Paula Barbieri. Wow. What a flashback. This pretty lady only made a few films, mostly erotic thrillers, and Night Eyes 4 was her last appearance. Don’t quote me or anything, but I’m pretty sure she used a body double in the sex scenes. She is also an underwhelming actress, so I wonder why anyone would hire her for this genre.
Oh wait, she was dating OJ Simpson circa the infamous murder of his ex-wife and an unsuspecting waiter who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I won’t go into details here because if you aren’t aware of the case, then you must have been living under a rock. I do remember Paula getting some coverage after the event based solely on her notorious taste in lovers. I read she split from Simpson the day of the murders, which you know probably pissed him off. She did end up reuniting and staying with OJ through the trial and they broke up shortly after his acquittal. I’m just glad she got out of there, otherwise who would have starred in Night Eyes 4? It just wouldn’t have been the same.
Paula is Dr. Angela Cross, super hot therapist who finds herself the victim of a break-in. That’s when Night Eyes Security shows up. Led by Will (Andrew Stevens who starred in the first three films in the series) and Steve (Jeff Trachta), they catch the assailant only to have him shoot Will in the head. Steve vows to catch this guy and offers to become Angela’s personal guard. At first she comes off as really cold and almost defies him to take her on, knowing that she is a icy bitch. But apparently Steve can melt the ice right off a popsicle, so it’s not long before he’s in Angela’s good graces and bed.
Another couple lives with Angela, and the first half of the movie basically consists of Steve stumbling across them while they are having sex. It’s kind of amusing actually. The guy in this amorous couple is played by Casper Van Dien and it was a bit of a shock to see him in all his glory. The scenes themselves weren’t anything particularly saucy, but they were fun and the score by Patrick Seymour was awesome! He ingrained some cool bowm-chicka-bowm-bowm/blues styling into the sexy scenes, livening them up just enough to keep them interesting.
The second half of the film deals with Jeff and Angela’s relationship as he has lots of simulated sex with her body double. Again, nothing great but good music livens it up. Eventually, it comes to light what is going on in Angela’s house and it ain’t good! Lives are ruined, some are lost, yada, yada, yada.
What struck me most about Night Eyes 4 was that it’s honestly entertaining. With the exception of Ms. Barbieri’s questionable acting talents, the rest of the cast is good. I mean, really good. Even Kimberly Kelly who plays nothing more than a sexed-up nymph is completely engaging in her part. I’m glad they let her wear her clothes once in awhile because I enjoyed watching her actually act – imagine that! Jeff Trachta is by far the best actor in the film and is great as a leading man. I personally didn’t find him super attractive physically (90s hair can throw off even the best looking guys), but he’s so damn likeable, even with some of the shoddy material, you find that you’re interested in what he’s doing. And Stevens was great (as usual) in a part that turned out to be nothing more than a glorified cameo.
IMDb identifies Jacqueline Lovell as “Runaway” but for the life of me, I don’t remember her or this character at all. I do like Jacqueline. She was always so much better than her material.
It saddens me to say that I have now come to a close with the Night Eyes series. I hope the Body Chemistry prove to be just as fun, but really, how likely is that?!?
Read the reviews for the rest of the Night Eyes movies:
Not nearly as gripping as the book, “Anatomy of a Trial”, by Jerrianne Hayslett. Give it a read. Available on Amazon.com.