Priscilla
(Mary Mendem, who was also in The Image the same year) catches Abigail Lesley (Jennifer
Jordan) in bed with her husband Gordon (Jamie Gillis). Somehow, they remain married. Three years later, when Abigail returns home,
there is a swirl of rumors and gossip about why she’s come back. It doesn’t take long for the promiscuous
Abigail to start banging everyone in sight (including Gordon). Eventually, Priscilla’s close-knit circle of
friends falls under Abigail’s spell.
Will Priscilla be next? Or will
her repressed desires be her undoing?
Abigail
Lesley is Back in Town feels like a master thesis from writer/director Joe Sarno
as it encapsulates many of the themes that run throughout his work. It’s a film about suburban hypocrisy,
repressed housewives, and untapped sexual desire. The heightened dialogue, bombastic
performances, and Sarno’s camerawork often makes it feel like a combination of
Shakespearean tragedy, soap opera, and Douglas Sirk melodrama. That is to say, this is one heck of a movie!
The
100-minute running time is a bit steep, but the sex scenes are plentiful, and
Sarno handles them expertly (especially the ones devoted to suburban swinging
and group sex). There’s a particularly great
scene where Jennifer Jordan dominates Chris Jordan (no relation) into having a
scintillating lesbian encounter. Speaking
of relations, Chris is hurting from being spurned by her brother (played
by Eric Edwards), whom she’s had incestuous relations for years, so she’s more
than willing to try a little Sapphic surprise.
Sarno
only occasionally relies on obvious porn-level dialogue (“I have a leak that
needs filling!”) and cutaways. The film’s
most absorbing trait is its realistic, complicated, and well-defined characters,
all of whom come to life courtesy of the terrific cast. Jennifer Jordan is fun to watch as the sexy,
manipulative, and irresistible Abigail. Jennifer
Welles brings a lot of spark to the role of the insatiable Aunt Drucilla
too. Predator’s Sonny Landham gets
several good moments as a loudmouth stud who says things like, “You got one of
them overactive torsos!” Oddly enough,
the usually boisterous Jamie Gillis seems a bit muted here as Mendem’s
two-timing hubby.
Speaking
of Mendem, her tour de force performance elevates the film from softcore smut
to horny high art. The scenes of her
suffocating her desires always ring true and she gives these moments a touch of
unexpected poignancy. However, once she
finally embraces her inner hedonistic spirit, she really sizzles. It’s enough to make you wish Abigail Lesley
stayed in town more often.
AKA: Abigail is Back. AKA:
Sexpert. AKA: The Secret Garden.
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