Decidedly, and at moments literally, not to everyone’s taste, A Siren in the Dark should still draw a sizeable following to its sexy, ghoulish screenings.
At the centre of this lust tale (written by the ever-inventive Steven Vasquez who also shares directorial honours with Laura Reilly) is Orion Cross as Joshua—the reclusive hedonist who loves nothing better than lonely young men sharing his bed, drugs and dungeon (not a few of them seem good enough to eat ...). Cross nails the role and his bed mates, satisfying his appetite while whetting his audience’s for another helping.
The wayward lads are given a nudge upon Joshua’s private byway of sadism, sex and all manner of sin by Janice Gunderson (Christin Pertel delivers the role, lost horny souls and specially prepared crock pots with convincing enthusiasm), the apparent proprietor of the marvellously named The Harvest—a remote eatery that may or may not be paying its taxes. “Just take the shortcut,” she advises time after time.
As the proceedings begin, psychic cop Cameron (Todd Tetreault) turns down sure-fire sex from his current girl friend, Ariel (Reilly), catches his ward P.J. (Donner Tran, delightfully eager to take part in the “Who’s got the biggest?” shot) having vanilla cam sex with cyber buddy Andi (Kyle Lankins), suffers yet another recurring headache and admits to having had sex with an 11-year-old girl (and being severely punished) when he was just ten. Back-story in a flash!
Learning that Daniel (David Beutler jumps into his role and out of his clothes with stylish abandon) is “ready to talk,” Cameron goes to work investigating the troubling disappearance of Kevin (James Townsend)—Daniel’s current partner.
The remainder of the film is a pot-pourri of unabashed sex (replete with equal-opportunity frontal nudity for both genders and a wide variety of couplings), alcohol and drug abuse, mysterious comings, goings and “vanishings” (the special effects work well), and lots of campy music (nothing like real vinyl to set a tone of mystery)—all of which are peppered with twists and turns in plot and body parts. JWR