DVD Review: Sinful
Sinful (2006)
Studio: Shock-O-Rama/POP Cinema
DVD Release Date: October 3, 2006
Directed By: Tony Marsiglia
Cast: Misty Mundae, Erika Smith, Ronnie Kerr, Nikos Psarras
Review By: Marc Patterson
I hate artsy horror when I’m not ready for it. It’s like getting sucker punched by your best friend when you least expect it. When I popped in the new Misty Mundae flick Sinful, a dreadful wave of “Awww shit” came over me. I realized what I had just done. This wasn’t what I thought it was. I thought this would be the typical Misty Mundae B-movie schlock that we all know and love. But I was wrong. Very wrong. This was a different monster altogether.
Lilith (Misty Mundae) is stuck in a cold, sexless marriage with a drunk for a husband. She desperately wants a baby, to the point of her own insanity. The neighbors in the adjacent apartment live a life completely opposite of Lilith’s. Aisha (Erika Smith) and her husband have a hot and passionate sex life. After a failed attempt at sex by Lilith, and after one hot romp by Aisha, the two meet in the hall. On one end a frustrated, and fully clothed Lilith. On the other end a satisfied and nude Aisha. They exchange a few words and share a cigarette.
They soon become friends and Aisha invites Lilith and her husband over for dinner. The friendship quickly turns sour as Aisha has become pregnant, and Lilith teeters on the edge of her own sanity as she spirals into highly obsessive behavior. Lilith desperately longs to be Aisha, to the point where she is overcome with resentment, and hatred, pushing the drama in the film towards a frenzied madness that blurs the line of reality and creates a visually rich climatic ending.
There’s no doubt that Misty Mundae has the spotlight role of the film. Here she gets to show off her chops in a whole new way proving that she can act beyond the typical sleazy schlock we more readily recognize her for. Granted, she’s always stood out as above average from other contemporary scream queens, but there’s also no doubt that this role, as Lilith, was a push for her. Thankfully for everyone, she pulled the role off with style and competence, which will hopefully create new opportunities.
Her onscreen counterpart, Erika Smith, suffered a slightly more unfortunate fate, clearly taking a supportive role to the central character of Lilith. While she makes for wonderful eye candy, it would have been nice to see her flesh out her character (no pun intended) and become a strong counter-point to the character of Lilith.
Structurally, the film was tedious and felt stretched out. It lays out a great premise, delivers some wonderful metaphorical imagery, but fails to deliver a solid story around the basis. I was surprised to get to the end of the film and find that I had only been watching for 65 minutes. And I don’t mean to say that I wasn’t watching parts of the film. I had sat through the whole thing, but it sure felt a heck of a lot longer. Clocking in at a whooping 70 minutes (and that’s after 5+ minutes of credits), this is a short film that could have been a whole lot shorter.
Despite a story loosely threaded together, there’s plenty to enjoy. For a low budget film that was shot in only five days you might not have expected the director to use actual film, especially with the DV boom surrounding today’s horror filmmaking. But he did, and visually the film reaps the benefits. Speaking of visuals, both Misty Mundae and Erika Smith are pleasantly easy on the eyes, and while there was an adequate amount of disrobing, it wasn’t so over the top that it became ridiculous. While “horror” might not aptly describe the film, there is certainly enough disturbing imagery in the film to satisfy anyone who grabbed this hoping for some blood and guts. With a central theme of pregnancy, you can expect a few toe curling moments.
With the last of the credits rolled Sinful turned out a fairly decent film, and not half-bad. But it wasn’t great either. And it’s certainly not feature length material, nor would I go so far as to call it horror. In the extras, you can catch an interview with Miss Mundae, and I believe she aptly surmises the film by calling it an “erotic thriller”.
A psychologically wrenching film of the extremes a mind can go to in order to attain the things it wants, Sinful is the perfect film to watch with some art school friends and a few bottles of fine red wine.
Brutal As Hell Rating: 2 ½ out of 5
