Search - DARKER SECRETS - SIDELINE SECRETS 2: DC (DVD MOVIE) on DVD

Taking Up The Wrong Role Model

interested_observer | San Francisco, CA USA | 05/01/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Traffic cop Peter Jameson (Rick Bolander) has been given the task of going through the videotapes of blackmailer psychiatrist Dr. Kirk Tyler (shown in "Sideline Secrets") to find clues for missing porn star Matthew Strom (Curtis Ray Husted). These videotapes contain a number of graphic scenes, all shown. As Peter watches these videotapes, some ideas come to mind on how to handle some of his own issues.

Peter's straight roommate Todd Hewitt (David Beutler) is in the cast of a TV pilot whose series has been picked up by a network. Todd is moving up and is apt to move out to his own quarters. Gay Peter has had his eye on Todd and doesn't want him to go just yet. Gay Jeremy (Tim Garrett) wants more than Peter does out of their friendship. Peter's straight former heart-throb Lonnie (Ryan Lynn) wants to move in if Todd moves out. How to manage all of this?

A first pass through the film produces some feelings of confusion. The first image, Peter watching a key videotape, comes from late in the action. The film kicks into a flashback that catches up with the initial image almost an hour later. Other than videotaped evidence, the film's chronological start is the playing of a clip showing Todd having a truncated role in a show. Then after discussion and some background, the "Darker Secrets" shows Todd starting the fateful last box of videotapes. The use of videotapes, dreams, and montages may initially disguise and distract from the structure, which is actually rather straightforward. A second viewing should make complete sense and reveals that the editing is actually rather good.

One should acknowledge the many attractive bodies, ten of which provide full-frontal views and six of which provide substantial ones, do cause one not to dwell too much about the story line for the first 2/3 of the film. Given that my version clocks in at 69 minutes, this suggests that the characters do not spend much time explaining the situation, the personalities, or the relationships. The viewer is given enough through the dialogue and actors' choices that the story is clear.

The movie serves its purpose well. If it wanted to do a bit better, it would spend more time on the protagonist, showing more details of his psychological transition. The direction, editing, and camerawork are good. The acting was variable. The budget was $18,000 (per IMDB). For soft-core, the sex was excellent. "Darker Secrets" may not enlighten, but it does entertain.





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Part 2

element106 | harrisburg, pa United States | 07/15/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"this is a sequel! if you remember, the lead in this movie was a non speaking role in the 1st. he was in the dream sequence in the park!
now, in this role he is a police officer! wow!
the acting is better than in the first, believe it or not!
still not that great!
"

Blackmail, Intrigue, Murder and Sex

Amos Lassen | Little Rock, Arkansas | 03/08/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

""Darker Secrets: Sideline Secrets 2"

Blackmail, Intrigue, Murder and Sex

Amos Lassen

If you remember "Sideline Secrets", then you remember a movie that had potential to please but fell somewhat short. I was hoping that the sequel "Darker Secrets' (Ariztical) would make up for those deficiencies but it also falls a bit short.
Peter, a young traffic cop, is asked to look through hours of sex tapes of the late psychiatrist, Dr, Tyler who was killed in "Sideline Secrets". Some unanswered questions about one particular boy who is missing is what prompted this. As Peter looks at the photos, he becomes both intrigued and repulsed by what he sees and after watching many hours of tape, he succumbs to his own dark side and begins to hatch a twisted plot of his own. Peter realizes that he is infatuated with his straight roommate, Todd, and with the secrets he has learned from the late doctor, he plots to get Todd into his bed. Having sex with Todd is only the beginning of his downward spiral.
Now that Tyler is dead, Peter is detemined to find Matthew who went missing and it is with this that Peter loses his own self control and becomes as evil as the man who was responsible for so much pain.
The actors are good looking but not much more can be said about this movie. There is great promise here but it gets lost in a script that meanders and seems to have no structure. Everything else is lost because of this and what could have been a good movie becomes a less than mediocre one.
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