Cheyenne Silver appears in many great films at the turn of this century, and "Carnal Witness" has her well-cast in the leading role, a psychic in jeopardy. Director Bud Lee, who also appears in a fleeting cameo as "The Watcher", does a fine job of creating and maintaining suspense, while delivering 99.5% of the footage as hardcore porn.
The sliver of story line and characterization makes all the difference, as one can get involved in this video while still maintaining the current "wisdom" that ultimately only the XXX sex matters. For me, the harm to pacing in a thriller by having lengthy sex scenes where all pretense of advancing the story is put on hold is a drawback, but that's just me.
Randy Spears co-stars as a police detective investigating reports of a prowler in the neighborhood, who Cheyenne calls "The Watcher". She has just moved into a new home (with friendly neighbor Nina Hartley figuring prominently in the action), having previously served back in Chicago as an adviser to the police, using her psychic powers to help find the whereabouts of missing persons, etc. Her gig ended and she still experiences nightmare visions of "The Watcher" -key to the current mystery.
Lee deftly integrates Cheyenne's nightmares (which play as sex dreams where she is a voyeuse) with live-action sex scenes and his cast including Nina, T.J. Hart and especially Chloe (bringing her nonpareil anal sex expertise to the project) make sure the XXX footage is hot. Major subplot involves a mysterious character played by Chris Cannon (who figures both in the dreams and live scenes) and T.J.'s plastic surgeon husband, very well played with the proper ambiguity by Herschel Savage. A threesome scene featuring Chloe, Cannon and Savage is the central vignette of the film, later anthologized in the compilation "Ass Angels".
Unusual musical score, which ranges surprisingly from jazz and suspense music to religious choirs to accompany the six sex scenes, is highly effective, and the resolution of the thriller mystery convincing; less so the inevitable false ending regarding "The Watcher". This is one of Lee's several intriguing "Mystery Theater" features from the period, unsung by critics or fans but all highly watchable.
The sliver of story line and characterization makes all the difference, as one can get involved in this video while still maintaining the current "wisdom" that ultimately only the XXX sex matters. For me, the harm to pacing in a thriller by having lengthy sex scenes where all pretense of advancing the story is put on hold is a drawback, but that's just me.
Randy Spears co-stars as a police detective investigating reports of a prowler in the neighborhood, who Cheyenne calls "The Watcher". She has just moved into a new home (with friendly neighbor Nina Hartley figuring prominently in the action), having previously served back in Chicago as an adviser to the police, using her psychic powers to help find the whereabouts of missing persons, etc. Her gig ended and she still experiences nightmare visions of "The Watcher" -key to the current mystery.
Lee deftly integrates Cheyenne's nightmares (which play as sex dreams where she is a voyeuse) with live-action sex scenes and his cast including Nina, T.J. Hart and especially Chloe (bringing her nonpareil anal sex expertise to the project) make sure the XXX footage is hot. Major subplot involves a mysterious character played by Chris Cannon (who figures both in the dreams and live scenes) and T.J.'s plastic surgeon husband, very well played with the proper ambiguity by Herschel Savage. A threesome scene featuring Chloe, Cannon and Savage is the central vignette of the film, later anthologized in the compilation "Ass Angels".
Unusual musical score, which ranges surprisingly from jazz and suspense music to religious choirs to accompany the six sex scenes, is highly effective, and the resolution of the thriller mystery convincing; less so the inevitable false ending regarding "The Watcher". This is one of Lee's several intriguing "Mystery Theater" features from the period, unsung by critics or fans but all highly watchable.