A clear case of bait & switch, "Fantasy Nights" is competently directed as porno chic by Henri Pachard/Ron Sullivan, but producer/writer Lasse Braun has concocted a strictly misogynistic view that contradicts the supposedly high-minded surface approach of taking female protagonist Victoria Paris's point-of-view.
The gimmick for this sort of gaslighting is to have a melodramatic subplot featuring guest star Tom Byron hanging over the developing soap opera story of the unhappy marriage of Victoria to architect Jon Dough. Target audience may be male horndogs rather than the superficially (and insincerely) "Romantic Couples" in search of erotic stimulation, but the entire movie turns out to be a ruse that leaves a sour taste in one's mouth after watching the fake happy ending of manipulation by deus ex machina Byron succeeding in returning free-thinking Paris to domination by her hubby Dough.
Ironically, three decades later the movie is sorely deficient in XXX content for a current porn audience, with explicit sex scenes over in a minute or two, hardly long enough to feed the masturbators out there in Video Land.
What we have is Victoria's erotic dreams that involve orgies and peculiarly, a tall phallic cactus (stripped of its thorns). The cactus is used as a dildo, and Braun's script teases in the words of Byron's evil character that we must discover its meaning, yet the movie drops the whole cactus/dildo motif along the way -a mere red herring.
Byron, his face not shown until the final reel, plays a weird astrologrt who Dough hired to sort of apply psychological therapy to Paris in order to save his marriage. Dough's character is too good to be true, resisting the temptations provided by Victoria's sexy sister Samanthat Strong, a student who is living with them, and he seems to be merely wanting to help his troubled wife, rather than chauvinistically ruling her for his own sexual satisfaction. "Happy ending" contradicts that, and proves his true motives.
Big-name cast is both attractive and convincing in their acting, even while their sexual prowess is oddly downplayed. Jerry Butler is creepy as Sam's boyfriend, and redhead Viper is cast as a party girl who hangs out with Butler and wealthy roue Jamie Gillis but is sympathetic, while brunette Rachel Ryan is another evil figure, working for Byron to manipulate Victoria.
Jeannie Pepper is cast as the leads' maid, managing to rise above the typecasting in a menial role as usual, while Joey Silvera and Rick Savage are suitable bad guys involved in the conspiracy against Victoria.
Shot on attractive Frisco locations, it plays like a mainstream film, particularly those Cable Skinemax movies, but with a dollop of explicit sex included. It's eminently watchable if one can ignore the nasty underlying message sugarcoated with such a heavy dose of soap opera.
The gimmick for this sort of gaslighting is to have a melodramatic subplot featuring guest star Tom Byron hanging over the developing soap opera story of the unhappy marriage of Victoria to architect Jon Dough. Target audience may be male horndogs rather than the superficially (and insincerely) "Romantic Couples" in search of erotic stimulation, but the entire movie turns out to be a ruse that leaves a sour taste in one's mouth after watching the fake happy ending of manipulation by deus ex machina Byron succeeding in returning free-thinking Paris to domination by her hubby Dough.
Ironically, three decades later the movie is sorely deficient in XXX content for a current porn audience, with explicit sex scenes over in a minute or two, hardly long enough to feed the masturbators out there in Video Land.
What we have is Victoria's erotic dreams that involve orgies and peculiarly, a tall phallic cactus (stripped of its thorns). The cactus is used as a dildo, and Braun's script teases in the words of Byron's evil character that we must discover its meaning, yet the movie drops the whole cactus/dildo motif along the way -a mere red herring.
Byron, his face not shown until the final reel, plays a weird astrologrt who Dough hired to sort of apply psychological therapy to Paris in order to save his marriage. Dough's character is too good to be true, resisting the temptations provided by Victoria's sexy sister Samanthat Strong, a student who is living with them, and he seems to be merely wanting to help his troubled wife, rather than chauvinistically ruling her for his own sexual satisfaction. "Happy ending" contradicts that, and proves his true motives.
Big-name cast is both attractive and convincing in their acting, even while their sexual prowess is oddly downplayed. Jerry Butler is creepy as Sam's boyfriend, and redhead Viper is cast as a party girl who hangs out with Butler and wealthy roue Jamie Gillis but is sympathetic, while brunette Rachel Ryan is another evil figure, working for Byron to manipulate Victoria.
Jeannie Pepper is cast as the leads' maid, managing to rise above the typecasting in a menial role as usual, while Joey Silvera and Rick Savage are suitable bad guys involved in the conspiracy against Victoria.
Shot on attractive Frisco locations, it plays like a mainstream film, particularly those Cable Skinemax movies, but with a dollop of explicit sex included. It's eminently watchable if one can ignore the nasty underlying message sugarcoated with such a heavy dose of soap opera.