There are all kinds of sex symbols, but for boys who grew up in the 80s and 90s, erotic thrillers gave us a secret world of actresses who boiled our barely contained passions. Shannon Tweed. Shannon Wirry. Monique Parent. Yes, I realize the genre contains actresses like Glenn Close, Meg Ryan and Linda Fiorentino, but we’re not talking about the big-budget films. We’re talking about Cinemax After Dark, USA Up All Night, and the boxes in the video store that said “must be 18 to rent,” yet weren’t in the back room.

When I think of Sally Kirkland, I often associate her with high-end cinema, given her Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead, not to mention her Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for Anna. However, her roles in Fatal Games, Best of the Best and Two Evil Eyes remind me that she’s not confined to a single genre. So, when she graces an erotic thriller, it’s not a shock, but it does add a surprising twist to her versatile career.

The Schlock Pit, always a go-to reference, has an interview with her where she claims, “I love In the Heat of Passion. If somebody were strategizing my career, they probably wouldn’t have let me do it. But I’m very proud of that film. A lot of people would have said, “She made a lot of wrong choices,” thinking that I should have continued to do Anna (1987)-type films and wondering why I was doing this B film but I owed Roger Corman so much. I owed him a favor. Roger asked me to do In the Heat of Passion and I’d grown up with him. He taught me — I was a casting director for him and his wife Julie back in the late ’60s and ’70s, and then he had mentored me on producing. He mentored me from day one and I’m godmother to his oldest daughter, so, yeah, it was a payback… Roger paid me well and, as you know, Roger doesn’t pay. So to get paid well by Roger was really something.”

Kirkland is therapist Lee Adams, who falls for an actor named — of all things — Charlie Bronson (Nick Corri, who is also Jsu Garcia), an actor who is currently doing oil changes. While not dipping his stick into Kirkland, he’s acting on a crime show called Crimebusters. Soon, her husband Sanford (Michael Greene) is accidentally dead at his hands, and the role Charlie’s been playing, a Night Stalker-styled serial killer, is still at large. As you can start to put together, Adams may know who that masked murderer is and use him and Charlie to get what she wants.

This was released as an R-rated movie in theaters — a rarity for erotic thrillers not made with a vast bankroll — before being released on video unrated and with two very suggestive oral sex scenes. Also, if you ever wanted to see Sally Kirkland’s iced gems, good news. They’re all over this movie. But you know, show some respect. She was nearly fifty and could sexually outshine young actresses through her attitude and talent.

Also: Yes, that is Lisa Kudrow in a small role.

You can watch this on YouTube.