This latest erotic thriller from Retromedia is directed by Dean McKendrick and written by “Suzanne Cabot.” It came out a couple of months ago, I caught it on Amazon video, and I thought I had reviewed it here, but it turns out I didn’t. But then when I went to rectify that mistake, it was no longer available on Amazon video, so I had to order the DVD and wait for it, in order to watch it again as I couldn’t find my notes for it, and didn’t want to try to review it from memory. Now here we go.

It stars Carter Cruise as Rachel, a seductive female serial killer (yes, that is becoming a bit of stock character type in Retromedia’s recent films, not that I’m complaining). Rachel’s general modus operandi is to seek out her prey in a bar, flirt with them and then go somewhere to have sex with them, and then after sex she stabs them to death, and then she writes a letter on their chest in red lipstick. This leads the police to initially dub her “The Lipstick Killer”, which probably would have been a better title for this film. At one murder scene she inadvertently leaves behind a bloody high-heel imprint next to the body, and then at another scene one of her high-heels actual breaks off as she’s leaving the scene of another murder, and  it is found by the police. Hence the actual title.

It’s kinda hard to recap without spoilers so, fuck it, here’s the basic scoop. Five years earlier, Rachel and her sister Ally (Blair Williams), were out partying where the met up with a bunch of guys. While Rachel was dancing with one, she saw Ally go off to a backroom with another, then later that night Ally was found dead in that room. Now Rachel is looking for revenge, tracking down the guys who did it and killing them. The letters she’s writing on each one’s chest are A, L, L, and Y, to spell out her sister’s name (and while I realize that murderers out for revenge aren’t always thinking clearly, it seems poor plan to literally spell out a name like that, as it could be a pretty strong clue to finding you, but nevermind). The men in question are played by Andrew Espinoza Long, Angelo Bertoli, and newcomer Leandro Dottavio. Turns out the men were all either dirty cops or drug dealers. Brent Harvey plays Sam, a police detective who is investigating the murders. It turns out that he was friends with the men, and was there the night of the murder. But afterward, he cleaned up his act became a good cop, while the others were kicked off the force. Mia Li is his partner Maggie, who’s investigating the case with him.

So that’s the premise of the film, we see Rachel hooking up with each guy and killing them, while Sam and Maggie try to search for the connection between the killings and figure out who’s next on the list. All leading up to a big confrontation at the end, in which there is a “twist” ending.

The premise is good, but I feel like it could have been presented better, with a bit more mystery to it. The ending plot-twist is interesting, but not as shocking as it feels like it was meant to be. Then again, it’s possible that my expectations for Retromedia are a bit higher when they do erotic thrillers like this, as I tend to compare them to the classic erotic thrillers of the 80’s and early 90’s? I can definitely see that McKendrick and company put a lot of effort into attempting to make this story stand-out. And I’m not even sure if I can pinpoint exactly what I would have changed to make it better myself. So take my opinion with a grain of salt.

But there’s a couple of things that are not disputable, one of which is the cast. The cast is stellar, everyone does a good job, there’s not a weak link in the bunch. So that helps make propel the story. The second saving grace are the SEX SCENES!

We get seven in this film, and if you like Carter Cruise, you will definitely be happy as she is in five of them. She has sex with Andy Long, with Leandro Ottavio, a lesbian see with Mia Li, and two scenes with Brent Harvey. The other two scenes feature Angelo Bertoli, who has sex with Blair Williams, and also a scene with Pristine Edge/Jane Doux. I have to say that those last two would be my favorites, especially the Doux scene, which takes place in an outdoor pool. But that’s no knock on Carter Cruise, all of her scenes are hot too. And it’s too her credit (as well that of director Dean McKendrick) that you can have the same woman in multiple scenes and each one is unique enough, that you find them equally arousing.

Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention, the amazing August Ames appears in this film in a small role, she plays a stripper who performs on a stage in a bikini (which comes off) during the opening credits.

Dean McKendrick said yesterday that this film was his favorite out of Retromedia’s 2017 outfit. Well, I think it’s good, I’d give it a solid 4 STARS, but if I were to list them, I’d place this film fourth, after SLEEPING BEAUTIES, KISS AND KILL, and BEDROOM EYES, which puts it above ILLICIT DESIRES and CINDERELLA’S HOT NIGHT.

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