22 July 2008 | TimeNTide

Maybe the Best of the Nicholas Medina "Bikini" Softcore Films

Yet another, but definitely one of the best of Fred Olen Ray's (aka Nicholas Medina) "Bikini" series of softcore films that stay in constant rotation on Cinemax. If you seen any of the previous films (e.g. "Bikini Round-Up", "Bikini Chain Gang"), you know what to expect. A silly but moderately amusing comic spoof of some movie genre, a cast half made up from Fred's band of regulars who've found a niche, and six good solid simulated sex scenes. As always, it's a big budget (for softcore porn) film that actually has a plot, action, sets, costumes, special effects (albeit cheesy), outdoor scenes, all new footage, etc. as opposed to all those softcore films which are nothing but several actors sitting around a house talking and having sex, sometimes with archive footage slipped in.



However, this time there's a couple of new wrinkles in Fred's flick. First, it's one of the very rare occasions in the "Bikini" series where he doesn't use either Beverly Lynne or Nicole Sheridan as the lead actress ("Bikini Cavegirl" is the only other one I can think of). The very cute Asian girl Christine Nguyen gets the nod here and does a fine job. Second, SURPRISE!!! IT'S A MUSICAL!!! No, I'm not kidding. Porn stars Syren and Evan Stone each lipsynch a Halloween type novelty song by "The Moon-Rays". Both songs are very reminiscent of the stuff that Bobby "Boris" Pickett did back in the '60's (remember "The Monster Mash"?). Evan is especially funny dancing in his Frankenstein type boots. And Christine Nguyen actually sings (rather badly) some unidentified teenage love/heartache type song that also sounds as if it's from the '50s or '60s.



This time the film is a sendup of those "reading of a rich relative's will at a spooky haunted mansion while everyone schemes to get the inheritance" type films. As usual, the plot is silly but quite amusing and is sprinkled with quite a few very funny lines. In fact, I think this flick is consistently funny as long as you enjoy puns, silly sexual double-talk and potshots at the movie industry.



The cast is larger than normal for this type of film, but it's also one of the rare times in a softcore film that I thought everyone did a great job with the acting. Granted, some of the performances are campy on purpose, but there's not a stiff or bad performance in the flick. The standouts are Brad Bartram as the squirrelly, scheming lawyer, and Evan Stone as a "Lurch" type butler.



As for the simulated sex scenes, the "Bikini" flicks always do a pretty good job, but this time the sex scenes are consistently very good to excellent, with lots of energy and variety. And with the larger cast, we get more variety in the actresses. And while all the girls are attractive and do a fine job, newcomer Rebecca Love is the standout. I'm still waiting for her to get a lead role in one of these "Bikini" flicks.



Overall... one of the best, if not the best, of the "Bikini" softcore flicks.