Easily his most ambitious work from a narrative point of view, ANIMUS represents Wash "West" Westmoreland's contribution to the Y2K scare when the world as we knew it would somehow come to an end as computers were to simultaneously crash all across the planet. Hindsight being a beautiful thing, we now know that ultimately proved a storm in a teacup, appropriate in view of Westmoreland's British heritage perhaps. Providing a complex plot with elements borrowed from film noir and David Lynch's distinct brand of non-linear dream logic while still trying to fit in the required number of explicit sex scenes its gay porn format demands must have seemed an insurmountable task for the youthful director, a mere 33 at the time of shooting, and it's a tribute to his talent and ingenuity that he pulls off a coup, cementing his well-earned reputation as one of the finest fornication filmmakers on the homosexual side of the industry at the turn of the new millennium. In fact, the story's so compelling and several of the thespian performances possess genuine insight, especially GayVN award winner Blake Harper's, that you'll find yourself wishing they had gone that extra mile, like shooting it on film rather than video (a technology changing so fast it can't help but look dated in a few years' time) and doing away with the typically thumping soundtrack provided by the director's brother in as potent an argument against nepotism as you're gonna find.
Each month when the moon is full, a handsome cat burglar simply known as the Animus (Thomas Lloyd, who supplements his income as one of the industry's most sought after editors – as "Tab Lloyd" – with handpicked on camera appearances such as in Robert Kirsch and Bruce Cam's FALLEN ANGEL 2 and John Travis' CZECH POINT) strikes at the home of unsuspecting if upwardly mobile citizens, seducing them out of their most valuable possessions, his voice barely raising above a whisper. This is the case with society sweetheart Patricia Vandervelt (an amusing non-sex performance by Elizabeth St. Claire) who spitefully reports the crime when the Animus prefers the charms of her toy boy husband, delectable Tommy Lord who headlined in CUFFED! and HEAD STRONG for Ross Cannon a/k/a "Derek Kent", to her own. Assigned to capture the criminal is openly gay cop Joe Domino (a devastatingly hunky Harper, whose real life relationship with fellow former porn star Colton Ford was chronicled in Christopher Long's shattering documentary NAKED FAME) who harbors a longstanding fascination, typically torn between attraction and revulsion, for the elusive gentleman thief.
Along the way, viewers are treated to several scorching sexual scenarios, kicking off with a snappy number between the always hot Harper and beefy Dave Nelson, most memorable as one of the cops working over Studio 2000 contract boy Jeff White in the aforementioned CUFFED! Blake's reluctance to "bottom" for his Muscle Mary pick-up offers an early clue towards his character's insecurity marking him as an easy prey in the cat 'n' mouse game he's about to engage in with the Animus. Subtle touches such as these abound and may only reveal themselves to audiences upon multiple screenings. Encounters are elaborately staged by West who thereby maximizes not just their turn-on potential but narrative relevance as well. Witness the dynamics between hunky police profiler Tommy Cruise (who shared the climactic coupling with star Joe Landon in late Jaguar Productions founding father Barry Knight's creative comeback JOE'S BIG ADVENTURE) and his compulsively jealous boyfriend Peter Logan before the Animus disrupts their not so happy home and the sparks fly in more ways than one.
In terms of style, nothing beats the opium den threesome involving ruggedly handsome Tanner Hayes from Dame Chi Chi LaRue's big budget HOW THE WEST WAS HUNG with angular J.J. Bond, who was in Dave Babbitt's WHITEFIRE, and Belgium-born Duncan Mills, one of those frequently underrated all purpose performers often pressed into duty as a makeshift Oriental because of his mixed ethnic heritage, featured in projects as diverse as Thor Stephens' lavish PHARAOH'S CURSE and LaRue's bisexual MISS KITTY'S LITTER. Staking out the proceedings in stark chiaroscuro, Harper and junior officer Zach Richards (from Paul Baressi's ambitious UNDERBOSS) stoically savor this gorgeous group grope, sophisticated editing and super- imposed imagery blended to mesmerizing effect. This intricate sequence represents West at the top of his game, as does the subsequent award-winning scene, technically somewhat incorrectly crowned as a three-way, with Richards and his hunky superior Jack Simmons (who made an indelible impression as the emotionally confused drag queen in Michael Zen's deliberately campy SODOM) alternately pumping Hayes for information in their own variation on the good cop/bad cop routine.
