Boasting a terrific script credited to Tony G, Paul Thomas's "Cry Wolf" is an engrossing erotic thriller. Casting of the leading man was a big mistake, causing a contender for classic status to fall short.
Central character is played by Monique Alexander in what I consider her best career performance. It's a role right out of classic '40s film noir: a double-dealing femme fatale. Credits sequence offers ambiguous foreshadowing, as we hear a voice say "Change of plans" followed by a gunshot before the film proper begins.
Alexander is with a creepy guy (Marcos Leon, seriously miscast) who picked her up that night. First reels have them locked in a sex tryst, each alternating having the upper hand, with a sinister, hopeless "In the Realm of the Senses" mood created.
Leon is a former child star with a Gold Record hanging on the wall proving his 1-hit wonder fame, and considers Alexander a groupie he has picked up at a bar to hump and discard like a used condom. In this Vivid release, we have condoms optional, with many scenes shot bareback while Monique gets humped by guys wearing protection.
Push comes to shove when the rough sex between the two leads to Leon getting offended and anally raping Monique, as the climax to their 2-character segment. Leon is wearing one of those "magical" rubbers -it appears out of nowhere on his cock for the anal penetration closeups right after being missing in the prior shots, harming the credibility of this crucial scene.
MANY SPOILERS AHEAD:
Tony G's script is quite ingenious at this point, effectively dividing the film into three parts, with different leading men. Leon phones his pal Mr. Marcus to come to the rescue, reminiscent of "The Cleaner" character invented by Luc Besson for his classic "La Femme Nikita".
When Marcus arrives the film's mystery and suspense thicken, as Thomas presents the next few scenes in variable order, including many flashbacks. Leon tells Marcus about his wild night with Monique, and that she's threatened to go to the police crying rape, which would scandalize him and cost him (morals clause) his lucrative reality TV show. He owns up that he's got her imprisoned, and Marcus frees her from bondage.
What gradually develops are two intriguing plot threads: we find out that one month earlier, after banging two girls in his bar, Marcus got picked up by Monique and they began a romantic (and torrid) affair. Coincidence (or is it? -hence the suspense) has the same girl here locked in Leon's apartment. Next plot twist is a stunner, as we see Marcus's own mixed motives: instead of buying off the pesky Monique to keep her from going to the authorities he suggests to Leon that he off the girl instead!
The shot rings out we heard from the beginning of the film, and Marcus is carrying her body downstairs wrapped in a blanket for some Hitchcockian corpse removal. This plot thread is soon resolved as a red herring, as the film launches into Part 3.
It begins with Marcus's back story; he's an ex-con who killed two guys who were gunning for him and has started a new life. But his past as a drug dealer catches up with him in the form of film's final protagonist, Steven St. Croix, an egotistical, misogynistic drug kingpin.
This is where the Vivid girls' roster of endless busty beauties starts to fill the screen (12 in all), as Steven delights in ordering around his drug-worn women as slaves, not merely to serve him but to do ridiculous things (culminating in a memorably nutsy game of "Leon Says" - St. Croix's character is named Leon - Marcos Leon's character is named Roger).
St. Croix insists that Marcus pay back a huge sum of money to cover the drugs he lost when busted and sent to jail years ago. Marcus seeks to meet his payment deadline by extorting the cash from rich Roger. Twist is that he is now in on a scam with Monique -he faked her death. In an important side note, Steven had assumed Monique's body as collateral in case boyfriend Marcus can't pay.
The duo succeed in their con, getting enough money (in the form of a check yet!) from Roger and pay off St. Croix. But the next twist is mellow: Monique decides to go to the kingpin on her own, enjoy the decadent sex he and his girls provide (in virtually orgy fashion including plenty of lesbianism) and convince this bad guy to facilitate her revenge against Roger.
Much to Marcus's dismay, her revenge is humping the tied-down, ball-gagged Roger in the posterior with a big strap-on dildo. This being a mainstream Vivid release, P.T. pulls his punches and does not show this act in XXX explicitness but rather as a soft- core climax to the movie.
Very interesting coda has moralistic Mr. Marcus, virtually the only admirable character in the film more or less, chagrined when both Monique and Roger come to his bar and confront him with the fact that they are now a loving couple, not schemers all along but rather the result of Roger digging getting it in the butt from a dominating woman, so both are happy with their new relationship. Roger even declares to clueless Marcus: "I'm so glad you didn't kill her", a line that would have been fun to hear as a switcheroo in a vengeful classic '40s film noir.
It's a well-acted and performed, well-shot movie. The girls supporting tour-de-force Monique are all hot, but the weak link is Marcos Leon. He is bland and unconvincing in a complex role, and either ironically or deservedly disappeared from the porn biz soon after this film was released.
