9. SHOWER POWER: Bathe your eyeballs in a shocking shower scene.
Directed by John J. Kelly, this Shot-on-Video (SOV) hybrid of softcore sex comedy and low-budget lark offers a nostalgic time capsule of 90s direct-to-video cheese. The premise is classic cinematic matchmaking convenience: three college guys — Roosevelt (Bryan Goeres), Frank (Christopher Judd) and Bob (Phillip John) — rent a vacation home for a getaway, only to discover a dodgy owner has double-booked them with a group of fun, immodest college coeds — Lisa (Susan Savoia), Christine (Dawn Hiruko), Wendy (Rebecca Moore) and Heather (Kayse Blask). Naturally, instead of fighting over the rooms, the two groups coalesce, let nature take its course, and eventually rally together to save a local entrepreneur’s struggling business (complete with a classic wet T-shirt contest).
Shot entirely on video rather than film, it leans heavily into light-porno territory, prioritizing skin over script. I grew up in the VCA VHS era, so I kept getting that feeling that sex was going to get real, only for scenes to end. Then I got a meandering ten-minute sequence of characters wandering an empty theme park that would ruin anyone’s patience but mine.
Despite its rough edges, there are genuine surprises. The soundtrack is surprisingly wicked cool, and unexpected moments—like the charming romance between Roosevelt and Wendy—inject a surprising bit of heart into what could have been purely mindless sleaze.
The real standout is Phillip John, who is a pre-fame Johnny Knoxville. Even amid abjectly cheesy circumstances, Knoxville’s natural magnetism and born-performer energy shine right through, easily stealing the screen from a cast mostly hired for their comfort in front of a camera (including a memorable shower sequence). Also: He has a pageboy haircut.
Director and co-writer John J. Kelly later went on to produce some rather big movies and shows.
But other than Knoxville, if you know your 90s softcore, you’ll be happy to see Monique Parent in the cast. That’s the sign of true quality. Seriously.
You can download this from the Internet Archive.
