User Reviews

Carnal obsession is a subject that if treated as a serious subject matter can generate some truly inspired films.

This, unfortunately, is not one of them. A premise that in essence is intriguing -- a couple decide to spice up their lives and contact another couple who introduce them to the lives of swingers and get more than they bargained for -- collapses into an incomprehensible mess that's supposedly a "thriller," maybe because Stephen Baldwin portrays a character who's a psycho for no other reason than the script makes him as such and in one scene kills someone while uttering smug lines a la Jack Nicholson (Why? Well, in a "thriller" there's always a murder, right?).

Blame it on the screenwriter for having seen too many "Cinemax After Dark" films and trying to make some sense out of beautiful bodies having sex for no other reason than to expose flesh and toned bodies. This is exactly how this movie feels like, with the added notion that swingers are predatory and will disrupt your life in implausible ways. There's not an ounce of believability to this story, character motivations, or actions. Situations are allowed to escalate to a level that is virtually impossible any way you look at it. The dialog that Baldwin has to utter is outrageously bad: "Come on guys..." "Hey guys..." seems to be all he is allowed to say (which brings to mind the language of characters in cheap men's magazines) while preening his teeth, squinting his eyes, and looking almost pretty. No one else registers, so why even bother.

It's just sad that the term "erotic thriller" has to be reduced to utter silliness and the requisite violence. For a real erotic movie, go see PERSONA or DAMAGE. This one? Pass.

At first glance a steamy erotic movie starring Kristy Swanson doesn't really sound all that bad but man was I wrong. Basically, your typical established middle class couple has lost their flame and decide to spice it up with a little swinger action. Everything is great at first and of course the swinger couple they meet (Baldwin and Swanson) turns out to be a couple of grade-A psychos that wont go away. Now this isn't that bad of a plot to go on because it's a couple not just one person involved in the psychotically-in-love-with-you storyline. It's a bit of a twist on an overused tale but not nearly enough to save this film becoming a one copy rental at your local blockbuster.

So the final verdict on this movie is that it's just flat out bad. They obviously spent all their money on Baldwin and Swanson because all the other actors in this movie belong in college theatre. Regardless of the low level acting skills none of the characters are believable anyway. The first married couple look too much like wholesome suburbanites and the swingers look too much like well a sleazy swinger couple. That sort of thing. In all honesty this movie isn't even really worth reviewing this in depth. In all probability the only reason anyone would watch this movie is for the abundance of stale unrealistic sex scenes. Being a guy myself I can assure you that they aren't even worth it.

P.S All you Kristy Swanson fans hoping to maybe see a little something in this flick, you wont. She somehow manages to keep her clothes halfway on through 3-4 sex scenes.

"Zebra Lounge" earns its stars by milking the same cow of Adrian Lyne's moralist but sexual-driven tales, however, where the infamous British filmmaker succeeded, this movie fails: The aftermath of the plot and, of course, his ability to involve major actors and actresses to carry on those otherwise rather mediocre flicks.

The Barnets (Cameron Daddo and Brandy Ledford) are a young couple making an everyday effort to keep their marriage floating over the routine, one night, after a mutual confession of secret fantasies and harmless, almost naive misbehavior, they decide to make a step further and both end looking for kinky adventures at the local swinger's club, where they met the Bauers (Stephen Baldwin and Kristy Swanson). So then, what seemed to be just a little "hanky-panky", turns into a menacing nightmare as their new sex partners reveal some sociopath tendencies, and will be necessary a considerable effort to get rid of such obsessive friends. That's it.

The most interesting part, besides some few steamy sex scenes (the tongue fencing between Swanson and Ledford is an internet classic) is the way they fail to manage the situation, being unable to leave it all behind and forced to face a threat to their whole world, compromising job, family and even the little kids. At this respect, all kudos to Brandy Ledford who despite some flaws in her acting definitely outshines the rest of the ensemble cast in her role of the charismatic and sympathetic suburban housewife, regretting her actions in concern for their kids, but willing to do whatever it takes to get back to a normal life.

Sadly, her on screen companions don't reach the same level, the closer is an overacted Stephen Baldwin playing a generic b-movie psycho full of laughable tics. There's almost nothing to say (good or bad) about Cameron Daddo and his insipid and colorless portrayal of the troubled do-right husband, and Kristy Swanson is a major disappoint with the unexciting and cold presence of what should have been a lustful siren. (if you come to this movie expecting to see Kristy in all her revealing hotness, get a copy of her Playboy issue instead)

Having started with an interesting premise and some good moments, the whole story goes down hill only to stop at a random and mediocre ending. Not even an unrated version with extended sex scenes would have save it from become just another late night TV erotic thriller, but among a plethora of them, this one is good enough to watch.

First off, I'm a big Kristy Swanson fan. That's what drew me to this movie. I saw her in DEADLY FRIEND, NIGHTINGALES, MANNEQUIN 2: ON THE MOVE (a personal favorite) and BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER the original movie. Also THE CHASE. So I was intrigued by the prospect of Kristy in this sexual title, even though soon forewarned by user reviews that her performance in here is not much by way of what her fans desire. I nevertheless decided to see for myself.

The very best thing about ZEBRA LOUNGE? Theme song Get Into It, Baby. And the Zebra Lounge scene with the immediately- following first encounter. Also, the swimming pool tongue- sharing scene, and the spiral hot-plate bikini top early on in the movie (if you've watched the movie, and especially if you're a hot-blooded guy, you'll know what I am talking about). More than credible performance by Stephen Baldwin as the killer. But Kristy unfortunately leaves me cold in this movie. Hell, she obviously took good care of herself (although those close-ups are clearly stand- ins), but the character... Really, Kristy shouldn't have bothered with this. It is just not fit for the dreamgirl of yore.

