Click: The Calendar Girl Killer (1990)

A famous photographer's models are all turning up dead. Who could the killer be? The photographer - Ross Hagen, his assistant Troy Donahue or the stalker, Hoke Howell?

It's a big LA party - the beautiful people are all in attendance.

The host is famed photographer, Jack (Ross Hagen).

Jack's assistant is Alan (Troy Donahue) who has a way with convincing beautiful women to work for his boss.

Nancy (Dona Speir) is a top model who looks down on Jack's work. She's never had to resort to showing skin for a modelling gig. So she declines Alan's offer.

The party goes badly for Nancy - she gets dunked in the pool and walks around in a white dress which is now see-through. Worse still, her boyfriend leaves with another girl. In her compromised state, Alan is able to convince her to do a photo shoot with Jack.

Nancy shows up for Jack's photo shoot. Intially reticent and uncomfortable, Jack gets her loosened up, and finally comfortable with shedding clothing.

In the evening, Jack goes out on the town and finds a girl who agrees to model for him. We don't know what becomes of her, but we suspect she's killed.

Jack takes notice of a girl in the crew, Cindy (Keely Sims). He sees something in her, and wants her to be the subject of his next photo session.

Cindy has a rebel boyfriend named Johnny (Gregory Scott Cummins) who drives a motorcycle. He doesn't like the idea of his girl posing for Jack. Cindy tells him this is her big break - so he can accept it or take a hike.

Jack puts Cindy in a bikini and gives her a chainsaw. She's a little confused on what kind of calendar this could be for, but she goes along with it.

The next day, Jack takes Cindy in his van for a ride out to his place where they'll be doing the big photo shoot for the calendar. Johnny follows Jack's van. He runs Johnny off the road, but eventually the two come to terms and Johnny is allowed to stay.

In the evening all the models and crew enjoy themselves by the pool. A red-headed model named Rhonda (Juliette Cummins) flirts with Johnny.

The calendar photo shoot begins It involves motorcycles jumping over flames (with Johnny as stunt man), girls with machine guns and flame throwers. Rhonda complains the whole time, but Jack is relentless at getting just the right shot.

Cindy is dressed up carrying a shotgun. She's to shoot Johnny as he approaches on his motorcycle. You can't help but wonder if Jack wants Cindy to shoot Johnny because he secretly wants him out of the picture.

Lars (Hoke Howell) is snooping around Alan's dark room. He seems to be in search of a certain girl. We're supposed to suspect him to be a serial killer.

Rhonda gets ready for a bath. She brings her boom box into the bathroom and undresses to the music.

She is unaware that someone is watching her from the sliding glass door.

In the bath, Rhonda thinks she hears someone approach.

She is killed by someone dressed up like a woman (clearly Jack) in a nurse's uniform. After another day of shooting, he then prepares for his next victims.

One of the models, Jennifer (Lisa Michelle Axelrod), is ready to have sex with a crew member.

The guy turns on a strobe light so we see Jennifer in stark flashes as they start to fool around.

Jack, dressed in the nurse uniform and wig, approaches the couple.

The guy is thrown to the floor and knocked out. Jack pulls Jennifer out of the bed.

Jennifer is stuck with a needle.

She's then thrown through the door window.

Jack, still wearing the nurse costume resembling his mother, attacks Cindy and Johnny from the backseat of the car as they try to make their escape.

Jack ties Cindy to a cross. Johnny is able to battle the psychopath and, in the end, rescue Cindy.

VZ6 SCORECARD

THE GOOD

This felt like an episode of Silk Stalkings or maybe some other eighties TV show like Hunter. But that's not a bad thing. The film contains a few decent nude scenes, more than a fair shair of exploding vehicles, and Hagen absolutely hamming it up as the Anthony Perkins nutso in drag.

THE BAD

Keely Sims is gorgeous, but never gets naked. Donna Spier fades into the ether after the first part of the film, and Troy Donahue and Hoke Howell are completely irrelevant to the story line, serving only as red herrings and recognizable names to put on the VHS cover. But its worst offense is that nothing much happens for the first fifty minutes of the film. It's not until the murder in the bath that things begin to take off.

Juliette Cummins delivers an amazing nude scene as she gets undressed and takes a bath. Cummins appeared in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) and Slumber Party Massacre II (1987), as well as a few TV shows like Max Headroom and Simon and Simon. She was an Olympic gymnast for 14 years, but then the United States boycotted the games in 1980. She was forced to sit out another four years, and by that time she would have been 16 or 20. So she decided to give up her Olympic career and pursue acting.

Lisa Michelle Axelrod gets naked then pulled out of bed and thrown through a window.  The only problem is it's all under a strobe light.  So you only get quick flashes of Axelrod, and will have to have a quick trigger finger on the pause button.  Axelrod was in several hair metal music videos in the eighties and was a well known groupie - she's even featured in the documentary "The Decline of Western Civilization".  Sadly, an accident on Sunset Blvd. more or less cut her career short.

Dona Speir has a nice scene where she is goaded into losing more and more clothing over the course of a photo shoot.  Unfortunately, her character evaporates after this scene and we don't see Speir the rest of the film.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ 7/10