Following the Dutch Sex Wave, director Pim de la Parra returned to his Hitchcockian homage roots with MY NIGHTS WITH SUSAN, SANDRA, OLGA & JULIE on Blu-ray/DVD combo from Cult Epics.

Studly Anton (Hans van der Gragt) rides his motorcycle into the countryside in search of model Susan (Willeke van Ammelrooy, ANTONIA'S LINE) who has retreated from public life to a farmhouse which functions as a sort of half-way house for the similarly-troubled including her former photographer turned agoraphobic voyeur Albert (Serge-Henri Valcke, SOLDIER OF ORANGE), young Julie (Marieke van Leeuwen, CARNAL NIGHT) who "needs a lot of sleep," and nymphomaniacs Sandra (Marja de Heer) and Olga (Franulka Heyermans) who have just screwed and murdered an American tourist (Jerry Brouer, GRAND ECSTASY) and dumped his body in a nearby lake. Sandra and Olga set their sights on seducing Anton away from "cold pussy" Susan, unaware that feral and mute Piet (Nelly Frijda, THE JOHNSONS) – who lives in a nearby shack but "belongs to the house" as much as any of the other women (and Albert) according to Susan – has witnessed the murder and is keeping company with the corpse. Despite Piet's behavior, which includes violent attacks on Susan's home and belongings, Anton is not so ready to believe that she is responsible for the murder but also not entirely sure that Susan is not somehow responsible as horny Olga tells him. Sandra and Olga try to drive a wedge between Anton and Susan by rousing the jealousy of Albert who watches them from a hole in the wall between their bedroom and his storage room cell, but the next murder may result from an entirely different set of betrayals.

Although associated with the Dutch Sex Wave films like FRANK & EVA (also with Ammelrooy) and BLUE MOVIE, Surinamese immigrant Pim de la Parra had actually made his own feature debut as a director with the very Hitchcockian Martin Scorcese-scripted/Bernard Herrmann-scored OBSESSIONS. While MY NIGHTS WITH SUSAN, SANDRA, OLGA & JULIE – co-scripted by Scottish writer Charles Gormley who scripted FRANK & EVA as well as BLUE MOVI, and Harry Kümel (DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS) – looks like another sex film with the promise of four comely ladies and a stud romping about in the sunny countryside, it is actually a return to the Hitchcockian thriller, albeit more casually constructed in terms of script and editing, perhaps coming closest to resembling something in the master's later filmography like FRENZY (or perhaps it earlier unrealized incarnation KALEIDOSCOPE) with a certain THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY aspect to the appearances of the American's corpse and the blackly comic ending. However casual the treatment, the setup is ripe for further explosions of violence from too cool Susan, vaguely threatening Albert, and the more pathetic than sinister Piet as underscored by a brittle orchestral score by Elizabeth Lutyens (DR. TERRORS' HOUSE OF HORRORS) – along with the thematic usage of Stevie Wonder's "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing" – while the expansive Techniscope photography of Marc Felperlaan (THE LIFT) surprises by giving the cottage a labyrinthine feel (Anton's bed is about fifty feet above Susan's in the vertiginous rafters of the farmhouse) and comes across tempting naked bodies lounging about the grass and hay. The film may not work as a cohesive whole but it delivers the skin quotient and is fairly diverting in its mystery.

Transferred from the Dutch Eye Film Institute's high definition master of the film which was screened last year at Cinematheque Francaise's Dutch Sex Wave in the City of Light special event, Cult Epics' 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen transfer has its rough edges with the frame lines visible at the top and bottom of the frame but the colors are vivid with rich sun-dappled greenery, deep blue night shots, and bold primaries in the wardrobe and gel lighting as well as variegations of skin tones of the bare flesh on display. The original Dutch DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track is clean and if it seems "quieter" than the English dub, it is more a matter of the subdued performances than the technical quality of the track compared to the VHS-sourced English dub. When the English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track is selected, the film is preceded by a disclaimer mentioning the VHS source for the track and that the English version ran five minutes shorter so the footage that reverts to Dutch is presented with English subtitles. While the sync of this track is better than the actual voice acting, the overall editing has some hiccups like the Private Screenings logo music that pops up during the opening credits and the fade to black at the end.