Steven St. Croix plays a frustrated husband whose bark and
bite need some serious sedation. And therein lies part of the
problem to the viewer's commitment to The Darker Side,
Jonathan Morgan's directorial coming out party. (He also
wrote the script.)
Rather, you'd like to put a club to St. Croix's noggin as
though he were a baby seal but for reasons that can be
justified in a court of natural law, and Morgan hasn't helped
matters by allowing his comrade free access to shameless
posturing in a story about multiple personality.
St. Croix hasn't had sex in two months, vehemently calling
his wife Carol (Leena) "a boring piece of ass." Since St.
Croix establishes from square one that his shallow character
is drenched in emotional pathos, does one really give a rat's
ass whether he gets a lease on a new sex life, thanks to
Carol's doppelganger, the taunting, defiant, bitchy
Liz?
The dramatic vehicle has seen as many reincarnations as
Madonna, but Morgan's definition of Liz tops them all. She's
so detached in personality, that, evidently, she's capable of
making phone calls to herself! Now there's a trick.
Morgan, however, fares better as captain of a salvage crew.
He solicits pretty decent sexual offerings particular when
St. Croix's co-worker Paul (Alex Sanders) shows up, not to
car pool, but car tool Carol only to have Liz call it the way
she sees it. Instead of Carol, Sanders takes "Liz" for a spin
on the freeway of love featuring some zesty canine-style
fucking.
In this three-ring circus of infidelity, Sanders' wife,
pretty D.J. Alden screws around with cableman Jay Ashley,
affording the viewer mystical contemplation as to exactly
what kind of tattoo bathes her ass. Then, for a man who
despises the missionary position as much as he says he does,
St. Croix's character certainly sees enough of this kind of
action in a threeway with Alden and the Liz character.
In another scene St. Croix comes home only to be handcuffed
as hookers Tami Monroe and Amanda Rae squirm on an oriental
carpet like two silverfish in search of a first edition of
Charles Dickens before Leena joins in, allowing Tami to
evacuate the scene like O.J. Simpson.
Perhaps in search of a Best Actor nod, St. Croix's character
contributes a round of emotions usually reserved for a psycho
ward inmate, and St. Croix discovers through Carol's real
sister (Nicole London) that there is no Liz, establishing the
sequel.
Keep the two-part factor in mind when stocking, and the
quaint notion that St. Croix's existential rantings put this
one in cult status territory.
Review from AVN
Straight & Fetish Movies
