Graphic Designs (2022)

 

The British sex film gets a 21st century upgrade with this cautionary tale of freelance web designer Franklin (David Wayman) who finds himself drawn into 'Smasher', the hottest new dating app on the block. When Franklin's girlfriend Candida (Sian Altman) leaves for a business trip to Berlin, Franklin uses Smasher to sexually hook up with an ex-pat American called Atlanta (May Kelly). However the intended one night stand soon spirals out of control, Atlanta mysteriously disappears without a trace, and Franklin becomes convinced that she has fallen victim to human traffickers. Atlanta also becomes an obsession for Candida who makes her own separate attempt to track the American down, initially out of revenge, before finding herself on an erotic journey through camming and fetish clubs.

 

Graphic Designs (which appears to have undergone a last minute re-title to 'Graphic Desires') suggests its makers' own fetish was for erotic thrillers of the 1980s and 1990s, with stylish photography that hero worships that sexy neon noir aesthetic. At the same time this is a self-consciously modern movie, with Uber, Tinder, Instagram and deep faking all getting a namecheck, and Franklin depicted as a bored victim of the post-pandemic working from home lifestyle. Graphic Designs must also be the first British sex film to address the issue of Brexit, thanks to Franklin's girlfriend "I cannot cope with that look that Europeans give us, y'know that kind of pitying, patronising one like we're all children who've done something stupid". Despite making his name as a producer of cheap and cheerful horror films, Graphic Designs harks back to Scott Jeffrey's very beginnings, his earliest productions 'Darker Shades of Elise' and 'Dirty Work' clearly owing their existence to the box-office success of 50 Shades of Grey. It is a little surprising to see Jeffrey return to sexploitation here, given that the 50 Shades boat must surely have sailed now, but Graphic Designs is several notches above his recent horror productions, both in terms of acting, writing and direction. It's sexy in all the right places, has a thriller plot thats intriguing enough to stick with it and introduces bewildering plot twists towards the end that indicates Videodrome was a possible influence (ditto calling a room at the Cam girl business 'New Flesh'). Proof that the British sex film is alive and well and now using dating apps, Graphic Designs might well be the naughtiest thing Britain has done since leaving the European Union.