I also repeat that this kind of movie Invariably escalates into violence. Instead of a psychological thriller it just turned psychopathic. Come on, the neighborhood swingers would all be offended by this kind of portrayal. I would have preferred the movie to have had deeply psychological turmoil, but none of the predictable violence. In other words, the Bauers should have been a normal couple as well, and instead of this cop-out towards an easily- written script, they should have found the most amiable resolution. Like normal people.

Of course, this way it is all more spectacular, but oh-so-predictable.

Anybody noticed how much Brandy Ledford reminds of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES star Marcia Cross? Casting department must have thought in that direction. Must say, nice legs!

In short, needs a much more intelligent script. Dump the violence for actual drama. The actors had the ability, it is the idea that ultimately fell flat.

To sum up: Not, I repeat NOT, a movie for Kristy Swanson fans.

Alain and Wendy's Barnet boredom in sexual life sexual is cured by one and one only swinging experience, although they enjoyed it very much. It is hard to buy that sudden cure. On the other hand the other couple is portrayed much too shallow and flat. They are yuppies, yet they act more and more retarded towards the end of the film. We never find out what's their real motivation behind their action. Stephen Baldwin acting is great though.

All in all the film is formalistic. Plot points are coming one after the other in their desperate attempts to shock the audience. It seems that their only reason is to make everything more interesting - triller like. The ending is very disappointing. Also the moral message of the story is too simple. Either you are white or black. If you're black or just a bit gray you'll pay the price.

This movie demonstrates that Hollywood screenwriters really shouldn't get the credit they think they deserve.

An erotic thriller that's actually somewhat erotic, though not all that thrilling, Zebra Lounge is about a married couple desperate to rediscover their sexual spark. Alan (Cameron Daddo) and Wendy (Brandy Ledford) still love each other, but no longer seem to have any intimate connection. They've got two kids, Alan is stressed out at work and Wendy...well, she doesn't really do anything so it's unclear what her problem is supposed to be. Their joint difficulty is that Alan and Wendy can't even force themselves to have sex. After Alan finds himself in another woman's apartment almost boinking her, he and Wendy decide they have to do something about it.

That "something" turns out to be wife-swapping. They hook up with Jack (Stephen Baldwin) and Louise (Krsty Swanson), an experienced couple of swingers. But while doing it once turns out to be enough to solve Alan and Wendy's sexual dysfunction, Jack and Louise want more. They pressure and pester and cajole Alan and Wendy into continuing the relationship. Jack even starts showing up at Alan's work, helping him get in good with his boss. But after an Ecstasy-fueled romp in a swimming pool leads Wendy to have some sort of breakdown, Alan finally tries to end things. When Jack and Wendy move in next door and make it clear that nothing is over until they say it's over, Alan and Wendy are forced to consider drastic action.

The sex scenes in Zebra Lounge are fairly provocative for this sort of film, though it is weird that Brandy Ledford is the only one who gets naked. I mean, Kirsty Swanson even has one more sex scene than Ledford and she never takes her bra off. That had to be somewhat awkward on the set. You can understand the two bigger-name actors insisting they remain clothed, but Ledford's fellow no-name actor Cameron Daddo doesn't show his ass either. Ledford is pretty and sexy and all that, but when only one person is nude at an orgy…it just looks odd.

It's fairly standard to hear screenwriters complain about not getting the credit and attention they deserve for their work on a film. Watching Zebra Lounge makes those complaints ring hollow, because the script has virtually nothing to do with what makes this low-budget, sex-and-violence flick a cut above the dozens and more of similar films cranked out every year. It's not that this movie is poorly written, though the second half of it does start to show some very obvious flaws. It's just that there's nothing in the writing that's particularly good. The plot isn't all that complex or clever. The dialog isn't memorable or striking in any respect. The themes and situations of the story aren't noticeably interesting or involving. With this level of writing, Zebra Lounge could have easily been another crappy, direct-to-DVD project cluttering up the shelves of video stores across the country.

What saves it from that fate is some genuinely good acting and a director who strikes just the right tone to make this kind of movie better than it should be. Ledford and Daddo are perfectly believably as a married couple trying to save their relationship. They seem like a real union, not two people who happen to be stuck together. They give Wendy and Alan a casual ease around each other, while showing legitimate concern for their partner's emotions and state of mind. Even with the sex problem, Ledford and Daddo create the sort of relationship on screen that everyone wants out of their marriage. They actually make you accept that Wendy and Alan are two normal people who turn to wife-swapping because they just don't know what else to do to rekindle their passion.

Stephen Baldwin also does a fine job as Jack. He takes what could have been a very over-the-top, psycho stalker role and gives the character real human neediness. He doesn't let Jack become too menacing, too quickly. For the first half of the film he's less a threat and more like a person with no boundaries who's just very insistent on being your friend.

Kari Skogland's direction matches the work of her cast. Not only does the movie look good and the story flow well, she creates a different tone for this sort of thing. There's a light touch to every scene that keeps the film from every taking itself too seriously, yet it never completely falls back into trashy melodrama.

The awfulness of the two kids playing Wendy and Alan's children illustrate how much better Zebra Lounge is than this kind of movie usually is. They're terrible actors and they're so much worse than everything else in the movie, the contrast highlights the non-awfulness of the rest of the film.

This isn't a great film, to be sure, but it's a clear cut above most of the dreck in its genre.