Flash! (California Star) Review

Distributor: California Star Productions Edition Details: Standard Streaming Movie Specs: Genres: Feature Film, Bondage Run Time: 60 minutes Rated: XXX Release Year: 1987 Director: John Howard Written by: John Howard Cast: Kari Foxx (as Debra Lee), Linnea Quigley (as Jessie Dalton), R. Eric Huxley, Dale Nichols Release Specs: Audio: English Mono Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: Streaming Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): N/A Number of discs: N/A

Flash! is a plotted adult bondage feature movie by director John Howard for California Star in the mid-80s. Flash! was shot on video and is, sadly, a victim of the decline of adult movies after the switch from theaters to home video as their main marketplace.

Lori, a photographer, ends up wandering on private property where she manages to take pictures of drug dealers Carl (R. Eric Huxley) and Jean (Linnea Quigley) meeting with crooked cop Leadon (Dale Nichols). Leadon sees Lori and sends Jean and Carl after her. Lori claims there wasn't any film in the camera and Jean and Carl kidnap her and torture her to find out the truth.

As to why Howard decided to make this a plotted bondage feature instead of just an all bondage entry is beyond me. No real effort went into overly developing the plot at the beginning of the movie nor is there really any attempt to keep it going once the bondage starts.

Flash! is clearly a low budget video quickie that was made as fast as possible to get it out into the marketplace. The sets used in the movie are sparsely dressed and, frankly, look very cheap and rushed. One of the rooms used for Lori's apartment is essentially empty. When Lori leaves her apartment she just starts randomly photographing anything right outside her own apartment.

Flash! stars Kari Foxx, an accomplished adult movie actress and Linnea Quigley, a mainstream B-horror scream queen, along with Howard regular R. Eric Huxley. Sadly, Howard hasn't given the cast anything to work with as far as the non-sexual performances go and has wasted the talent of the cast. For the bondage scenes, they are relatively standard fare.

Despite having some talented cast members and a director who did a few ultra-cheap mainstream movies as well as adult movies, there is nothing in Flash! to make it worth seeking out. The plot is as thin as the production values and the bondage scenes are rather average.

The edition reviewed of Flash! was the VOD release screened on HotMovies. California Star has also released a DVD-MOD release of Flash!, which utilizes the same master as the VOD release to the best of my knowledge.

California Star has done a poor job with their VOD release of Flash! Flash! is presented in the academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 in 250i. Flash! was shot on video and the master used for this release appears to be a worn VHS tape. There are glitches present in the video throughout the movie and there is also a band across the bottom of the image.

Flash! is presented with an English monaural audio track. The dialog in the movie can be heard at all times, however, there is a very noticeable hiss present throughout the entire presentation of the movie.

Flash! is the standard feature bondage fare that John Howard churned out for California Star. The movie is ultra-thin as far as the plot and production values are concerned. The bondage scenes are your typical bondage scenes for the period. There is nothing remarkable present here. California Star has done a poor job with their release of Flash!

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