Of course, the final scene finds our hero and his nemesis meeting face to face, on New Year's Eve no less, beneath the starry sky on the rooftop of a crowded nightclub. Domino seems to succumb to the charms of the Animus as the yin and yang symbolism comes to a head. Slowly, lingeringly, they make love, handcuffs at the ready. Not everything is what it seems though. Film's final seconds leave audiences guessing. Feather-haired late '80s Catalina performer turned serviceable filmmaker (KNIGHT HEAT, THE NEXT VALENTINO) Kevin Glover has an amusing non-sex cameo as a befuddled TV news anchor and hirsute Dean Maxwell's from Titan Media's 3 EASY PIECES makes an impossible to overlook appearance near the end as a booty-wiggling go go boy projecting ping pong balls out of his nether regions ! One way or another, West manages to draw all these extremely disparate elements together as part of a mind-blowing movie-going experience that, while not as sexually sustained as NAKED HIGHWAY or TECHNICAL ECSTASY, might very well go down as his signature work.
Each month when the moon is full, a handsome cat burglar simply known as the Animus (Thomas Lloyd, who supplements his income as one of the industry's most sought after editors – as "Tab Lloyd" – with handpicked on camera appearances such as in Robert Kirsch and Bruce Cam's FALLEN ANGEL 2 and John Travis' CZECH POINT) strikes at the home of unsuspecting if upwardly mobile citizens, seducing them out of their most valuable possessions, his voice barely raising above a whisper. This is the case with society sweetheart Patricia Vandervelt (an amusing non-sex performance by Elizabeth St. Claire) who spitefully reports the crime when the Animus prefers the charms of her toy boy husband, delectable Tommy Lord who headlined in CUFFED! and HEAD STRONG for Ross Cannon a/k/a "Derek Kent", to her own. Assigned to capture the criminal is openly gay cop Joe Domino (a devastatingly hunky Harper, whose real life relationship with fellow former porn star Colton Ford was chronicled in Christopher Long's shattering documentary NAKED FAME) who harbors a longstanding fascination, typically torn between attraction and revulsion, for the elusive gentleman thief.
Along the way, viewers are treated to several scorching sexual scenarios, kicking off with a snappy number between the always hot Harper and beefy Dave Nelson, most memorable as one of the cops working over Studio 2000 contract boy Jeff White in the aforementioned CUFFED! Blake's reluctance to "bottom" for his Muscle Mary pick-up offers an early clue towards his character's insecurity marking him as an easy prey in the cat 'n' mouse game he's about to engage in with the Animus. Subtle touches such as these abound and may only reveal themselves to audiences upon multiple screenings. Encounters are elaborately staged by West who thereby maximizes not just their turn-on potential but narrative relevance as well. Witness the dynamics between hunky police profiler Tommy Cruise (who shared the climactic coupling with star Joe Landon in late Jaguar Productions founding father Barry Knight's creative comeback JOE'S BIG ADVENTURE) and his compulsively jealous boyfriend Peter Logan before the Animus disrupts their not so happy home and the sparks fly in more ways than one.
In terms of style, nothing beats the opium den threesome involving ruggedly handsome Tanner Hayes from Dame Chi Chi LaRue's big budget HOW THE WEST WAS HUNG with angular J.J. Bond, who was in Dave Babbitt's WHITEFIRE, and Belgium-born Duncan Mills, one of those frequently underrated all purpose performers often pressed into duty as a makeshift Oriental because of his mixed ethnic heritage, featured in projects as diverse as Thor Stephens' lavish PHARAOH'S CURSE and LaRue's bisexual MISS KITTY'S LITTER. Staking out the proceedings in stark chiaroscuro, Harper and junior officer Zach Richards (from Paul Baressi's ambitious UNDERBOSS) stoically savor this gorgeous group grope, sophisticated editing and super- imposed imagery blended to mesmerizing effect. This intricate sequence represents West at the top of his game, as does the subsequent award-winning scene, technically somewhat incorrectly crowned as a three-way, with Richards and his hunky superior Jack Simmons (who made an indelible impression as the emotionally confused drag queen in Michael Zen's deliberately campy SODOM) alternately pumping Hayes for information in their own variation on the good cop/bad cop routine.
Of course, the final scene finds our hero and his nemesis meeting face to face, on New Year's Eve no less, beneath the starry sky on the rooftop of a crowded nightclub. Domino seems to succumb to the charms of the Animus as the yin and yang symbolism comes to a head. Slowly, lingeringly, they make love, handcuffs at the ready. Not everything is what it seems though. Film's final seconds leave audiences guessing. Feather-haired late '80s Catalina performer turned serviceable filmmaker (KNIGHT HEAT, THE NEXT VALENTINO) Kevin Glover has an amusing non-sex cameo as a befuddled TV news anchor and hirsute Dean Maxwell's from Titan Media's 3 EASY PIECES makes an impossible to overlook appearance near the end as a booty-wiggling go go boy projecting ping pong balls out of his nether regions ! One way or another, West manages to draw all these extremely disparate elements together as part of a mind-blowing movie-going experience that, while not as sexually sustained as NAKED HIGHWAY or TECHNICAL ECSTASY, might very well go down as his signature work.