Voyeur Confessions

Rating:
Released: 2001 Indigo Entertainment
Starring: Catalina Larranaga, Flower, Teanna Kai, Diana Epsen, Jack Lincoln, Christopher John Kapanke
Directed by: Tom Lazarus
IMDb

Voyeurism in various forms is often featured in softcore films, usually as foreplay or as a pleasurable, harmless sexual diversion. In Voyeur Confessions, as the title suggests, it’s the main theme, presented full strength as a gripping and sometimes disturbing obsession. Yes, it can be pretty intense-and downright creepy and sad in its more neurotic extremes. I learned quite a lot about voyeurs from watching this film: now I know what kind of people are buying the tiny micro-cameras you see advertised all over the internet in all those damn pop-up ads!

In Voyeur Confessions, Catalina Larranaga is once again cast as a brainy babe, this time playing Lisa, a researcher whose pet project at the clinic is a study of voyeurism. She’s intent on finding out what makes them tick and how they might be helped. Interesting, we see early on that Lisa is developing a peeping habit of her own and that, just maybe, her study is motivated by personal reasons. That story is woven around and through the revelations of three volunteer subjects, all fairly “normal” and well educated guys who, in their sessions with Lisa, disclose the dirtiest truths about their favorite pastime. Vivid memories of first-time and life-altering experiences are recalled and shown to us from their voyeur’s-eye perspective.

Shot in a semi-noir style, the tone of Voyeur is one of stark realism. Thankfully, though, we’re spared anything truly perverse or unwholesome, and the closest we get to feeling kinda weird is looking down on a woman in a bathroom stall while she jills herself off, fully unaware of the hidden camera overhead. After all, this is softcore entertainment for you and your loved one, so the taste of these voyeurs tends to be for attractive people and conventional sex. It’s pretty erotic by most standards-even the bathroom scene, which is followed by yet another scene with the same woman having convincingly hot and frenzied ten-position sex with the voyeur himself as he records “one of the all-time greatest tapes.” Not bad stuff if you can overlook the pathology.

Besides Catalina, very few familiar, “big name” actresses were cast in this movie, which I suspect was done intentionally in keeping with the theme of spying on “strangers.” Sharp-eyed viewers will, however, recognize foxy Teanna Kai as we peer through a telescope and, like Lisa, scope her out in a torrid threesome. Another bit part is given to Flower Edwards, playing a call girl, who’s hired by one of the guys in an attempt to add a more human element to his voyeurism. Believe it or not, this particular voyeur actually recoils when the lithe brunette tries to touch him, and insists on simply watching as she performs solo. Now, while I’m pretty sure that every guy reading this enjoys watching, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would actually prefer just looking when they could be hitting the sheets with the likes of Flower. Such is the nature of the voyeuristic mind, I guess-where the pursuit of visual images is what it’s all about.

In Voyeur Confessions, director Tom Lazarus (House of Love, Word of Mouth) has come up with yet another provocative film that combines eroticism with an edgy lesson in human sexuality. A steady diet of such films might be a tad overwhelming, but now and again they’re a welcome change of pace from the trite, formula-driven crap that softcore fans have been fed for so long. Give it a peek. You’ll like what you see.