Mirror Images II (1994)

Key Players

Shannon Whirry as Carrie the good twin turned frigid wife and Terrie the bad twin turned hooker who considers payment merely a side benefit to the job.

Luca Bercovici as Clete Dyker a sleazy and crooked cop who is married to Carrie although the two seem to have nothing, and I mean nothing, in common.

Tom Reilly as Jake a private eye and former partner of Clete’s who gets beat up and sleeps with the woman he is supposed to be following. Smooth.

Also featuring Kristine Kelly and Sara Suzanne Brown as a therapist and hooker respectively who each end up in bed with Shannon…. rawr.

Overall Quality: (3 out of 5)

Folks used to current day “skinemax” movies, with their absolute lack of plot and porno-like emphasis on lengthy (to the point of tedium) sex scenes would be surprised at the quality of the some the early 1990s erotic thrillers. Many of these films owe more to movies like Double Indemnity (1944) than they do to Debbie Does Dallas(1978). Mirror Images II isn’t quite one of those, relying (especially in the early going) on rote couplings, but it is a lot better than might be expected. The second half is actually nicely plotted and has plenty of twists and turns, as well as a ton of steamy scenes that show off Shannon Whirry to her fullest.

This decent plot is surprising for two reasons. First, the movie is built on the creakiest premise possible — the good twin/evil twin bit. In fairness, the script tries to redeem this concept by at least providing a psychological mechanism to explain why the twins turn out so differently, and Whirry does a nice job of selling it, but really you can only do so much with the good twin/evil twin shtick. Second, the director is Gregory Hippolyte a.k.a. Gregory H. Brown a.k.a. Gregory Brown a.k.a. Greg Brown a.k.a. A. Gregory Hippolyte a.k.a. Alexander Gregory Hippolyte a.k.a. Alexander Hippolyte a.k.a….. or best known as Greg Dark the man behind the cult-fav porno New Wave Hookers (1985). From a porn director, you’d expect the worst tendencies of the erotic thrillers genre to be on display, rather than many of the best. He’s gone on to work in some mainstream projects, including directing some music videos for Britney Spears (!). And ultimately, say what you will about his career choice, but the man has some solid skills.

The movie starts off with the expected conflict between the two sister, spiced up by a disputed inheritance and by the evil twin’s seduction of her sister’s husband. Toss a private eye into the mix and stir. By the end of the movie, there is genuine tension. You can’t be sure who is on whose side, the webs and double-crosses spin fast and furious. What is especially interesting is that both Carrie and Terrie are strong, clever characters. Too often the women in these erotic thrillers are disposable silicone displays, and initially it looks that way here with Carrie being merely a put-upon wife and Terrie being a manipulated hooker. But it quickly becomes apparent that these gals are calling the shots. Again, you have to give Whirry some credit here. It is not easy to play strong leads when the plot requires you to shed your clothes every 5-7 minutes, but Whirry gives Carrie a hard coldness while playing Terrie alternately as playfully malicious and icily murderous. In the end, the plot is resolved by the twins on their own, with the male leads basically waiting for the result of the final confrontation.

That said, there are some parts of the movie that don’t work as thriller, though they do work, I guess, as erotic. The prologue features Whirry playing Carrie/Terrie as teenagers, and well, as much as I love Shannon Whirry, that’s a stretch. She was pushing 30 when the movie was made, and unless she was a really late bloomer was probably the kind of girl who could pass for 22 when she was 14. I wasn’t buying her as a teenager, regardless of the plaid skirt. The lesbian scenes were also lacking. In both cases, the actresses where obvious just going through the motions — I know that is the case for all the love scenes — but sometimes the result is more credible.

Shannon’s Screentime: (5 out of 5)

All Shannon Whirry all the time. There may be about 10 minutes of the movie where Whirry is not on screen, but basically she’s in virtually every scene. Playing two of the four leads is certainly conducive to lots of screentime. Whirry is an interesting actress in that regard. She has not been in a huge number of movies, but most of the movies she’s been in she’s been the lead and carried the production. She does a nice job providing the sisters with distinct personalities, but as is the nature of these things, Terrie, the villian, is more interesting and Whirry seems to be having more fun with her character. Until close to the end, Carrie is a pretty passive character and so tightly wound that even Meryl Streep would have trouble making her come to life.

Shannon’s Skin: (5 out of 5)

Um yeah. Whirry’s first nude screen occurs 2:48 into the movie. From then on, the longest she goes with her clothes on is about twenty minutes, but for the most part her nudes scenes are spaced about ten minutes apart. Lots of topless scenes. A few bottomless, including at least one frontal scene. She also have several nice little lingerie scenes, although she’s done that better in other movies — such as Body of Influence which I’ll review later. She does not do any real sexy teases or dances in Mirror Images II, but her many, many topless scenes make this probably the single best Shannon Whirry movie purely from the standpoint of nudity. She also looks about her best in this movie, though both sisters are a bit too made up for my tastes — the makeup work in this movie suffers from a bit of 1980s hangover with the whole blue eyeshadow and teased hair look.

Though Mirror Images II is out of print, if you are interested in this sort of movie, check out some of the following: