CHERI CAFFARO IN THE MANILA EXPLOITATION 'TOO HOT TO HANDLE'

Cheri Caffaro in TOO HOT TO HANDLE Year: 1977 Rating: ***1/2

An exploitation shot in the Philippines that doesn't take the usual Roger Corman device of sending American girls over to be strangers in a strange land... instead, low-budget director Don Schain's wife and multi-collaborator Cheri Caffaro plays an assassin who's already right at home...

As is the police investigator investigating her... that she quickly falls in love with... bringing together two great-looking people with genuine chemistry, almost seeming like a mainstream kind of windswept romance...

Cheri Caffaro in TOO HOT TO HANDLE

The problem's not the chemistry or relationship... but the long bouts of pillow-talk dialogue that gets in the way of the addictive plot-line of Caffaro's resilient killer Samantha Fox murdering a list of really rich and awful people in torturous and awful ways, including a near-lesbian seduction with electrodes taped to an old madame's face, and a blue liquid that freezes a fat guy in his bubbling sauna... 

Basically, TOO HOT TO HANDLE is an entertaining body-count murder spree (including THOMAS CROWNE style multi-screen) where Caffaro plays the part like a cool special agent as opposed to a social climbing killer... and by the literally explosive end, it's obvious a sequel was intended... which would have pitted her completely against lawman lover Aharon Ipalé, deleting the steamy tryst, which would have made this pretty good camp-thriller even better.

Cheri Caffaro and Aharon Ipalé in TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Cheri Caffaro in TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Aharon Ipalé and Vic Diaz in TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Jordan Rosengarten in TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Vic Diaz in TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Cheri Caffaro and John Van Dreelen in TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Cheri Caffaro in TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Cheri Caffaro in TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Cheri Caffaro in TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Cheri Caffaro in TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Cheri Caffaro in TOO HOT TO HANDLE with Corinne Calvet

John Van Dreelen in TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Cheri Caffaro in TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Opening Credits for TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Opening Credits for TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Cheri Caffaro in TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Cheri Caffaro in TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Opening Credits for TOO HOT TO HANDLE