It all started with the remote data transmission. With these erotic pages... Brad's digital entry into adultery

Ex-baseball player Brad is happily married to his wife Susan and does his business on a PC in his home office. Through fantasy chat, he comes into contact with strange women who share with him their secret sexual fantasies. What starts out as harmless fun becomes more and more addictive for Brad as he first starts watching the women and then having sex with them. When Susan is murdered, Brad must reveal to the investigating Inspector Crank that he has affairs with numerous women. Together they consider who might be the culprit, with Brad meticulously reviewing each encounter. Brad gets moral support from his cousin Wendy, who already knew about Brad's affairs and tries to seduce him after the death of Susan...

In 1995, when Virtual Desire was let loose on the video market, the internet was still in its infancy. No one could have imagined platforms like Parship or Tinder back then, yet from the visionary mind of director Jim Wynorski and from screenwriter Pete Slate (I wonder if that might be Wynorski?) sprang a gripping cyberthriller about a naive ex-baseball player who gets sucked into a virtual vortex of lust and desire. The plot is so well thought out that Wynorski uses it again for 2005's Lust Connection. Despite his deep and honest love for his wife Susan, Brad gets involved in numerous affairs. Inspector Crank, grippingly played by character actor Ross Hagen, believes Brad is the culprit, but the more he learns about remote data transmission and how easy it is to get women through it, the feeling creeps over him that only a woman can be the culprit. The investigation is complicated by the fact that Brad seems to have passed on the password for his PC to half a million people.

But which of the women could have murdered Susan? Is it Molly, who Brad slept with on the tennis court and met Susan, or a mysterious stranger who showed Brad a gun before they had hot sex in the cold river? Could it have been Cora, with whom Brad had sex in her own house while Susan waited downstairs for Brad to get hungry? Or was it Sasha who demanded Brad watch her in the shower before the two had sex at Brad's house? The tricky case not only pushes Crank to his limits, but also invites the viewer to guess along. If you don't get too distracted by all the silicone and concentrate a little on the plot between all the sex scenes, you can actually come up with the solution to the mystery after only a short time. Wynorski is a gifted visionary when it comes to creating something complex from simple means. You should therefore fully rely on your own imagination when Brad is obviously just typing the chat messages into a text program.

If Jim Wynorski in the director's chair (here under the name Noble Henri) is already a guarantee for good quality, he has gained another strong draw in Julie Strain as Sasha, whose name is big on the cover, although her role in the film is only of minor importance.

Incidentally, actress Gail Thackray wrote the book Running With Wolves: A Woman’s Memoir of Sex, Scandal and Seduction in which she examines her rise from model to businesswoman. The tagline Think "Wolf of Wall Street" in the sex biz! sounds more than interesting here, as she apparently had to contend with both the Mafia, the FBI, and Larry Flint as well. Some reviewers wonder what the relationship between fact and fiction may be.

When you think about the hot chicks Brad hooks up with via remote data transmission, it makes you want to try your luck yourself. However, the inexperienced reader is advised to first get comprehensive information, because cybersex is sometimes a complicated matter. I therefore recommend going to a well-stocked video store and taking a look at the analog instructional video How To Have Cybersex On The Internet. It clearly explains how to dive deep into the world of cybersex for optimal pleasure. After all, why should Brad have all the fun to himself?

The different versions of Virtual Desire

Such a high-quality erotic cyber thriller naturally places the highest expectations on successful marketing, which should be as broad as possible. Accordingly, there are three different versions of the film. The Unrated clearly focuses on the sexual escapades of Brad and his playmates. The erotic hanky-panky requires little imagination and shows the actors in adept positions. The aforementioned hot and cold flirtation in the romantically rushing creek places the highest demands on Brad's masculinity. The R-rated version shortens the erotic scenes, sometimes using somewhat tamer alternate footage, but adds new plot scenes. The new scenes shed light on the meticulous investigative work of Crank and his colleague Archer and highlight Brad's ambivalent relationship with his sister-in-law. Finally, there is an even further toned down version that is basically based on the R-rated but has been further softened in the sex scenes by using harmless alternate footage. This version is probably intended for television, since the amount of bare breasts has been reduced considerably compared to the R-rated or even the unrated version.

Then there is the German DVD by Cargo Records / Mr. Banker Films, which combines the best of both worlds. Included is the Unrated version with the additional plot scenes of the R-Rated. So we can marvel at the explicit debauchery of Brad without having to do without the valuable plot scenes.

The different releases of Virtual Desire

The agony of choice is sometimes tied to the format.

On the German VHS from New Vision is the R-rated version of the film.

In England, the film was released on VHS under the title Illicit Dreams 3 by Metrodome. However, you should not be deceived here, because the film has nothing to do with Illicit Dreams and Illicit Dreams 2. Included is the unrated version.

In Japan, the film was released on DVD. However, the cover does not necessarily suggest that we are dealing with an erotic thriller from the 90s, rather the two ladies on the cover point to the 70s. The version is basically based on the Unrated, but a few irrelevant cuts on Susan looking at the door before the killer enters the room are missing at the start. Furthermore, Brad's private parts have been blurred in a few places. The censorship is very subtle, mostly brief and hardly noticeable. The intimate area of the female actors was not blurred. Awkwardly chosen is the Japanese title シスター・エスカレーション (translated: Sister Escalation), which already gives a strong hint about the potential culprit.

The Swedish DVD contains the supposed TV version of the film in which the erotic scenes have been heavily toned down.

The German DVD represents a composite version in which the R-rated plot scenes have been cut into the Unrated version. The best and longest version of the film.

Picture comparison:

German VHS:

Japanese DVD:

UK VHS:

Swedish DVD:

Runtimes:

German VHS: 90:09 min (PAL, but NTSC speed).
Japanese DVD: 94:15 (NTSC)
UK VHS: 90:37 min (PAL)
Swedish DVD: 86:27 min. (PAL)

Comparison between the R-Rated (Swedish DVD) and the R-Rated.