Allyson is Watching (1997)

I think the key to why Allyson is Watching (1997) is so successful is in its depiction of allure and seduction. Voyeurism is nothing new to the softcore genre. There has been a series of softcore films called Voyeur. The idea that someone is drawn to the sexual proclivities of another (in this film’s case, Jennifer Hammon's Allyson was peeping on her neighbor, Bridget (Caroline Ambrose)) can be arousing if you contemplate how someone like Jennifer Hammond (not an innocent as she has sex with her boyfriend before leaving for “the big city”), who looks wholesome and doesn’t appear to be the promiscuous type, is compelled to spy on neighbor Caroline Ambrose (who has a variety of men over in her apartment) through a door keyhole. It absolutely turns her on. Below are two instances where Ambrose is fucking a guy while Hammon listens on, touching herself in the process. It becomes borderline obsessive. Hammon can't seem to get enough of Ambrose. There is even a scene where Hammon follows Ambrose to a beach where she looks on from behind a rock formation as Ambrose engages in passionate love making with another man on the sand as the waves splash. There is that inevitability the two women will at some point meet. Next door neighbors, lots of sex and curiosity, one woman active while the other has latent desires not yet acted upon; Hammon and Ambrose are destined to cross paths. You can see the plot building to this, too. Ambrose has no idea Hammon has been following her affairs. Hammon seems to have a direct interest in Ambrose, just needing the right confluence of circumstances to bring them together.

Hammon's part could use some insight. Allyson is curious as to how to make her portrayal for a saucy part more authentic. Someone like Ambrose seems to be the perfect introduction to the kinky and sensual. While preparing for a role, training/studying with an actor who will be opposite her, the scene has him getting a bit too hands-on and frisky, with Allyson attempting to force him away. Bridget hears from her apartment, barges in, and bum-rushes the guy out of Allyson’s apartment. Bridget has inadvertently inserted herself in Allyson’s life. Now chummy, eventually Bridget allows Allyson into her world of debauchery and sex…a world that eventually finds Bridget dead, and perhaps Allyson next.

Response to Allyson talking about her "lady of the night" part

"There's someone I'm meeting...you want to watch?"

When Bridget invites Allyson to see how she behaves with a "client", asking if she'd like to watch, this is the first inclusive association that allows the actress to escape simple voyeurism in secret. She's actually asked to watch Bridget. No more hiding behind a door, eyeballing through the keyhole. She's seeing it all first hand. The film gradually brings the two together.

Perhaps the film’s most lucrative scene has Caroline deciding to kiss Jennifer in her apartment. Jennifer was lured into Caroline’s provocative world, getting to watch her working over a guy in a club. This brought a strong erotic reaction to Jennifer…this freedom is something Jennifer hadn’t perhaps contemplated before. Caroline begins to find a kinship with Jennifer, seeing that she is a babe in this world of sensual possibilities. The mutual attraction is obvious, and it is only a matter of time before there is a move made to capitalize on the gradual awakening the two are experiencing in regards to the feelings developing. Caroline is an aggressor. She is the one that is better equipped to attempt a chance at addressing the sexual tension by drawing in closer, gauging Jennifer’s reaction to how she softly caresses her, calmly moving in to instigate what she hopes is foreplay and hopefully sexual embrace.

The seduction scene is lost in the softcore films of today. There’s not build up to a sexual encounter. There’s no time given to allow the aggressor and his/her object of desire (in this case, Caroline and Jennifer) an eventual pursuit and compliance. It is a few words of dialogue and immediate fucking. I think there’s a good artform for a seduction if those behind it take great strides to show the attraction steadily blossoming into something that fully blooms into a passionate exchange. It isn’t just about the embrace but how the two making love get to the point of physical contact.

Caroline sees that Jennifer might just be curious. It is like instinct. She kind of knows Jennifer is new to sexual exploration, and observes her. When it appears Jennifer might just be interested in a new experience, with a woman who knows the right buttons to push, Caroline secures her lust. We see Jennifer a willing and active participant in this sexual encounter…that right there seals the deal. It is gratifying because one initiates, and then the pursued doesn’t turn her away. In fact, the pursued lets the aggressor kicks things off and then follows her lead.

The rest of the film (the beginning and end) focuses on Jennifer’s director and fellow actor, but the real star of this movie is the middle sexual encounter. As these films often do, after the encounter, Caroline realizes that Jennifer may not be altogether authentic in their future together. It ends rather abruptly, and soon Caroline is dead. The killer is no real big surprise nor all that important. Caroline and Jennifer really digging each other, undressing each other, mouthing each other’s breasts, and moving to the bed; Allyson is Watching (1997) hits its high notes right in the middle of the picture and treads the mediocre the rest of the way.