Since launching their erotic spoof line of movies with Erotic Witch Project, Seduction Cinema has aped anything and everything. We got Lord Of The G-Strings, Playmate Of The Apes and other "creatively" titled efforts that took their cue from popular cinema, added a whole slew of soft-core sex (usually of the lesbian variety) and a handful of forgettable juvenile humour. It's obviously a formula that's served the company well as they continue to make such films to this day. Their output has slowed down of late, perhaps proving that the T&A minded target audience might also be tiring of this sort of thing (or getting their fix from late night Cinemax) but here's the latest of their spoofs to arrive on DVD with Tom J. Moose's SSI: Sex Squad Investigation.

A take-off on everyone's favourite forensic themed television crime drama, this stars POPcinema regulars John P. Fedele and A.J. Khan as two Manhattan detectives who are partnered up to investigate various crime committed under the President's "illicit sex bill" which prohibits any pre-martial nookie. Fedele is tortured detective Honeysuckle, who's still trying to get over the death of his partner (and brother) who was killed by a rifle-touting farmer when they were undercover in a horse costume. Khan is Lightbody, his new partner who's been recruited from streetwalking in order to try and bring all the intercourse performing criminals to justice.

They find themselves caught up chasing down a serial sex maniac who may just be after President Shrub's daughter. Along the way scripter Andy Sawyer and Moose throw out as many bodily function jokes as they can as they fill the movie with plentiful innuendos, mild sex scenes that are way tamer than most of Seduction's efforts (this could do with the fact there's a coupon in the DVD to mail in for the unrated version) and spoofs of such things as the Paris Hilton sex tape and Flashdance.

It's a hodgepodge of cheap humour, mild nudity and the good-natured clowning around of the cast that manages to keep SSI from sinking into the usual rut most Seduction movies do. It's not as overloaded with yawn inducing, seemingly endless sex scenes as most of their efforts are and it has better production values than a lot have in the past. They've taken a dopey premise, pegged it onto a popular television show and stirred in some poorly simulated naughtiness to try and keep your interest but what really keeps SSI afloat are likeable performances from Fedele and Khan as well as a scene stealing performance by Frank Bowdler as a thinly-veiled take off on President Bush as our commander-in-chief who manages to misinterpret almost everything. It's also pretty amusing when you consider the movie is set in New York but most of it was filmed in England and most of the cast sports accents.

I'd hate to say that one of Seduction's movies would actually benefit from a bit more skin, but SSI certainly could. If you're going to make a supposedly "sexy" spoof movie you'd better well give your target audience ample female flesh to keep them interested, something that feels oddly lacking from this.

As these things go, SSI makes for a pretty painless 66 minutes. It's pretty inoffensive stuff that has a few scattered chuckles that marks director Moose's second spoof for Seduction (the first being The Spy Who Shagged Me) and is a much better movie than his debut feature, 1998's Zombie Toxin. (Chris Hartley, 6/25/07)

Directed By: Tom J. Moose.
Written By: Andy Sawyer.

Starring: A.J. Khan, John P. Fedele, Mckenzie Matthews, Angelina Havusinner.

Picture Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: Shot on digital video, SSI looks perfectly fine on DVD with a clean print and solid colours and sharpness.

Extras: Apart from the aforementioned pack-in coupon we get a trailer gallery for Seduction's titles, a blooper reel and a commentary track with Moose and Sawyer that gets tiresome to listen to as most of Moose's comments are interrupted by screams due to him being hooked-up to a machine that gives him ocassional shocks.

Also on the disc is a 1992 short film entitled, FBI Guys which was produced by Fedele and POPcinema head Michael L. Raso. It's an amusing, black and white spoof of cop shows and comes wtih a commentary track featuring Herique Couto, Fedele and Raso that's moderated by David Fine.

Visit Seduction Cinema for more info.