Batbabe: The Dark Nightie

For the first time since 2001's "Gladiator Eroticus", sexy spoof veteran Darian Caine receives top billing in a Seduction Cinema erotic parody. Longtime fans will be happy to know she remains in comedic top form, full of the sort of energy and attitude that made her a star in this genre in the first place. The film itself is also a top-notch production, directed by the very man who brought us all Darian's classic performances, John Bacchus. Like the previous release, "Iron Babe", this movie is actually a well-crafted parody that riffs perfectly on the plot and characters of the film it sends up ("Henrietta Bent", for example, flips a coin to decide if she's going to make it with a male or a female), and it plays up its cheap production value for maximum comedic effect. Welcome home, Darian. We've missed you.

There really is nothing less satisfying than softcore. The very idea of making an adult film without the actual adult content seems absurd, and Batbabe: The Dark Nightie doesn't alter that thought. The fact that it is also incredibly low budget doesn't help - the typical pointless plot is so incredibly ridiculous, the characters are so poorly portrayed, and the dialogue is so disturbingly despicable that it detracts from the simple enjoyment of gratuitous nudity.

Bacchum City is being plagued by the maniacal Jerker (Robert Mandara) who sets in motion a plan to steal all of the adult material in the land. He keeps it locked away in his phallus-shaped helicopter, waiting for the townsfolk to become consumed in sexual anxiety. But Wendy Wane (Darian Caine), a strip club mogul by day, slips into her seductive alter ego Batbabe at night to combat the evils of The Jerker and his clown henchmen. Aided by hopelessly incompetent Commissioner Boredom and sexy lesbian District Attorney Henrietta Bent (Molly Heartbreaker), Batbabe must summon the courage to continue promoting her standard random ten-minute promiscuities and corner The Jerker before he forces her to permanently retire.

The entire presentation of Batbabe is so substandard it practically destroys all chance the film has at being titillating. The music by Trigger Taint is painfully hokey, The Jerker's helicopter is literally a toy, and the special effects are the most primitive green screen and overlayed images imaginable. But these are trivial considering the purpose of the film, although the sex scenes themselves lack creativity, class, and eroticism. It's chiefly girl-on-girl action, since nudity beyond that would no longer fall under the "softcore" label; they're lengthy, but the inability to show much leads to little amusement.

The funniest thing about Batbabe is the riffing of Christian Bale's noticeably gruff and silly voice used in The Dark Knight. Other attempts at parody are so distant from the original material that it's not funny, or the humor ends up becoming generic. A scene with big cartoon words mocks the original Batman TV show, and characters such as Mr. Sleaze add to the stupidity. This is definitely not high-class stuff.

- Mike Massie

You know that scene in The Dark Knight when the Joker breaks into the gang leaders' meeting and shows them the pencil trick? Well, in `The Dark Nightie', this section is spoofed with the Jerker entering a meeting attended by Bacchum City's worst: the Meddler, Rat Woman, King Slut (another cameo for 42nd Street Pete) and Mr. Sleaze. The last named unexpectedly finds himself sat upon the Jerker's weapon of choice which isn't a pencil.

Yes, this is the puerile comedy that we've come to expect from Seduction Cinema with their sexy spoofs. I don't suppose an Oscar will be forthcoming for Rob Mandara whose performance as the Jerker is infused with commendable gusto ("Do you like `Star Wars'? Cos I just love Han Solo!"). But you can't help thinking that the Jerker hasn't got this self-abuse thing quite right as he pounds feverishly away at nothing.

The Jerker has stolen all the porn in Bacchum City and it's up to Batbabe (Darian Caine) to save the day with the aid of her trusty technical advisor, Luscious (Smoke Willaims), and an array of gadgets and gizmos that include paper cups for listening through walls as Batbabe desperately tries to find the Jerker's location, and a rickety old bicycle. Wendy Wane's job as a stripper doesn't produce the financial clout that Bruce Wayne has at his disposal.

The comedy is nicely played throughout as pot shots are taken at every popular live-action Batman incarnation there's been from the camp sixties television show onwards. But, as you'd expect, the main thrust of the story parodies `The Dark Knight' right down to characters questioning Batbabe's throaty voice.

Thankfully, the sex scenes in this movie, while very tame, are better than the disappointing fare served up in Ironbabe. In that movie, Darian's role was too small and Jackie Stevens had to virtually carry the film on her own. Here, though, Darian is obviously the lead, but has good support from the adorable Molly Heartbreaker as District Attorney, Henrietta Bent who flips a coin to decide whether or not to boink her suspects. Jackie Stevens plays Rachel Balls who, frankly isn't very torn about being with Wendy Wane or Henrietta Bent. And, in her first new scene in a long time, the fabulous Ruby LaRocca, sporting a previously unseen range of tattoos, appears in a cameo with Sierra Dream on a pool table. Score!

I can't remember Darian cavorting with men in any of her films before, but a couple of lucky guys get to grips with her in this movie. I'm not in favor of having men in the sex scenes in Seduction's spoofs, mainly because the scenes are so tame as to be risible. Yes, I know they're supposed to be comedies, but they're also supposed to be erotic. Softcore as inexplicit as this is best served with lesbian action only in my view.

The DVD's extra features are a commentary from Seduction chief, Michael Raso which is interesting for us fans of the studio. There's also a deleted sex scene featuring Darian Caine and Jackie Stevens along with the usual trailers.

Hot on the heels of the erotically lamentable, but comedically well turned-out, `Ironbabe', `Batbabe' is something of a return to form with some nice cheap laughs. The sex scenes are a little better than those in `Ironbabe' although not as good as they used to be in Seduction's earlier movies. Sometimes I look at the likes of Erotic Survivor (Unrated), The Erotic Mirror and Erotic Witch Project 2 - Book of Seduction and wonder why they can't produce softcore as good as that nowadays.

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