Body Chemistry (1990 film)

Body Chemistry is a 1990 erotic thriller film written by Jackson Barr and directed by Kristine Peterson. It is the first film in the Body Chemistry franchise which follows the character of psychotic psychiatrist Dr. Claire Archer, played by Lisa Pescia in her feature film lead debut.

Plot
Tom Redding (Marc Singer) is a respected human sexuality researcher. He seems to have everything a man could want; a beautiful, loving wife Marlee (Mary Crosby), a son, a large, expensive home and a bright future. At work, Tom is the top candidate for the directorship of the department, and his new research project is sure to cinch the promotion. The hitch is that the project consultant Dr. Claire Archer (Lisa Pescia), who wants to prove that a lust for power is the prime ingredient in the sex drive, is intent upon practicing what she preaches—on Tom. With the speed of lightning, Claire seduces him, and as he later remarks, takes him "beyond my limits". She uncovers in him a need to be dominated in sex that he never knew he possessed, and in doing so, leads him to experience levels of sexual ecstasy he never before imagined.

Cast

 * Marc Singer as Tom Redding
 * Lisa Pescia as Claire Archer
 * Mary Crosby as Marlee Redding
 * David Kagen as Freddie Summers
 * H. Bradley Barneson as Jason Redding
 * Doreen Alderman as Kim
 * Lauren Tuerk as Wendy
 * Joseph Campanella as Dr. Pritchard
 * Rhonda Aldrich as Cindy
 * Elizabeth Harnett as Angie

Production
The film was designed to capitalize on the tremendous box office success of Fatal Attraction with the character of the psychotic Dr. Claire Archer was directly inspired by Alex Forrest, played by Glenn Close. During pre-production, director Kristine Peterson revised Barr's script with Thom Babbes, who had written Peterson's previous film, Deadly Dreams and together they added the BDSM elements and pushed the sex scenes to be more erotic than the ones in Fatal Attraction.

Release
The film was released in the United States by RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video and by 20:20 Vision in the UK. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times gave Body Chemistry a rave review upon release, saying Body Chemistry "is both stylish and darkly surprising." He went on to say the film was an improvement on Fatal Attraction "Every blockbuster movie can be expected to yield carbon copies, but Concorde’s modestly budgeted Body Chemistry is something different: it emulates Fatal Attraction only to improve upon it in several ways." Ty Burr of Entertainment Weekly also felt the film was an improvement over Fatal Attraction, "The great thing about obscure B movies is that you never know when they’re going to be better than the A films they’re ripping off. Body Chemistry is an almost scene-for-scene imitation of Fatal Attraction, but it’s darker, deeper, and scarier-superior in everything except budget and flash." He went on to praise director Peterson, "Kristine Peterson’s direction is stylish yet firm: She wants to make this movie as creepily thought-provoking as possible, and she succeeds." TV Guide was less complimentary, criticizing the film as "a tawdry, pointless exercise in sleaze redeemed only by above-average work from director Kristine Peterson and her technical crew."

The film was later released on DVD in the United States on May 21, 2001, by Concorde Home Video, It was later released as a double feature with the first sequel, as The Body Chemistry Collection on DVD in 2003.

Sequels
The film was followed by three sequels following the character of Claire Archer, Body Chemistry II: The Voice of a Stranger, Point of Seduction: Body Chemistry III, and Body Chemistry IV: Full Exposure, but Lisa Pescia only returned for The Voice of a Stranger. The role was recast with Shari Shattuck in Point of Seduction and Shannon Tweed in Full Exposure.