The first "Mirror Images" was among the worst of the straight-to-video erotic thrillers I have seen. These movies always go overboard on the plot - to the extent that it gets in the way of the sex - but they rarely go as far as that movie, which included twins swapping identities, political scandal, and a masked slasher. It was boring, and also wasted Julie Strain.
So I approached this sequel with trepidation. It does have a bright spot, however: b-movie goddess Shannon Whirry is in it this time, in the dual role.
It's yet another softcore b-movie made by the supposed "Scorsese of b-films", Gregory Dark. I think he should be rechristened the "Alan Smithee of Smut" based on his penchant for pseudonyms and the general low standard of his work. Scorsese? Please.
Yet again, we get Whirry talking to a therapist, as she did in the Animal Instincts movies, and a husband who doesn't mind if she cheats.
In this one, the evil twin (yes, there's always a good one and an evil one) cheats with the good twin's husband, apparently fooling him into thinking she is the good one. When the good one walks in on them, the husband falls down the stairs to his death, and then we are told that the bad twin died in a fire someplace.
I wonder if there was ever anyone who watched this movie who actually thought she was really dead?
You know one thing that generally signposts a softcore flick as being from the nineties?
Saxaphones during sex scenes.
I get tired of that, and appreciated "Mirror Images II" for having an unusual soundtrack in that it didn't feature them.
This one doesn't skimp on the sex, as some of these b-skin flicks have (unbelievably) been guilty of doing, but I confess I actually got a little tired of the sex scenes this time around. I am starting to feel that if you have seen one softcore sex scene, you've seen them all.
The movie totally lost me in the second half, but don't they always. I couldn't be bothered following it, which I'm sure would have been an exercise in futility. It's a confusing jumble, and who can be bothered trying to untangle it when the pieces are so uninteresting?
At least "Mirror Images II" was better than the sub-par first one.
