Anton Versluys "Zebra Lounge" earns its stars by milking the same cow of Adrian Lyne's moralist but sexual-driven tales, however, where the infamous British filmmaker succeeded, this movie fails: The aftermath of the plot and, of course, his ability to involve major actors and actresses to carry on those otherwise rather mediocre flicks.The Barnets (Cameron Daddo and Brandy Ledford) are a young couple making an everyday effort to keep their marriage floating over the routine, one night, after a mutual confession of secret fantasies and harmless, almost naive misbehavior, they decide to make a step further and both end looking for kinky adventures at the local swinger's club, where they met the Bauers (Stephen Baldwin and Kristy Swanson). So then, what seemed to be just a little "hanky-panky", turns into a menacing nightmare as their new sex partners reveal some sociopath tendencies, and will be necessary a considerable effort to get rid of such obsessive friends. That's it.The most interesting part, besides some few steamy sex scenes (the tongue fencing between Swanson and Ledford is an internet classic) is the way they fail to manage the situation, being unable to leave it all behind and forced to face a threat to their whole world, compromising job, family and even the little kids. At this respect, all kudos to Brandy Ledford who despite some flaws in her acting definitely outshines the rest of the ensemble cast in her role of the charismatic and sympathetic suburban housewife, regretting her actions in concern for their kids, but willing to do whatever it takes to get back to a normal life.Sadly, her on screen companions don't reach the same level, the closer is an overacted Stephen Baldwin playing a generic b-movie psycho full of laughable tics. There's almost nothing to say (good or bad) about Cameron Daddo and his insipid and colorless portrayal of the troubled do-right husband, and Kristy Swanson is a major disappoint with the unexciting and cold presence of what should have been a lustful siren. (if you come to this movie expecting to see Kristy in all her revealing hotness, get a copy of her Playboy issue instead)Having started with an interesting premise and some good moments, the whole story goes down hill only to stop at a random and mediocre ending. Not even an unrated version with extended sex scenes would have save it from become just another late night TV erotic thriller, but among a plethora of them, this one is good enough to watch.

Kristine I just came across this video over at Hollywood Video and it looked really interesting, I love Kristy Swanson as well, so I figured to give this movie a look. I think all can agree when I say, it's also nice to have a good erotic thriller here and there. While I actually liked the story, because actually it was a unique and had high tension, it just didn't seem like it was well shot, like it was just a B-Movie that didn't get the attention it deserved.Wendy and Allen are a boring married couple who have majorly lost the spark in their sex lives. When they decide how exciting it would be to spark up the marriage by having a swap with another sexy couple, Louise and Jack, it does that, Wendy and Allen have never been happier. But when Jack and Louise don't know how to back off and start to involve themselves in Wendy and Allen's lives, including their children, things are taking an interesting turn for the worst.Like I said, it's not really a bad movie, or TV movie? Yeah, I'm so sure they could show this on TV, but I thought that this just could've been better in some ways. But I really enjoyed Steve Baldwin and Kristy Swanson, they really brought a lot of creeps onto the screen, it was the other couple that could've done more and this movie would've been pretty good. But just always judge for yourself, that's what I like to say.5/10

nycritic Carnal obsession is a subject that if treated as a serious subject matter can generate some truly inspired films.This, unfortunately, is not one of them. A premise that in essence is intriguing -- a couple decide to spice up their lives and contact another couple who introduce them to the lives of swingers and get more than they bargained for -- collapses into an incomprehensible mess that's supposedly a "thriller," maybe because Stephen Baldwin portrays a character who's a psycho for no other reason than the script makes him as such and in one scene kills someone while uttering smug lines a la Jack Nicholson (Why? Well, in a "thriller" there's always a murder, right?).Blame it on the screenwriter for having seen too many "Cinemax After Dark" films and trying to make some sense out of beautiful bodies having sex for no other reason than to expose flesh and toned bodies. This is exactly how this movie feels like, with the added notion that swingers are predatory and will disrupt your life in implausible ways. There's not an ounce of believability to this story, character motivations, or actions. Situations are allowed to escalate to a level that is virtually impossible any way you look at it. The dialog that Baldwin has to utter is outrageously bad: "Come on guys..." "Hey guys..." seems to be all he is allowed to say (which brings to mind the language of characters in cheap men's magazines) while preening his teeth, squinting his eyes, and looking almost pretty. No one else registers, so why even bother.It's just sad that the term "erotic thriller" has to be reduced to utter silliness and the requisite violence. For a real erotic movie, go see PERSONA or DAMAGE. This one? Pass.

George Parker In "Zebra Lounge" a married couple decides to try "swinging" and gets more than they bargained for. Although offering an okay complement of second-tier acting with the emphasis on drama over sexsationalism, "ZL" has the look and feel of a soap opera with a naive screenplay, too many plot-holes, and obviously scripted characters. Very ordinary stuff for hard up channel surfers.