Blu-ray Review – Wild Orchid 2: Blue Movie Blue

Zalman King was once a young actor trying to build a career in Hollywood, finding his way into television work, eventually graduating to features, including roles in 1977's "Blue Sunshine" and 1981's "Galaxy of Terror." King wasn't a remarkable performer, with career opportunities eventually drying up. A move behind the camera changed everything for him, taking on directorial duties for 1988's "Two Moon Junction," allowed to indulge his interest in erotic entertainment. The effort found its audience on VHS, where it became a staple of mom-and-pop video store selections, giving King an opportunity to keep working the system, returning to a similar study of distress and undress in 1989's "Wild Orchid," which enjoyed tremendous publicity due to the possible all-too-real heat generated between stars Mickey Rourke and Carre Otis, creating another picture perfectly suited for the rental market and late-night cable enjoyment. It was another green light for King's creative wheelhouse, and he jumps right back into the thick of sensual distress with 1991's "Wild Orchid 2: Blue Movie Blue" (aka "Wild Orchid II: Two Shades of Blue"), which carries a head-turning title, but actually has nothing to do with the 1989 endeavor, as King, who returns to write and direct, seeks a new screen adventure featuring an impressionable young woman and the world of predatory men she inhabits. "Wild Orchid 2" isn't a bold leap forward in imagination from King, who mostly rests on his laurels here, once again giving viewers an uneasy mixture of heated encounters and sexual violence, trying to craft a soap opera to give what's basically an exploitation offering some softness, helping the audience digest a story that's quick to dive into unpleasantness. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com