Aided by a pitch-perfect acting job from veteran Herschel Savage, IMPACT lives up to its title - presenting a simple B-movie of old, but in the modern video XXX format. Filmmaker Red Ezra doesn't make fun of the second features so popular in the '40s and '50s,
There's one scene where he put his cards briefly on the table - heroine Anne Marie Rios is watching TV, interrupted by the arrival at her door of an old boyfriend who wants to get laid. When they hump they're framed by the TV in the foreground and it's a really old model, with rabbit ears and even tin foil at the end of one to improve reception - downright ancient to see in 2015 but still antiquated for a 2004 movie.
Intro has Savage and partner Ron Jeremy in their police cruiser with Ron handling the nonsensical banter that made those old Bs so much fun. Herschel stops at his regular diner to pick up a sandwich, while a robbery is in progress, and Jeremy is killed -the movie barely 5 minutes old.
Hardly the shock of Hitchcock's use of Janet Leigh in PSYCHO, but offing Ron so quickly was a wonderful surprise - I hadn't watched IMPACT in about 8 years and was caught napping a second time. Red also recalls the economy of the old Monogram/PRC type Bs: their night drive doesn't even have a process screen, just a car rocking unconvincingly in the studio.
Savage's boss George Kaplan (porn mainstay who also co-wrote IMPACT's script) is angry as usual, blaming Herschel for taking chances and causing trouble habitually. He outfits him with a new partner, the beautiful Ann Marie Rios, and before you can say Dirty Harry they're endlessly squabbling with politically incorrect asides by Savage.
Plot is minimal and cornball, with Joey Ray as the Mr. Big of an arms smuggling caper, Barrett Blade as his stooge and eventually the cops' informant, and busty Kelly Erickson as the corrupt assistant d.a. deeply involved.
There are 7 concise sex scenes replete with condoms, and Anne Marie excels in three of them, notably a sun bathing lesbian tryst with Erickson that is plenty hot. I'm a big fan of hers in recent times (though she seems to have stopped working) and was pleasantly surprised to see her in this early starring role in her career - I had not made the connection originally since she changed her billing, adding the Rios to her moniker.
Ezra, who handles nearly every technical credit, did a fine job of keeping the film simple, sleek and atmospheric, and including an abstract bare brick wall bedroom set for Barrett Blade that was particularly eye-catching. I've enjoyed his work from the beginning, and remain mighty puzzled as to why Red was demoted from director 8 years ago, now only cranking out porn as a camera operator or still photographer. He deserves better.
There's one scene where he put his cards briefly on the table - heroine Anne Marie Rios is watching TV, interrupted by the arrival at her door of an old boyfriend who wants to get laid. When they hump they're framed by the TV in the foreground and it's a really old model, with rabbit ears and even tin foil at the end of one to improve reception - downright ancient to see in 2015 but still antiquated for a 2004 movie.
Intro has Savage and partner Ron Jeremy in their police cruiser with Ron handling the nonsensical banter that made those old Bs so much fun. Herschel stops at his regular diner to pick up a sandwich, while a robbery is in progress, and Jeremy is killed -the movie barely 5 minutes old.
Hardly the shock of Hitchcock's use of Janet Leigh in PSYCHO, but offing Ron so quickly was a wonderful surprise - I hadn't watched IMPACT in about 8 years and was caught napping a second time. Red also recalls the economy of the old Monogram/PRC type Bs: their night drive doesn't even have a process screen, just a car rocking unconvincingly in the studio.
Savage's boss George Kaplan (porn mainstay who also co-wrote IMPACT's script) is angry as usual, blaming Herschel for taking chances and causing trouble habitually. He outfits him with a new partner, the beautiful Ann Marie Rios, and before you can say Dirty Harry they're endlessly squabbling with politically incorrect asides by Savage.
Plot is minimal and cornball, with Joey Ray as the Mr. Big of an arms smuggling caper, Barrett Blade as his stooge and eventually the cops' informant, and busty Kelly Erickson as the corrupt assistant d.a. deeply involved.
There are 7 concise sex scenes replete with condoms, and Anne Marie excels in three of them, notably a sun bathing lesbian tryst with Erickson that is plenty hot. I'm a big fan of hers in recent times (though she seems to have stopped working) and was pleasantly surprised to see her in this early starring role in her career - I had not made the connection originally since she changed her billing, adding the Rios to her moniker.
Ezra, who handles nearly every technical credit, did a fine job of keeping the film simple, sleek and atmospheric, and including an abstract bare brick wall bedroom set for Barrett Blade that was particularly eye-catching. I've enjoyed his work from the beginning, and remain mighty puzzled as to why Red was demoted from director 8 years ago, now only cranking out porn as a camera operator or still photographer. He deserves better.