This 1998 film, written by Artie Kemper and directed by Eric Gibson, was credited as Dark Passion when I first saw it on TV and recorded it, but it’s listed as Vipers on IMDB. Either way, it’s a very hot softcore thriller. It doesn’t waste any time getting to the good parts, as it opens at a large mansion, and on the side of the yard Burke Morgan and Taimie Hannum are having sex. It’s a pretty hot, and realistic looking scene.

Morgan plays Trent Bortz, a successful doctor. Hannum is his live-in maid, Rosa. Michelle Von Flotow plays Trent’s bored and sexually frustrated housewife, Sela, who is apparently aware that her husband is banging the maid, but doesn’t seem to really care. Morgan Daniel plays Simon, who walks up to the mansion, and sees the end of Trent and Rosa’s indiscretion, and rings the doorbell. He meets Sela and announces that he is there to apply for the job of live-in caretaker (gardening, landscaping and such). After meeting with Trent, Simon gets the job, and moves into the guest-house.

Not long after (about 20 minutes into the film), Simon and Sela begin having an affair. During the course of the film, these two have 5 separate sex scenes together. Two scenes on a bed, one in the pool, one on the floor, and another scene standing up against a wall and on a table. It’s a huge testament to the onscreen chemistry of Flotow and Daniel in that we’re able to see the same two people together multiple times and yet each time it’s just as hot as the last. You won’t get bored watching them, trust me. Trent is always working, and when he’s home he’s otherwise distracted (there’s another scene of him and Rosa having sex, this time in the shower) so it’s easy to for Simon and Sela from keep their trysts a secret from him. But things get complicated when Trent’s daughter Lydia (Shayna Ryan) unexpectedly comes home from college.

There’s no wasting time with Lydia’s introduction either, as when we first see her she’s in bed having sex with some random dude (Chris Villa), across the hall from where Simon is staying. When she meets Simon she’s not very nice to him, and she doesn’t care much for her stepmother (probably because she’s only a few years older than her, and the feeling is mutual. This obviously complicates things with Sela and Simon, with Lydia around.

But the hottest scene in this film, is a foursome. Simon is bed at night when Sela comes into his room, closely followed by Lydia, and then Rose. All three women drop their robes and lingerie to slide into bed with Simon. I know I’ve written about the one man/three woman scene in HIDDEN BEAUTIES: THE AWAKENING, but this one is even hotter, albeit shorter at around 5 minutes. It stars with Sela getting on top of Simon while Rosa lays down next to them and Lydia gets on top of her. After a couple of minutes, Lydia and Rose move over to Simon and Sela. Rose gets on Simon’s right side and starts kissing him while Lydia gets on his left and starts kissing Sela as Sela continues to ride him. The Sela gets off and Lydia takes her place on top of Simon. What’s especially hot, and an excellent choice on the part of the director, is that the scene is frequently shot from Simon’s POV, so it’s like “we” the audience are in his place and the three women get on him. And then (SPOILER ALERT!) the phone rings and Simon wakes up. It was, of course a dream.

The “thriller” part of this film is when Sela tells Simon that Trent sometimes gets violent and hits her. We never see that, but we do see the bruise on her face, and scenes of Trent getting drunk. Then anonymous threatening letters start arriving in the mail. Without any further spoilers, I’ll just say that before this film ends, someone is shot dead, someone is arrested, and there is one more sex scene to close it out. Great cast, great story, beautifully shot, this film gets FIVE STARS.

This film is out of print, and a good copy can be expensive, but if you can find it, and make sure you’re getting the uncut UNRATED version, it is definitely worth it.