1976’s The Double Exposure Of Holly, directed by Bob Gill (who may or may not be the same Bob Gill who did title work on a few Harryhausen films and who worked with The Beatles) and written by mainstream actor Ronan O’Casey, opens with a man named Lee drunkenly telling his story in a bar to a blonde as pretty as she is patient. Through his story, we learn of Holly (Catharine Burgess), a beautiful blonde woman who he had an affair with, and who used him and then broke his heart.
Lee wants revenge, and so he hires a gangster named Nicastro (Bob Maroff) to get it for him. Nicastro, in turn, hires his put upon drug addict girlfriend, Kim (Terri Hall), and a sleazy guy named Archie (Jamie Gillis) to make it happen. They setup a hidden camera in the hotel room that Holly uses for her extracurricular trysts and set themselves up in the next room with a recorder in order to get Lee the evidence he wants to ruin Holly’s life. Before Holly shows up, however, Kim and Archie bicker as they watch an unnamed couple (Brie Anthony and Tony Richards) have sex. They consider it a test run to make sure the gear works.
A short time later, Holly does show up with her love, Mark (Don Peterson), along for the ride but before they have sex, the phone rings and he answers it. He’s called back to work, and she’s left all hot and bothered so she heads over to Lee’s office to see what she can find for herself, stopping to by some lingerie on the way. Meanwhile, Nicastaro hires two prostitutes, Muff (Annie Spinkle) and Sandi (Nancy Dare), to mess around with Mark. They show up at the room while Archie is inspecting the camera to make sure everything is working right, but when they confuse him for Mark and seduce him, he isn’t one to say “no” to a good opportunity. While he’s doing this, Kim calls on her dealer, Angel (Bobby Astyr), to make a delivery.
The subplots start to intersect as the movie heads towards a surprisingly satisfying and unexpected conclusion.
Nicely paced and very well-acted, The Double Exposure Of Holly is considerably more grim than your average adult film from the era of porno chic, but it’s really quite well-made. Gillis and Hall make for an interesting team and have some great, acerbic dialogue together, while O’Casey, who doesn’t engage in any of the sexual happenings on screen, does a nice job of anchoring the narrative with his performance. Leading lady Catharine Burgess, probably best known for Through The Looking Glass but who also appeared in Cinderella 2000 and Ganja & Hess, is the right choice for the titular lead role. She’s got a magnetism to her that really suits the part and we can completely buy her as a woman who has no problem putting out so long as she’s well taken care of for it. Annie Spinkle looks fantastic here and is just about as good as you could hope for in her part, with Nancy Dare helping out in their three-way scene. Throw in a great supporting role for Bobby Asytr and an enjoyably sleazy turn from Bob Maroff as the gangster and it’s hard to imagine a better cast for this story.
