sat in silence. I'm not stupid. I know they do it as a job, and they want to be paid if they give a man special attention. Most men who visit webcams want special favours for free, but I know better. If I'm unwilling or unable to pay I lurk in the shadows. Some webcam sites allow men to watch women without them knowing they're being watched. That's good for me.

The reasons why girls do webcam shows are manifold. In the film Willa is doing it to support her mother who's in hospital and can't afford to pay her medical bills. That's a noble reason. My guess is that most girls are more selfish and do it to support their own lifestyle. Most girls are from countries with high unemployment like Romania and Colombia. If a girl is attractive enough she can make enough money from customers in other countries.

It isn't just a matter of being attractive, though. I've watched a lot of girls, and I've seen that it isn't always the sexiest girls who make the most money. To be successful a webcam girl has to understand and manipulate her customers. Most men like to think that they're in control, so the girls can offer the illusion that the men are in full control while they take their money. Some men want to be dominated, so the girls can easily demand money from them. Other men are lonely and want a friend, so the girls can be virtual girlfriends and ask for financial gifts. It's all about money, and the smartest girls can recognise each man's weak spot in order to get it. It's also a matter of recognising who is worth spending time with and who isn't. Some men are rich and others aren't.

But if, by some odd coincidence, a man lives within a few miles, don't meet him. Don't even let him know how close you are to him. That's the mistake Willa makes. Girls don't become webcam models to find a boyfriend, they do it to make money. They should keep their customers a long distance away, preferably the other side of the world.

Illicit Desires (4½ Stars)

I've been waiting for this film for a long time. Usually Retromedia releases their films on DVD shortly after they're first shown on television. In this case they waited more than a year. The catalogue number is REG 2207, which means it's older than the four most recent films I have. Yes, I buy every film directed by Dean McKendrick. Is there any reason why I shouldn't?

What I didn't know until I watched the film today is that "Illicit Desires" is the biggest film of August Ames' career. In all the other films I've watched she had a small or moderately significant role, but this time she played the lead role. There won't be a bigger film for her now. She committed suicide by hanging herself in a park last December.

The film opens as does "Basic Instinct". A man is having sex with a dominant woman. His satisfaction is short-lived. She walks away leaving him dead. As in "Basic Instinct", the woman is unrecognisable. Supposedly. She's wearing a mask, but it was easy for me to recognise August even without seeing her face. I've seen her naked often enough to know her body. The dead man isn't named, but it's the actor Andy Long. The scene is only inserted to let us know it's a murder story.

From then on we see August without her mask. She plays Bridget, an intern in an advertising company called M3. Her colleague Garrett, about whom she suspiciously knows much too much, is struggling to create a new advertising campaign for dildos. Maybe a woman should have been given the job. How can he promote something he's never used? Bridget comes to his assistance. She makes an extremely sexual promotional video which impresses his bosses, but they say he has to tone it down a bit.

Video number two is made, but Bridget exchanges the flash drive before he takes it to work. It's a video of Garrett and Bridget having sex. As a result Garrett is fired. Bridget claims she's punishing him because he only wanted her for sex, but by this time we already know she's crazy. It was her who seduced him, not the other way round. We know there will be more dead bodies, and the next is one of Garrett's younger ex-colleagues, found in an alley with Garrett's letter-opener in his chest.

This is the best erotic thriller made by Dean McKendrick so far. He's way too modest. He says that his priority is to make films as quickly as possible -- usually within one day -- so if a film turns out well it's just luck. I almost said that this time he was lucky, but that would be an insult. He obviously knows what he's doing. The only thing I can fault him on his is sound editing. In "Model for Murder" the dialogue is drowned out by the sound of the waves at the beach.

I enjoyed the film greatly, but as I sat afterwards my emotions were of sadness. What a waste of a young life! August died less than a year after this film was made. The cyberbullies who drove her to suicide still haven't apologised, as far as I know. They still think that it was her fault for being too sensitive when they told her to kill herself.

Model for Murder (4 Stars)

When I watched "Cosmic Calendar Girls" last week I said that I might re-watch the other two films in my collection starring August Ames. Here's one of them.

There's been a small war taking place on August Ames' Wikipedia page. On the one side it's the people who want to make the page as factual as possible; on the other side it's the cyberbullies and their supporters who don't want to be named as responsible for her death. The last edit was made only three hours ago, and I doubt it's the last version of the page. Let me state the facts here.

On December 3rd August Ames posted on Twitter that she didn't want to have sex with a man who regularly performed gay porn. She criticised her agent for signing her up for this film.

Bruce Beckham, the actor that she refused to have sex with, replied by calling her homophobic and uneducated.

Over the following two days a series of people, mostly gay men, attacked August on Twitter. The leader of the pack was Jaxton Wheeler, who called on August to swallow a cyanide pill.

On December 5th August Ames killed herself.

Bruce Beckham's initial reaction was to say that her death wasn't his fault. A day later he expressed regret and apologised for what he said. Several of his friends, including Dirk Caber, Conner Habib, Topher Drew and Mathew Mason, contradicted him and insisted it wasn't his fault.

Jaxton Wheeler, on the other hand, feels no guilt about his statements and continues to lie about his participation in killing August. In an official statement he says "None of my aggression was directed at August nor her ability to consent to who she decides to work with". I would quote more of his words, but I find them too sickening. He presents himself as a defender of the gay community to justify being responsible for August's death.

It's totally disgusting that a group of homosexual men ganged up on a sensitive young woman and drove her to suicide. Criticising these men doesn't make anyone guilty of homophobia, whatever they say. There are gay men throughout the world who would never have acted so badly. This whole catastrophe isn't about the pros and cons of homosexuality, it's about men being abusive to women. (If you check Jaxton Wheeler's Twitter account you can find examples of him talking badly to other women).

