Triangles (1989)

Before he made high budget feature films for Vivid, Paul Thomas cut his teeth on cheap 'n' cheerful little shot on video numbers for the same company. TRIANGLES (which is the title in the credits, even though all publicity material and the box cover have it as TRIANGLE) is just one of many and unfortunately it can hardly be called the best of that lot. The story (by Neil Wexler, who wrote the MASSEUSE films P.T. was later justly lauded for) is far too complex and ambitious for a 'one day wonder', even if the cast tries to make the most of it.

Lost son Phil (sympathetically played by Robert Bullock, star of the late Chuck Vincent's fondly remembered VOYEUR) returns home to his domineering widowed father (Nick Random, the deviant prison warden from Ned Morehead's DESPERATE WOMEN) for the wedding of his younger brother John (a youthful Jon Dough, who sadly took his own life little over a year ago) to the charming, sexy and smart Ruth (superstar Hyapatia Lee, gorgeous despite the unbecoming outfit).

While the script tries to outline the relationships between various characters, these efforts tend to get somewhat sabotaged by indifferent production values (flat lighting, extraneous noise, choppy editing), giving the whole endeavor a rushed feel. Too bad, because both cast and story deserve the full treatment a more lenient production schedule and the 35mm film format could've granted them. Sex scenes are merely okay, the one standout being a wonderfully set up encounter between Bullock and the ageless Sharon Kane - whose career is now rapidly nearing the three decade mark - as his dad's flighty mistress.