It's usually a rule of thumb that when a film goes direct to video without a big screen release it's a stinker. Deadly Embrace is one law abiding movie in that regard.This film essentially erases the line between drama and soft core porn. Lucky Ken Abraham he gets to bed two beautiful women.Abraham gets hired by married couple Jan-Michael Vincent and Mindi Miller. Vincent is getting tired of Miller and wants to trade her in for a younger model. But his lawyer Jack Carter it's going to cost you big time, maybe cheaper to keep her. The hunky pool boy/gardener they just hired might be the answer. Jan's not touching Mindy lately so she's good and horny. Just have pool boy gardener move in and wait for the inevitable.Abraham is quite the looker, not much in the acting department. He does have some marathon sex scenes with Miller and his girlfriend Leanna Quigley.20 years earlier it would have been Vincent as the hunky pool boy. Time changes all things.Anyway soft core porn fans go for it.

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.

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.

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.