Blind Date (1984)
This is an obscure gem of a GIMP flick starring Kirstie Alley (when she
was
young, slim and hot), Lana Clarkson (early in her career, after Deathstalker but before Barbarian Queen), and Marina Sirtis
(before she was raped in Death Wish 3
or voyaged on the Enterprise). Sadly, only Marina Sirtis has a GIMP
scene, although Kirstie and Lana both have nude scenes. Plus, there are
other GIMP victims played by lesser-known actresses.
The plot, in brief, concerns a serial killer (the Scalpel Killer) who
cuts open his victims' chest with a scalpel, after he draws lines
first. There's more to the story, but I can't go into much more detail
without having to explain it all, so I will just skip to the GIMP bits,
with a couple of notable nude scenes thrown in just because.
The movie begins with ominous music as we follow Antigone Amanitou
(billed as "First Victim") into her apartment. She takes the obligatory
shower, but hears something and wraps a towel around her still-damp
body to investigate. She is grabbed from behind and chloroformed.
When next we see her, she is unconscious on her bed. The Scalpel Killer
straps her arms to her sides and draws some lines down her chest
between her small breasts (but she has nice large nipples). He revives
her with an
oxygen bottle. As she comes to, her eyes track the scalpel on its way
to cutting open her chest. Black out.
Next we see a young, slender and hot Kirstie Alley wearing a blouse
open down the front to her navel. (She must like blouses open all the
way down the front because she wears another one later in the movie.)
She makes arrangements to meet the
protagonist at his apartment later for some birthday sex. And then we
get some brief Kirstie Alley nudity during the birthday sex.
Next we see Marina Sirtis, obviously a hooker, on the street. The
Scalpel Killer picks her up and they go back to her apartment. We see
all of this from the murderer's point of view because we would
recognize him if we saw him.
He follows Marina Sirtis into her apartment. She freshens up and strips
to her panties. She sits on her bed. The murderer ties her wrists
together with a scarf, which she allows because she figures he's a
kinky
john (or a GIMPer). She gets a little confused and maybe concerned when
he
draws a line down her chest between her naked breasts.
She panics and screams when she sees the scalpel headed for her. Black
out.
The protagonist (who is not the murderer, by the way, which is obvious
early on so that's not much of a spoiler) has a very, very brief
flashback to his girlfriend
getting attacked and raped.
Our next pretty victim (Kathy Hill) goes home with her boyfriend. She
takes the obligatory shower. They have sex. He gets up to go to the
bathroom and the Scalpel Killer cuts his throat.
The murderer walks into the bedroom, rolls the girl over on her back,
pins her arms above her head, draws on her chest and then we black out
before the scalpel does its work.
The protagonist follows Lana Clarkson home, where she also takes an
obligatory shower (although, alas, we don't see her wet naked body),
then takes some sleeping pills and goes to bed. The protagonist sits
next to her bed and watches her sleep. (Kind of kinky, huh?) She sleeps
in the nude and rolls
over to give us a look at her breasts. Mmm. Lana Clarkson breasts.
We have one more attractive victim (Noelle Simpson) who is followed
home. She undresses and takes a bath. The killer surprises her in the
bath but the scene ends with her surprised look. No nudity and no
murder that we see.
The final bit features Lana Clarkson in a bikini kind of being stalked
at an indoor pool but not really. There's some suspense, but no GIMP.
SUMMARY: The first victim
showers, is chloroformed, gets strapped to her bed topless, has a line
drawn down her naked chest, gets revived and then the scene ends
immediately before she is cut open by the killer. Marina Sirtis is
picked up by the killer, goes back to her place, strips down to her
panties, lays on her bed, has her wrists tied to the headboard, has a
line drawn down her chest and then the scene ends immediately before
she is cut open. A girl is attacked and raped in an extremely brief
flashback. The next victim is home with her boyfriend, she showers,
they have sex, he gets killed when he goes to the bathroom, the killer
surprises her in bed, hand gags her, pins her arms over her head, draws
his line and
then the scene ends once again. The last victim is surprised in the
bath but we don't get to see anything. In between, we get nude Kirstie
Alley and nude Lana Clarkson.
Well, there are a lot of attractive naked victims in this movie, some
good stalking, and great lead-up to being murdered by having their
chests sliced open with a scalpel. But we never see an actual female
murder,
although there is very brief blood when the boyfriend's throat is cut.
So the action always stops in every instance before the pay-off. That
is a bit
frustrating. On the plus side, one of the victims is Marina Sirtis and
she's wearing only panties and
is tied to the bed. This is also Kirstie Alley's only nude scene, and
it is one of Lana Clarkson's early nude scenes.
For the great stalking and pre-murder activity involving several
attractive nude victims, I'll give this a C+ grade.
Amazon links to other vendors who sell this for $33.94 new, or $11.12
used. What a load of crap. I'm sure it can be had cheaper but my
initial half-hearted search did not turn up any alternatives. I found
mine in a bargain bin years ago. It is packaged as part of The Nico Mastorakis Collection and
says it is the "Director's Cut." I saw this for the first time on The
Movie Channel, or Showtime. or Cinemax, way, way back, and I am pretty
sure the Marina Sirtis scene was complete. So I'm not sure what the
"Director's Cut" includes, but it does not seem to exclude any of the
good GIMP scenes, or any of the nude scenes.
|
