Dead Sexy (2001)

Of all the "Basic Instinct" copies that have been made since 1992 (and there are plenty), "Dead Sexy" must be one of the most blatant. Sure, it switches the genders of the two main characters, but keeps almost everything else the same, right down to the only other suspect for the killings being someone within the police force who has hidden ties to the primary suspect. Of course "Dead Sexy" does not come anywhere near the style and suspense and general quality of the Verhoeven film, but on its own low-budget straight-to-video terms it's a fair way to pass some time. Shannon Tweed is acceptable, Sam Jones (as her partner) is even better, injecting some needed humor into the proceedings. As for the matter of the body double, I personally cannot understand why Tweed felt the need to use one. She showed everything - and it looked good as usual - in "The Rowdy Girls", made in 2000; what could have changed so much over a year? (**)

First off, I want to say that if you're renting this just for the sex scenes, don't, they're not very good. However, this movie did work for me as a thriller. I think that Shannon Tweed is a good actress and it's a shame that she can't get more mainstream movies.Shannon plays a cop investigating a string of call girl murders. All of the women were killed similarly to the way the prime suspect's mother died and all were wearing a particular shade of red lipstick. Oh and by the way that shade of red lipstick was also the mother's shade of lipstick (the lipstick is made by a small company owned by the suspect's family and he recently inherited it). Additionally, the women, including Tweed's character all look like the suspects mother and though he was only 13 at the time his mother died, he was a suspect in her death (it was ruled a suicide). It seems that the prime suspect was molested by his mother for years before her death.Added to the mix is the fact that Tweed's partner has a vendetta against the prime suspect (he was engaged to the first call girl who died and did not submit an interview with the prime suspect to his bosses). The true murderer is not revealed until the very last scene.

The reason Shannon Tweed no longer appears nude in films is because she no longer looks good nude. The reason for that is simple: she is 43 in this movie (48, almost 49 at this writing) and showing her age. Actually, she looks older than 43. She looks grim, hard, and beat-up. These girls (strippers, soft-core porn workers) apparently don't age well, and Tweed is no exception. The problem isn't that she doesn't appear nude here (I am grateful that she doesn't. One look at her clothed and you know you do not want to see her naked), it's that this is just a bad movie.Tweed is not a good actress and cannot convince us she is a cop. The writing is weak, the characters stereotypes, and the storyline is threadbare. Movies like this are not supposed to be good anyway, but when they try to be, in between sex scenes, it's ludicrous. Stilted dialogue, awkward direction, poor editing, bad acting, this film has them all. There aren't enough sex scenes (with younger, better-looking women than Tweed) to justify renting this.

Let's face it, Shannon Tweed is not a great (or even necessarily a good) actress. The title says it all: It's another example of Tweed's stock in trade: The grade-C erotic thriller in which she packs a piece---always a big phallic firearm---and then gets the hots for another kind of piece, and eventually takes her clothes off. Everything else is just an attention-getting device to keep you watching between the sex scenes. Even if you cheerfully accept these limitations, this turkey is a cynical cheat on the viewer. Tweed was 43 when she made this movie, and like Renee Russo, she has a fabulous body for her age, but it is still a fabulous 43-year-old body. So if you're an over-40 former Playmate who insists on making movies with nude sex scenes, either be honest, like Helen Mirren, and do them yourself or quit the business. Don't use a body double, which she so blatantly does in this flick. If the number of porn sites on the Web featuring over-35 "hotties" is any indication, there's a market for films with middle-aged women who get naked.The bad guy, John Enos, has one of the least photogenic screen personas I've ever seen. He elicits no cinematic interest whatsoever and he and Tweed have essentially no on-screen chemistry. They are just going through the motions. Why anyone would think the Tweed character would develop an itchy-koo for him is beyond me, except that Enos, although not really that similar in features to Tweed's squeeze Gene Simmons, somewhat resembles him in physique and complexion. Maybe that's why Tweed chose Enos. Whether he resembles Simmons in other ways is something I have no idea about. (Let's not even get into Gene Simmons's public persona and what it says about Tweed's taste in men that she has been with him for years.) And it's somehow oddly appropriate, considering this movie, that in the IMDb photo galleries, Enos is seen accompanied by Traci Lords.This flick is strictly desperation time.