Central character is played by Monique Alexander in what I consider her best career performance. It's a role right out of classic '40s film noir: a double-dealing femme fatale. Credits sequence offers ambiguous foreshadowing, as we hear a voice say "Change of plans" followed by a gunshot before the film proper begins.
Alexander is with a creepy guy (Marcos Leon, seriously miscast) who picked her up that night. First reels have them locked in a sex tryst, each alternating having the upper hand, with a sinister, hopeless "In the Realm of the Senses" mood created.
Leon is a former child star with a Gold Record hanging on the wall proving his 1-hit wonder fame, and considers Alexander a groupie he has picked up at a bar to hump and discard like a used condom. In this Vivid release, we have condoms optional, with many scenes shot bareback while Monique gets humped by guys wearing protection.
Push comes to shove when the rough sex between the two leads to Leon getting offended and anally raping Monique, as the climax to their 2-character segment. Leon is wearing one of those "magical" rubbers -it appears out of nowhere on his cock for the anal penetration closeups right after being missing in the prior shots, harming the credibility of this crucial scene.
MANY SPOILERS AHEAD:
Tony G's script is quite ingenious at this point, effectively dividing the film into three parts, with different leading men. Leon phones his pal Mr. Marcus to come to the rescue, reminiscent of "The Cleaner" character invented by Luc Besson for his classic "La Femme Nikita".
When Marcus arrives the film's mystery and suspense thicken, as Thomas presents the next few scenes in variable order, including many flashbacks. Leon tells Marcus about his wild night with Monique, and that she's threatened to go to the police crying rape, which would scandalize him and cost him (morals clause) his lucrative reality TV show. He owns up that he's got her imprisoned, and Marcus frees her from bondage.
What gradually develops are two intriguing plot threads: we find out that one month earlier, after banging two girls in his bar, Marcus got picked up by Monique and they began a romantic (and torrid) affair. Coincidence (or is it? -hence the suspense) has the same girl here locked in Leon's apartment. Next plot twist is a stunner, as we see Marcus's own mixed motives: instead of buying off the pesky Monique to keep her from going to the authorities he suggests to Leon that he off the girl instead!
The shot rings out we heard from the beginning of the film, and Marcus is carrying her body downstairs wrapped in a blanket for some Hitchcockian corpse removal. This plot thread is soon resolved as a red herring, as the film launches into Part 3.
It begins with Marcus's back story; he's an ex-con who killed two guys who were gunning for him and has started a new life. But his past as a drug dealer catches up with him in the form of film's final protagonist, Steven St. Croix, an egotistical, misogynistic drug kingpin.
This is where the Vivid girls' roster of endless busty beauties starts to fill the screen (12 in all), as Steven delights in ordering around his drug-worn women as slaves, not merely to serve him but to do ridiculous things (culminating in a memorably nutsy game of "Leon Says" - St. Croix's character is named Leon - Marcos Leon's character is named Roger).
St. Croix insists that Marcus pay back a huge sum of money to cover the drugs he lost when busted and sent to jail years ago. Marcus seeks to meet his payment deadline by extorting the cash from rich Roger. Twist is that he is now in on a scam with Monique -he faked her death. In an important side note, Steven had assumed Monique's body as collateral in case boyfriend Marcus can't pay.
The duo succeed in their con, getting enough money (in the form of a check yet!) from Roger and pay off St. Croix. But the next twist is mellow: Monique decides to go to the kingpin on her own, enjoy the decadent sex he and his girls provide (in virtually orgy fashion including plenty of lesbianism) and convince this bad guy to facilitate her revenge against Roger.
Much to Marcus's dismay, her revenge is humping the tied-down, ball-gagged Roger in the posterior with a big strap-on dildo. This being a mainstream Vivid release, P.T. pulls his punches and does not show this act in XXX explicitness but rather as a soft- core climax to the movie.
Very interesting coda has moralistic Mr. Marcus, virtually the only admirable character in the film more or less, chagrined when both Monique and Roger come to his bar and confront him with the fact that they are now a loving couple, not schemers all along but rather the result of Roger digging getting it in the butt from a dominating woman, so both are happy with their new relationship. Roger even declares to clueless Marcus: "I'm so glad you didn't kill her", a line that would have been fun to hear as a switcheroo in a vengeful classic '40s film noir.
It's a well-acted and performed, well-shot movie. The girls supporting tour-de-force Monique are all hot, but the weak link is Marcos Leon. He is bland and unconvincing in a complex role, and either ironically or deservedly disappeared from the porn biz soon after this film was released.