JANUARY’S EROTIC THRILLS IN THE NIGHT: SCORNED (1993).

‘Erotic Thrills In The Night’ is a monthly chronicle into the forgotten world of the erotic thriller movie genre. These sultry titles and steamy VHS covers were at their absolute peak during the early 1990’s but as years progress, they fall deeper into the abyss. Inspired by the recent documentary We Kill For Love, this monthly feature will attempt to resurrect these films and keep you on the brink of seduction. We can’t predict what indecent behavior will be committed or how much illicit, unprotected, promiscuous activity will ensue, but prepare for a wild ride with lots of saxophone.

Since January is the first entry, we’re diving head first into what possibly could be considered the pinnacle of steamy, up alone at night, keep-the-volume-low erotica. I’m talking about 1993’s SCORNED.

Shannon Tweed. You better get used to saying her name because she’s going to be a permanent fixation around here. Female talent like Sharon Stone, Glenn Close and Demi Moore may have paved the way for big budget thrillers, but Shannon Tweed carried the next decade on her shoulders by starring in what appears to be 497 straight-to-video erotic thrillers. The woman was a steam-powered erotica machine set on maximum heat. Arguably the queen of the genre.

Scorned is the sensitive story of Amanda (Tweed), a beautiful, captivating woman who slithers her way into a family’s home with a seemingly effortless plan of seduction and destruction. She doesn’t stop at just going after the man who she blames for her husband’s death. She seduces the entire family. Yes, the wife and their high school-aged son as well.

This old familiar tale starts with a corporate-stressed husband named Truman and his blonde bombshell of a wife, Amanda. Truman is so determined to climb the corporate ladder and land that higher position at the office that he invites his old pervert of a boss to their house for some drinks, cocaine and…his wife. Truman turns his cheek to allow his pig boss to grope and sleaze all over his poor wife in the kitchen against her will.

Matters escalate very quickly at the office when the high position at work is passed over to Alex Weston, played by genre mainstay Andrew Stevens (who also directed the movie). Truman commits suicide over this and this is where the fun begins…

The now widowed and angry Amanda discovers where Alex’s family lives and snakes her way into the house to begin tutoring Alex’s son, Robey, with his school work. This leads to some late night peeping around the bushes and the horny high schooler going all the way with Amanda. The twosome begin to have quite a few late night rendezvous with copious amounts of saxophone and slow-mo camera work. For a kid who’s parents forget his birthday, and a kid who is constantly fighting with his dad, he sure makes out beautifully with how things develop. The little twerp is the clear winner in this story.

After the fun with junior, she makes her way towards his father, Alex. This ultimately starts the Weston family turning on each other as Amanda makes her way around to each of them, with the previous family member finding out and becoming enraged.

The character of Amanda performs these seductive tricks with such ease and perfect timing. It’s like overnight she had the whole plan executed in her mind and it just unfolds impeccably. One by one the clothes come off and they are weaved into her web.

If you are a fan of the genre, I can’t recommend Scorned enough. Again it’s one of those titles that’s very hard to track down, aside from the crusty VHS copies floating around. By the end of this monthly chronicle, I hope to discover why most erotic thrillers aren’t given any upgrades or proper releases. For all the (let’s be honest, crappy) horror titles that are given the golden platform decades after their lackluster original reception, it’s baffling that erotic thrillers don’t get a whiff of that treatment or push.

While I know most are expecting us to end with a soundtrack cut of saxophone heat from the score to Scorned, I thought it would be fitting to feature the KISS song “Thrills In The Night” considering it’s the name of our chronicle AND Shannon Tweed is real life-married to Gene Simmons! Enjoy and sleep tight.