Deadly Embrace (1989) Reviews

• Better than expected erotic thriller.

  Hey_Sweden2016-11-13

  David DeCoteau directs this fairly pleasing movie that showcases the abilities and physical assets of its female cast to good effect. In fact, it often plays like an exercise in titillation *sometimes* interrupted by a story. DeCoteau does go out of his way to stylize the movie, working with whatever minimal budget he must have had. Set to a pulsating electronic music score by Del Casher, it features characters capable of earning our sympathies. Ken Abraham ("Creepozoids") is cast as Chris Thompson, an amiable young stud hired to work as a houseboy for well-off couple Stewart (Jan-Michael Vincent) and Charlotte Moreland (Mindi Miller, billed as 'Ty Randolph'). Stewart has tired of the marriage, but is told by his lawyer Evan Weiss (Jack Carter) that because there was no pre-nup, he'd have to split everything 50-50 with Charlotte. While he tries to come up with a way to work around this, the lonely Charlotte turns on the heat and has a sexual tryst with Chris, who feels pangs of guilt because he already has a girlfriend, sweet aspiring actress Michelle Arno (Linnea Quigley). When it comes to the DeCoteau filmography, one must expect a certain lack of slickness and negligible acting - most of the time, anyway. This one, at least, is reasonably compelling in a sordid and sad way. Not that this will matter to many viewers, who will watch it for the titillation factor and be rewarded with a regular helping of sex and nudity - both female and male. This takes up a substantial amount of the run time, which is fortunately fairly trim (just over 80 minutes) in a B movie tradition. Quigley is adorable, and she and her co-stars Miller, Michelle Bauer, and Ruth Collins all look great. Ms. Millers' performance as the voyeuristic and ultimately disturbed Charlotte is a definite highlight. Seven out of 10.

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• Deadly Embrace more like Deadly Embarrassment

  eddierankey7712006-07-03

  Wow, what can i say about this movie, Jan-Michael Vincent reportedly had just come out of rehab and accepted this movie, apparently he needed some fast cash, he actually looks quite healthy, tanned, thin, fit, and looks the California surfer type with his sun bleached hair, his scenes with Jack Carter are the only parts that give this film any credibility and in fact, seemed, that many of those scenes (if not all) were filmed separately, as the film cuts to JMV then Carter but i found it to contain quite a bit of humor, though this wasn't it's intention. The actor, who plays Chris (Chris Bauer)seems to me, like this was probably his first acting job and was probably paid scale (if that) in such a low budget production, the scenes between him and Linea Quigley are embarrassing stale with a total lack of chemistry between two people very unfamiliar with each other, it's also obvious that there was no rehearsal and the scenes were taken on one shot (again keeping the budget down) the so-called mansion looks middle-class at best, this film was shot in 3 days and looks it. The premise has JMV looking for a way out of his marriage, in his words "The novelty has worn off" and wants to take up with his moronic, brain-dead secretary, while his sex-starved wife (Ty Randolph) does everything within her womanly power to seduce the young Chris (Chris Bauer) and gets her wish but Chris has regrets about it when Qugley comes to visit, because it was filmed so quickly and to give it legit running time, it has fantasy soft core scenes adding additional minutes of footage probably to get it distributed, but you'll need to FF through these to get the predictable ending, JMV at one time was considered a viable star but why in the world he didn't concentrate on interesting minor character roles, in major studio releases, instead of top billing in trash like this, is beyond me.

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• Wooden performances seal the fate of this film

  Malodramatic1998-12-19

  Jan Michael Vincent puts in one of Hollywood's most wooden performances as a philandering husband bizarrely determined to resist the obvious charms of his wife, the gorgeous Ty Randolph. Randolph manages to skilfully combine poignancy and a charged eroticism to her role as the neglected and ultimately disturbed wife. Ultimately, the poor plot and acting performances of the other principals condemns Deadly Embrace to mediocrity.

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• Vintage late 80's straight-to-video erotic thriller trash

  Woodyanders2013-03-12

  Beautiful, but horny and neglected Beverly Hills wife Charlotte Moreland (well played by foxy brunette cougar Ty Randolph) puts the moves on hot young stud gardener Chris Thompson (likable hunk Ken Abraham). Meanwhile, Charlotte's slimy businessman husband Stewart (Jan-Michael Vincent at his most cranky and sleazy) tries to figure out a way to divorce her without losing half of everything he owns. Director David DeCoteau relates the pleasingly lurid story at a snappy pace while pouring on the delicious gratuitous female nudity and scorching soft-core sex with highly satisfying frequency. Perky cutie Linnea Quigley supplies loads of charm and energy as Chris' sweet aspiring actress girlfriend Michelle (and she gets naked several times as well!). The ever-scrumptious Michelle Bauer provides yummy additional bare distaff skin in the tailer-made role of the Female Spirit of Sex. Jack Carter contributes a lively turn as shrewd lawyer Evan Weiss. A pronounced voyeuristic element gives the picture an extra trashy impact. Richard Gabai's perfectly seamy script comes through with a decent surprise bummer ending. Both Thomas L. Callaway's glossy cinematography and Del Casher's moody score are on the money solid. Good junky fun.

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• I CAN'T REACH THE BACK OF MY LEGS

  nogodnomasters2019-04-21

  This is filmed back in the days when David Hasselhoff hair and Datsun 240Z's ruled pop culture. When films used fantasy outtakes aka "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." Chris (Ken Abraham) is hired by Charlotte (Ty Randolph) to be the live-in pool boy. Michelle (Linnea Quigley) is his girlfriend. Charlotte's husband (Jan-Michael Vincent) wants to destroy Redwoods and a divorce, but hates the word "half." Not hard to figure out a murder mystery with one suspect. Strict low budget "B" film with choppy sound. Guide: F-bomb, sex, nudity (Linnea Quigley, Ty Randolph, Michelle Bauer)

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