Stevarooni Review of In the Cold of the Night

In the Cold of the Night (1990)

Cheesy Skinemax fare, but it doesn't bog down

[5/10 · 2 March 2006]

I've seen much, much worse. Scott, a photographer, starts seeing "himself" killing a woman he's never met in terrible nightmares...he even wakes up while strangling his bedmate (Shannon Tweed). Coincidences ensue, including his seeing the Mystery Girl on an airbrushed t-shirt. Finally, said girl (Adrienne Sachs) shows up at his door demanding that he stop stalking her. Naturally, they wind up at her place, which is identical with his dreams. They have sex (of course) and start generally acting like they're falling in love, though she's acting mighty mysterious. Finally, she leaves for work, leaving him alone to scour the house; he finds a videodisc (yes, video disc...in 1991) which precisely matches his nightmares. Finally he confronts the Evil Scientist/Businessman (played by Marc Singer) who had, months before, implanted a "Brain TV" receiver into his teeth and manipulated what Scott saw from time to time. It turns out that this was all a big experiment to provide proof-of-concept to some Japanese investors. Scott declares that he's going to take the discs AND the Mystery Girl and announce it all to the press. He would've gotten away with it, if it weren't for...Mystery Girl, and her hypodermic sedative! But, naturally, it's not REALLY a betrayal, because she'd made a deal with Spiky-haired Businessman to leave him alone if she returned to him (of course they have a sexual history, don't all good business partners?) and brought the discs with him. No explanation about the four tooth-mounted TV receivers, of course, nor what happens if he gets too close to a microwave oven, but overall it's an interesting...if convoluted and badly written...plot. The actors obviously don't take themselves too seriously, and the plot is kind of interesting. Shannon Tweed, playing the sexually-oriented character she always does, after flailing about on "Scott's" bed trying to remove his hands from around her throat, and after he wakes from his nightmare, concludes that she couldn't breathe, that she was about to pass out...and that she was about to cum. There are a few good lines, generally B-movie acting, lots of skin, and a half-baked romance. It ain't Shakespeare, but the story is kind of interesting. Good background if you're cleaning up around the house.