Tainted Love (1996)

A Jag Mundhra film. A serial killer is targeting models. Lee Anne Beaman is a cop who goes undercover to find the killer.

A robber storms into a small market.

One of the shoppers happens to be a cop. Sara Baldwin (Lee Anne Beaman) shoots the arcade game, killing the robber in the explosion.

Pauline (Nicole Gian) is a hooker, currently servicing a john.

Pauline's john turns out to be a vice cop and she's arrested.

Sara gets sloppy drunk and calls her partner.

Phil Daley (Granville Ames), Sara's partner, is patient with her but his wife Marie (Dixie Beck) us getting tired of these late night drunken phone calls.

Chantal Benteen (Kehli O'Byrne) is a model. She returns home to find her roommate murdered.

Jill Mooreland (Jennifer Suthard) is tied up naked on the bed.

Sara and Phil arrive at the crime scene.

Sara notices the scarf around her neck. This method of strangulation will be the serial killer's MO.

Sara and Phil look for clues and Chantal is interviewed.

Pauline is released from jail.

She runs into Sara, remarks on her ugly tomboy attire and gives out her business card in case she's interested in making a change.

Another model, Carol Spencer (Nici Sterling), is found dead with a scarf around her throat.

And once again Phil and Sara are on the scene.

Sara is going undercover as a model. She enlists Pauline's help to give her a makeover. Sara is such a tomboy that she literally does not know how to walk in high heels.

Sara tries on different outfits and gets a whole new look.

Sara even takes a bath.

Sara joins a gym where all the victims were members. Chloe (Caroline Key Johnson) is her personal trainer.

Sara goes to the locker room. There she finds Chantal topless and looking at her suspiciously.

Chloe puts Sara through training.

Chantal joins Sara in the sauna.

The two get to know each other, and Sara gets a little closer into the world of these models.

Later, Chantal recommends a photographer for Sara.

Sara agrees to meet the photographer, but Chloe is skeptical.

Sara shows up to pose for photographer Franz Ritter (Ken Steadman) but it doesn't go well and she leaves.

Sara returns to the market where she shot the robber and the clerk (Francis Ylanan) doesn't recognize her with her new look.

Franz has a change of heart and decides he wants to photograph Sara.

Big shot fashion magazine publisher Michael Madison (Doug Jeffery) is enamoured with Sara and gives her his business card.

Back at the gym, Sara gets in the hot tub with Chantal.

Chantal says she's already heard that Sara's photography session was a hit, and that Madison liked what he saw.

At the station, Phil says he considers Madison a suspect. But Sara may be getting too close with the rich publisher and says she wants to handle this herself.

Madison invites Sara on his yacht and they have sex.

Chantal pays a visit to Franz and they have sex.

The next day at the gym, Sara asks Chloe if she's seen Chantal. It's odd that she wouldn't be at the gym today.

Chantal isn't at the gym because she is in fact dead. Murdered in the same manner as the others with a scarf around her throat.

All clue lead to Madison, but the real killer ends up being Chloe. She attacks Sara. After a long battle, Sara is able to throw her off a roof.

Sara reverts back to her tomboy look. Madison forgives her for not telling him she's a cop - and accusing him of being a serial killer. They kiss and make up. THE END

VZ6 SCORECARD

I have actually watches this movie a number of times and actually have a lot of love for it. It's so bizarre - from the opening death-by-exploding-arcade-game to the fact that Sara has absolutely no ability to walk in heels.  One minute it's a silliness as Sara tries on different outfits, the next it's dark as hell as naked women are strangled to death. It's your standard late night cable erotica, but with the usual weird  Jag Mundhra flair. 

The downside is that it gets extremely tedious toward the end. After Chantal is killed, it's like twenty or so minutes of mind numbing boredome. We get Madison being accused as the prime suspect and lots of lame antagonism between Phil and Sara. The final battle between Chloe and Sara is pretty cool though.

Kehli O'Byrne delivers several nude scenes including FFN.  She gets naked in the sauna, the locker room, having sex with Franz, and then dead in the bed.  O'Byrne went on to a fair amount of success in Hallmark movies such as Jingle Bell Bride (2020).

Jennifer Suthard plays a naked dead girl.  The camera pans around her and we get some rather explicit looks and angles.  This was Suthard's only IMDb credit.  

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ 8/10