Animal Instincts has the great Shannon Whirry as a housewife who's married to police officer divorce' Maxwell Caufield. Money's tight, and he's always stressed out about it, so he's not as keen on having sex with Whirry. When she cheats with the cable guy (Bobby Johnston--"Cain" from T-Force) and Caufield catches her, they discover his love for watching her sleep with other guys. So they put an ad in the classifieds, and the candidates are lined up out the door for a chance to hook up with her, while Caufield watches on a TV in the other room. At the same time, there are some nefarious characters, like David Carradine and Jan-Michael Vincent. As the money comes in from their sexual arrangement, Caufield wants more, and sees a way to get it through Carradine and Vincent. But is it too dangerous?
This is a classic for a reason. Whirry's great, the supporting cast is a lot of fun, and the story idea is perfect for an Erotic Thriller--though this is more a soft core porn film, so the story is even better for that. One thing that was interesting was how Whirry wasn't the femme fatale trope, she was more a woman who wished her husband had sex with her more, and they figured out an arrangement that allowed her to do that. But then we have Carradine as a strip club owner, who's really creepy; Jan-Michael Vincent as a local politician or something who wants to shut down the strip clubs, but who's also really creepy; and then Caufield as the jerky husband who gets turned on by seeing her hook up with other men--and women--who's also kind of creepy too--I mean, how do you do "watching someone else have sex and getting turned on by it" without looking creepy? We also had a few smaller fun roles, like John Saxon as the DA at the end, Mitch Gaylord as Caufield's cop partner, and Delia Shepherd as a rich lesbian lover who wants Whirry to run away with her. If you're new to the Erotic Thriller genre, this is a perfect place to start.
For this review we're giving Whirry her tag, and after updating the previous reviews, this starts her off at three with this one, the two previous films being Omega Doom and Mach 2. What makes her so great is, from an acting standpoint, she solid, which probably gets you to a certain level of roles, like supporting cast member in a Lifetime film; but because she's willing to do these soft core porn Erotic Thriller films, the acting skills make her standout, and I think is a big reason why she was so successful--beyond the obvious, of course. This film, for example, she really plays up the wanting to please her husband aspect, like when she first goes into their bedroom after Caufield sets up the camera, the way she's kind of uncomfortable about it, but still trying to look flirty and seductive, that's not something you'd get from any actor doing a film like this; but when she needs to do the love scenes, she's giving more than the average solid actor of her pedigree would. She's one of the best to do it, and I can't wait to get more of her films on the site.
We do have a Hall of Famer in this, David Carradine! This is now 19 films for him on the site, the last one being Project Eliminator in June of 2023. The interesting thing is, this film came out a year after that one, but he looks a lot younger here. With 19 films, the 30 Club is far in the future, and he may be one of those Hall of Famers who never gets there, which kind of doesn't make sense, considering how many films he's done that would fit on our site, but I think the issue is something like this, where he's not in it much, so I'm probably not reviewing it unless it has another reason, like covering it on a previous podcast episode. Just the same, he's a Hall of Famer for a reason, because he appears in so many films like this. Who knows, maybe if we stick with this long enough, he'll make the 30 Club, 40 Club, and beyond.
I thought this was our first time seeing Mitch Gaylord on the site, and it is as far as him as an actor, but he also did stunt work on Savate, so he's technically been here one other time. Looking at his IMDb bio, he has an amazing four-film run between 1986 and 1994, with American Anthem, American Rickshaw, this, and Sexual Outlaws. The guys at Comeuppance have covered American Rickshaw and gave it a good review, but despite not knowing anything about the other two, I have no idea how they can't be anything other than fantastic. I'll try to track the other three down so at some point we can complete the Gaylord Foursome. I know, you can't wait.
Finally, anyone with Boomer parents who was young, at home, and out of work like I was, had a newspaper thrust in front of them and was instructed to look through the classifieds for a new job. From there it was also getting a pile of resumes and "hitting the pavement," which, living in a rural area with nothing within walking distance, I was spared that "hitting the pavement" indignity. I was also spared the indignity of the classifieds soon after, when Craigslist became a thing. It was beautiful, no pavement hitting, no sifting through classified ads in the newspaper, I could scroll, find something good, then call them--or if I were feeling ambitious, make a trip over to where they were located and apply in person. The thing was, though, how to explain Craigslist to Boomer parents who only understood classified ads and "hitting the pavement"? And what's crazy, there's now a younger generation raised on Indeed and LinkedIn, who can't believe there was ever such a thing as classified ads in a newspaper, and the idea of "hitting the pavement" gives them crippling anxiety. What an age to have grown up in, a bridge between the old and new, while Shannon Whirry has a love scene with Mitch Gaylord, and Maxwell Caufield watches from another room.
And with that, let's wrap this up. Mitch found this on the Internet Archive, which is a great place to find some of these, as they're often too graphic for YouTube, and Tubi is only catching up on them now. If you haven't seen it in a while, or looking to get into Erotic Thrillers, this is a great one to watch. And if you haven't yet, check out the podcast episode Mitch and I did on this film, number 179 in the archives.
For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103696
And if you haven't yet, check out my newest book, Nadia and Aidan, at Amazon in paperback or Kindle!
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