Expose.

This is one of the only British films to end up on the Director of Public Prosecutions video nasties list; on viewing it today it’s hard to see why. When watching it you’ve got to remember that it revisits an era of British sex films that sometimes could only be seen in what was called ‘Private Cinemas’ they were supposed to be for members only. They would run the film back to back, day and night and charge the punters a higher seat charge than your local picture house.

The sexual inhibitedFiona Richmond.

Linda and Fiona get to know one another better.

Receiving a brilliant reception for his first novel, the arrogant and paranoid writer Paul Martin has rented an isolated country cottage at Straw Hill to complete his next best selling novel. Obsessed with locking doors, he is also plagued by nightmarish visions and the arrival of his enigmatic new typist Linda only seems to add to his trauma. In response Paul taunts and humiliates her by flaunting his sexually alluring girlfriend Suzanne who he invites to stay at the cottage. But Linda is harbouring a secret, which the viewer will easily work out but Paul does not latch on. As the twisted sexual activities develop - chilling questions emerge - who is the aggressor and who is the victim, by this time you don't really care! 

 

Linda Hayden threaten's Udo Kier....

....Udo Kier attempts to escape.

This is a sexploitation thriller that exploits the school of ‘dodgy acting’, as did a lot of these types of films in the 1970’s. It stars Linda Hayden (Linda) who made her name in the 70’s as an actress that appeared in horror and erotic movies. She made her debit in 1968 at the age of 15 in Baby Love, a film that tells the story of a schoolgirl who seduces her adoptive family after her mother commits suicide: a similar theme to Pasolini’s Theorem (1968). Suzanne is played by the 70’s UK sex icon, Fiona Richmond (see also The Look of Love 2013) she appeared in erotic stage presentations including Woman Behind Bars (1977) where she shared the Whitehall Theatre’s stage with Divine, and she also wrote first hand sexual adventures for men’s magazines. She was also credited with being one of the most uninhibited stars of the British erotic cinema in films that included Expose (1975), Hardcore (1977) and Lets Get Laid (1977). The writer Paul Martin is played by the German actor Udo Kier who was born in Cologne in 1945, He is another actor who made his name in the 1970’s and 80’s by appearing in horror and erotic movies including The Story of O (1976) and Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977) moving into main stream cinema in the 1990’s and appearing in many of Lars Von Trier’s body of work including his latest Nymphomaniac (2013). Expose, written and directed by James Kenelm Clarke who also worked with both Richmond and Hayden in Lets Get Laid, also includes an early appearance of the talented actor Karl Howman who is probable best known for his work on television in series that included The Bill, Brush Strokes and A Fine Romance. Nostalgia for soft porn lovers before the days of the Internet!

House of Boys .

“In the first year of the epidemic AIDs would kill an estimated 5000 people. After 25 years the death toll now strands at over 25 million, making AIDs one of the most devastating epidemics in recorded history. Every year the pandemic still kills over 2 million people. Worldwide an estimated 35 million people live with the disease. Every year approx. 2.5 million new HIV infections are registered. The fight against AIDs is far from over”.

The above statement accompanies the closing credits of the Luxembourgian-German drama House of Boys (2009) a film directed and written by the Luxembourg born Jean-Claude Schlim best known as a producer and production manager. The film follows the story of a young gay teenager who leaves his family home to start a new life in Amsterdam in 1984. Joining Frank (Layke Anderson) on his adventure is his best friend Rita but on arrival in the Netherlands they part company leaving Frank to find a job and somewhere to live. A nightclub called the House of Boys fills both these requirements. It’s run by a performing drag queen called Madame (the wonderful Udo Kier) who employs young attractive men to dance and provide sexual services. Frank meets all sorts of characters including a bi sexual dancer called Jake (Ben Northover) with whom he quickly falls in love.

 

The wonderful Udo Kier.

Jake and Frank.

A film in three acts but really its in two half’s, the first half is about being a carefree and sexually active young gay embroiled in the freedom’s offered by the liberal lifestyle of early 80’s Amsterdam. The second half announces the repercussions of this life style with the arrival of AIDs and all the misery and death that this very unwelcome disease brought with it.   Filmed on location in Luxembourg and Cologne it won the 2009 Best Film at the prestigious Lëtzebuerger Filmpräis. Generally the acting is very good even if the British born Layke Anderson is a touch melodramatic at times and it’s given a bit more kudos not just by the acting skills of Udo Kier but by Stephen Fry as a Doctor who is trying to get to grips with the onslaught of AIDs, and TV actress Eleanor David (Comfort and Joy 1984) as Emma who works at the House of Boys as a sort of manager and mother figure to the young lads. The period detail is spot on with the devastating onslaught of the HIV virus handled in a emotional and sympathetic manner, making you empathise with the film’s characters and perhaps take away a better understanding of what it was like to be gay and at the forefront of this awful plague.