While writing up the review for Kirdy Stevens's Taboo IV, I learned that the majority of the films he made were written and produced by his wife, Helen Terrie, so it was no surprise when I saw, during the opening credits, that The Animal in Me was written and produced by her, too. It turns out Taboo IV and The Animal in Me were released in the same year, although in terms of quality, they're worlds apart. Maybe the Taboo series had more clout, because Stevens got to shoot that one on film and was stuck with video for Animal. The former had a much more substantial cast (Karen Summer was in both, for what that's worth).
The Animal in Me stars Colleen Brennan as Maggie, a divorced romance novelist who has soured on the idea of romance, if she ever believed in it in the first place. Her daughter, Pepper (Summer), on the other hand, is still infatuated by the idea of infatuation. She's fully smitten with a new doctor at the hospital she works at - she's a nurse - Dr. Morgan (Jerry Butler).
Pepper has a rough go of it romantically. She has to contend with the unwelcome advances of her mother's boyfriend, Travis (played convincingly skeevily by Craig Roberts), then she's set up with Warren (Peter North), her friend Stacy's (Gina Valentino) boyfriend Bobby's (Tom Byron) visiting buddy, who doesn't bother to engage with her while the foursome are out in the park or hanging by a pool. When Pepper calls a cab to go home from Stacy's rather than get into Bobby's proposed "swingin' and swappin'" Warren complains that it looks like he struck out. A real "F" for effort, bud.
When she finally gets a chance to date Dr. Morgan, after creepily peeping on the young couple Maggie seduces him, ostensibly to prove to Maggie that knights in shining armor don't exist. 
Ultimately, the nail in the coffin of Pepper's belief in romance isn't finding out that Dr. Morgan got it on with her mother, but when Travis - initially tender and caring when Pepper discovers her mother's and Dr. Morgan's dirty deed - wears her down and has sex with her. 
The only thing that prevents it from being sexual assault is that she does technically consent: after repeated tearful "No"s, she finally says, "Okay, Travis. Give it to me, dammit, give it to me."
The Animal in Me could have easily been called Maggie: Portrait of a Sociopath given Maggie's complete lack of empathy, scruples, or boundaries. Let's see why Robert Rimmer deemed Animal a Collector's Choice:
...Okay, actually, he doesn't say anything about the quality of the film. At all. He gives a concise recap of the plot, but then also adds, "It would be interesting to know the age difference between Karen Summer and Colleen Brennan. Sometimes Karen looks about 20 and Colleen about 38, making the mother-daughter relationship believable, but sometimes Karen, in close-ups, looks like an old hooker." Jesus fucking Christ, Bob! Unnecessary!
If I were Rimmer and justifying rating The Animal in Me a Collector's Choice film, I'd say that it was a (generally) well-acted character study of a woman that had her heart broken by an absent, workaholic husband who, after divorce, swore off romance. Not content to live a primal, aromantic life herself, she deems it necessary to destroy any romantic notions her daughter has, as well. The film subverts expectations: in most films, a character like Maggie would get her just desserts for the bad actions towards her daughter. In Animal, she faces exactly zero consequences. Trying to pin down a rating here is pretty tricky. On the one hand, I appreciate the thematic ambiguity (is Maggie's message that romance is for suckers the true and she's actually the protagonist, or was Pepper just done dirty by everyone in her life?). On the other, the pacing wasn't great. If it had been shot on film, tightened up (cutting the sex scenes with Gina Valentino and Tom Byron and Valentino, Byron, and Peter North would lose nothing; they didn't contribute to the story and weren't particularly hot), and had the cast lean more into either nihilism or campy melodrama, it could have been a CC25 or better. As it is, I think CC100 is about right.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
° Speaking of subverting expectations, of the eight sex scenes that could have had pop shots, there were only two that did: Peter North in the Valentino/Byron/North scene (which could have had two, of course) and Jerry Butler in his scene with Colleen Brennan. Interestingly, both actors started finishing in their co-stars' mouths so they were more "dribble shots" than pop shots.
° I get that that productions operated with limited budgets, but the "badge" they made for Dr. Morgan is the most hilariously low-effort thing I've ever scene in an adult film.
° While Maggie seducing Dr. Morgan is integral to the plot, her watching him and Pepper have sex isn't necessary, so it really makes you wonder why - after dinner out - the couple went back to her place instead of his. Presumably, a single young doctor doesn't live with a roommate or his parents, right?
° As far as I can tell, the film's cover model is Heather Wayne who plays Maggie's assistant Glenda. While she is in two sex scenes, her character isn't at all relevant to the plot, so it's an interesting choice. Although at least she's in the film; I'm sure if I took a little time I could find multiple examples of film boxes and posters that feature actresses that aren't in the movie.
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