Cajun Heat

Influenced by Alan Parker's "Angel Heart" , "Cajun Heat" finds filmmakers Fred Lincoln and Patti Rhodes in a fanciful mood, dealing with the supernatural. I enjoyed it up to a point, but unfortunately it has an unfinished quality and unsatisfactory conclusion.

One striking aspect of the movie is that unlike Parker, the team here is working on a low budget, and the entire video is shot inside the studio. A key set depicting a cemetery is attractively designed and extremely fake looking -not really a defect, because it gives the movie a true fantasy look.

The script deals with dark rituals and supernatural aspects that are quite intriguing. Sunset Thomas stars (in the Mickey Rourke role) as an investigator sent by mysterious Steven St. Croix to an area near New Orleans to search for a missing singer Angelique. She encounters two local women (newcomer Traci Prince and busty Teri Diver) who slip her a mickey and tie her up spreadeagled, bondage style in a pentagram and cast spells. Traci also drips plenty of candle wax on unconscious Sunset's body.

Marc Wallice and Debi Diamond are locals who become involved in the odd goings-on, and most of the cast is murdered off-screen. When Sunset comes to and escapes she feels guilty and assumes she is the murderer, but a surprise ending sorts out the mystery, without tying up loosd ends -in fact introducing more ambiguity into the story.

Like "Angel Heart", this provides plenty of steamy sex, and the otherworldly atmosphere is quite effective. I only wish scripter Patti had done a better job with material that held more promise than usual in the team's storytelling universe.