Body Chemistry 4: Full Exposure Reviews

Playbody model-turned-actress Shannon Tweed tackles a villainous role in this rubber-stamped sequel. Claiming she's falsely accused of an ex-lover's slaying, controversial sex-therapist Claire Archer (Tweed, the latest in a line of fleshy femmes to take the Glenn-Close-inspired part) inveigles married attorney Simon Mitchell (Larry Poindexter) into defending her personally. The depths to which Claire will go to disprove the charges include adultery with her lawyer. Spotting the Jezebel's true nature, Simon's assistant Lane (Martie Martins) who has difficulty hiding her Della Streetish yen for her boss, snoops for enough dirt to open his eyes, only to seem an obsessed stalker herself. Claire really is the killer, and the multiple murderess has reeled in Simon by videotaping their intimate moments to ensure his loyalty no matter what incriminating evidence surfaces. When Simon shows some backbone, Claire gives him one of her deadly kiss-offs, since no man ever leaves her. Having planted suspicions about Lane, Claire walks off scot-free as the lovestruck legal assistant gets both the rap and a lethal bullet fired by Simon's widow. BODY CHEMISTRY 4 stands on its own mediocre merits; the good news is you need not view the preceding three installments in the series, riffs on the subject of a philandering fella ruled by urges he can't turn on and off. Once the camera ogles Tweed's curves, the screenplay can take a nap; viewers take one look and understand immediately what the expression "a body to die for" means. Although Tweed is an asset to any harem fantasy and effectively blunt as the conquering Lorelei, Poindexter is a colorless ball of handsomeness. Of course this flick's target audience isn't watching to see how well the chump role is handled. The mystery is guessable, and gives just a cosmetic dusting to courtroom antics. The real subject is a yummy celebration of underwear-stripping, body-rubbing sexotica, with the principals' physiques fitting together as easily as wood-block puzzles with a handful of pieces. Producer Andrew Stevens, often himself an actor in this sleazy genre, takes an in-joke role early on as the antiheroine's victim. (Sexual situations, extreme profanity, extensive nudity, violence.)