Nina (Jacy Andrews), a beautiful, blonde, college coed rents a room in an old estate with four lovely housemates (Amber Newman, Jezebelle Bond, Teanna Kai, Nikki Fairchild) who turn out to be a coven of witches looking for a fifth member. Soon, Nina’s luck starts turning bad, and her fiancé becomes distant. It’s clear that while most of the girls are good witches, one has a secret, darker side.
Those of you who are more than casual readers of this site may have noticed that I have taken it as a quest to find a good, erotic “horror” film. It has been a frustrating undertaking, but I’m not surprised that there has been little to get “excited” over. The budgets for anything even slightly sexual tend to be too low to pay for decent equipment, much less hire multiple skilled craftsmen. The best actors (of both genders) are rarely willing to show some flesh, and even less likely to do it in a scene that is supposed to be stimulating. And, since the producers assume that their small audience won’t care about anything but seeing some naked breasts, they don’t buy stories of any interest.
Which brings me to Sexual Magic. This softcore romp is a notch above its competition, but still lacking. The story is thin, but surprisingly workable, which is to say it isn’t embarrassing. The production values are also better than I’ve come to expect in this sub-genre. Some of the shots are attractive and the lighting and sound is always good. The sets are limited, with most of the action taking place in one house and its yard, but I doubt if any viewer will complain that the scantily-clad witches didn’t spend more time on the town. The music is variable, but at times manages to set the proper mood.
Of course, there are plenty of scenes with lovely lasses (and even a few of six-pack-abs lads) showing off their true talents. The girls are beautiful and sexy, and there is plenty of flesh on display. They appear to have been cast to fill out a Playboy photo shoot: three white chicks, one blonde, one short haired brunette, one long haired brunette, an oriental girl with glasses, and a black babe. They certainly weren’t chosen for their acting. They all manage hip-swaying and chest-thrusting, but their scant abilities are overtaxed when asked to speak. I suppose that can be ignored in the non-erotic moments, but is problematic when they can’t believably express passion.
Not that the girls are aided by the dialog. Oscar-winners couldn’t recite these lines with any degree of conviction. Most are just poorly put together, but sometimes, it is the topic which can’t be taken seriously. Over and over, the girls are forced to say how intelligent Nina is and how she’s a straight-A student. There’s no way to react to these statements except to snicker. Jacy Andrews may be a brilliant girl, but she can’t play one. What she can manage is cute-blonde-with-big-breasts.
The main weakness in the film is the inability to integrate the sexual moments with the witchcraft plot. Instead, the story stops every ten minutes for a girl to get undressed and give her current lover a lap dance. Is it really so hard to find a magic related reason to show some flesh? The movie is at its best during a pair of mystic rituals, where the girl chant while dressed in see-thru nighties. Toss in a few more rituals with a bit more erotic content, and this might have been a flick worth remembering.
The most commonly available version of Sexual Magic is a roughly edited R-rated cut, with overly brief sex scenes that tend to end abruptly. The unrated DVD isn’t currently in production.