Now let's finally get back to the film itself. August Ames plays an upcoming model called Audrey Elfs. She's murdered early in the film, but she's shown taking part in a photoshoot at the beginning. I've reviewed the film elsewhere. Today I'll just publish some snapshots from the film's photoshoot.

August Ames
August 23, 1994 – December 5, 2017

Cosmic Calendar Girls (4 Stars)

It was with great sadness that I heard about the death of August Ames yesterday. She hanged herself on December 5th, four days ago, but the story wasn't made public at first. Now it's been reported on dozens of web sites. Most of the articles call her a "porn star", which is all that most people need to know to judge who she is. Porn stars enjoy a low esteem in the general public, especially female porn stars. Since the advent of high speed Internet it's become common to watch pornography, but people still look down on the actors and actresses who provide the entertainment they enjoy. What people forget is that there's a lot more to the porn stars, or adult entertainers, as they prefer to call themselves. They might be married, own pets, be well educated or active in their communities. They might be sensitive and afraid. Every one of them is a unique human being. They're just people who have chosen a certain career, supposedly one of the most difficult careers.

I wanted to write a tribute to August yesterday. I couldn't bring myself to do it. I read all of the online articles I could find. I read the final tweets on her Twitter account. I wanted to write a summary, adding my own thoughts. I couldn't do it. It hurt too much.

So today I took the logical step of watching one of her films to remember her in the privacy of my own home. I own three films she stars in on DVD: "Cosmic Calendar Girls", "High Heel Homicide" and "Model for Murder". Most of August Ames' films were hardcore pornography, but she also made a small number of softcore pornography films, which are more to my taste. As far as I remembered, out of the three films "Cosmic Calendar Girls" is the film in which she plays the biggest part, so that's the film I chose. I may watch the other two soon.

August Ames plays Ilya, a calendar model from Galaxia in the seventh star system of Orion. This is Ilya's normal appearance. For unknown reasons last year's calendar sold badly. I wonder why. Maybe the Galaxian feminists have been staging protests against women being objectified?

The publishing company wants to try something new. Ilya has dressed up as an Earth girl to make the calendar look more exotic.

What do you think? They might be on to a winning idea. If it doesn't succeed they could always try making a calendar with kittens and puppies next year. But let's give Ilya a chance first.

August Ames is stunning, even as a blonde. I would buy her calendar. The Galaxians hire Earth's top photographer to take pictures of her in the natural surroundings of Earth. Unfortunately, there are problems that prevent the photoshoot taking place. Ilya falls into the temptations of Earth. She drinks too much alcohol, which makes it impossible to maintain her Earth girl appearance. She starts to revert to her Galaxian look.

Now let's talk about the circumstances that led up to August's death.

It all began with a battle on Twitter. When I looked at August's account yesterday morning there were a large number of tweets. When I checked again today most were gone. Maybe Twitter removed them. Maybe the tweeters themselves felt ashamed of what they'd written and removed their own tweets. I hope the latter is the case. It's possible that there were even more messages that had already been removed before I checked yesterday. I don't know.

On December 3rd August Ames posted that she had refused to perform a sex scene with a man on the grounds that he regularly performed gay pornography. Her anger wasn't directed at the man, the porn star Bruce Beckham. She was angry with her agent for signing her up for this film, because she had clearly stated that she didn't want to perform with gay men or crossover men. ("Crossover" is the insider term for straight men who perform homosexual acts in films).

The first attack came from Bruce Beckham himself, who called her homophobic and uneducated. August defended herself by saying that she wasn't homophobic, because she's bisexual and feels strongly attracted to women. She added that many female porn stars refuse to perform sex scenes with men who are gay or crossover. For August the refusal to have sex with Bruce had nothing to do with homophobia, she was merely exercising her right to decide who she wanted to have sex with. Allegations were raised that the health checks in the gay porn industry aren't as stringent as in the mainstream porn industry, but this has been denied by others. I'm no expert on the subject, so I shan't comment further. What I can say is that for two days people were arguing about the subject. The claims of homophobia continued, while August's friends jumped in to defend her. Then she killed herself.

It's a clear case of cyberbullying. There's no doubt about it. Obviously, a stronger person wouldn't have reacted that way. August was a sensitive person, and the insults hurt her. She had already admitted to suffering from depression on occasions. But that's the way it is with any type of bullying, whether it's on the Internet or in the school playground. It's always the weak people who are the targets of the bullies. It's no fun attacking strong people. When I first entered grammar school there were bullies who picked on me. It didn't last long. They gave up when they realised that I didn't care.

However weak August may have been before her suicide, it was the bullies who pushed her over the edge. They're responsible for her death. They killed her.

This evening I've noticed that the discussions are still continuing. Bruce Beckham himself initially claimed to be guiltless in her suicide, but in his later tweets he expressed remorse. Unfortunately his friends are undoing his feelings of guilt by telling him it's not his fault. There's nothing wrong with feeling guilt. Guilt is therapeutic. If you tell yourself you did wrong you're less likely to make the same mistake in the future.

There's a small irony in the film "Cosmic Calendar Girls". At the end of the film August Ames begs the photographer to have sex with her, but he refuses, because he knows what she really looks like. She seeks solace by having a threesome with two other women. Homophobic? No way! She has sex with women after being refused by a straight man.

I'll end this review by posting a small photoset of August Ames, fully clothed. This should help those who didn't know her before now to appreciate her. Out of respect, I'm only posting photos in which she's fully clothed. If you want to see more explicit photos or videos of her there's a website called Google which will point you in the right direction.

The copyright holder for these photos is the Canadian film studio Twisty's. I hope they will allow me to use these images to honour August Ames in her death.

August Ames
August 23, 1994 – December 5, 2017