Change Your Image
lor_
Served as Chairman, New York Film Critics Circle: 1993/94.
Favorite interviews were with: Michael Douglas, Sophia Loren, DeForest Kelley, Joan Chen, Joe Henderson, Ismail Merchant, Klaus Kinski, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Spike Lee, Malcolm McDowell, Zoe Lund, Melvin Van Peebles, Ultra Violet, Wolfgang Petersen, Claudia Cardinale, Serge Silberman, Margarethe von Trotta, Alec Guinness, Leonard Nimoy, Susan George, Joseph Losey, Gale Anne Hurd, Dennis Hopper, Peter Greenaway, Katt Shea, Ken Russell, Maggie Greenwald, Jim Jarmusch, Peter Brook, Jurgen Prochnow, Andy Warhol, Judy Davis, Chuck Vincent, Fred Zinnemann, Wim Wenders, Max Von Sydow, Michael Moore, Terry Gilliam, Rita Jenrette, Karen Lynn Gorney, Bruce Beresford, Jack Thompson, Russ Meyer, Sam Raimi, Abel Ferrara, John Sayles, William Greaves, Nino Manfredi, Lee Van Cleef, Michael Cuscuna, Bille August, Jewel Shepard, Andy Sidaris, Michel Deville, Claude Sautet, Claude Lelouch, Alfonso Arau, Alan Parker, Reinhard Hauff, Traci Lords, Jim Jarmusch, Martha Coolidge, Candida Royalle, Giuseppe Tornatore, Edward James Olmos, Paul Hogan, John Mackenzie, Peter Hyams, Jennifer Beals,, Adrian Lyne, Samuel Fuller, Dario Argento, James Toback, Lasse Hallstrom, Fred Williamson, Gabriel Axel, Joe Bastianich, Aaron Sanchez, Danny Meyer, Steve Hanson, Matthew Kenney, Douglas Rodriguez, Simon Oren, Stanley Donen, Lindsay Anderson, Helena Bonham Carter, Edward Pressman, Harold Becker, Larry Cohen, James Ivory, Jack O'Connell, Michael Phillips, Kevin McClory, Jackie Mason, Joan O'Brien, Stanley Donen, Joseph B. Vasquez, Don Bluth, William Lustig, Al Goldstein, Simon Wincer, Valeria Cavalli, Dave Fishelson, Lizzie Borden, Roberta Findlay, Rob Cohen, Doris Wishman, Robert Tapert, Bruce Campbell, Bill Cosby, Pasquale Squitieri, Menahem Golan, Yoram Globus, Tim Kincaid, Joel M. Reed, Gregory Dark, T.L. Lankford, Fred Olen Ray, Victoria Paige Meyerink, Lawrence D. Foldes, Rick Marx & Ted V. Mikels
Reviews
The Art of Teaching (2024)
TS Recycled
These two Adult Time scenes paired on VOD were previously issued in October 2023 on separate VODs.
In the "Transfixed" scene titled "Table T&A", Gracie Jane plays an unlikely teacher who's grading Multiple Choice exams with her former student and now teacher's aide Lulu Chu. Even this set-up is deficient, as it should be essays they're slaving away grading, since the multiple choice sheets merely need counting up correct choices, duh!
Main gimmick, which also is poorly done (introduced but proving irrelevant) has Daphne, an actress who may be cis or trans, given that she appears in NonSex roles so far, cast as Gracie's wife so as to create "suspense" (not) on whether Lulu and Gracie will get caught in the female-cuckold action. Mechanical sex is the result as Gracie's big dick is put to use with Lulu's mouth and pussy -casting seems strictly random. It appeared previously on the VOD "Trans-cended".
Anatomik Media's segment is "Girlschool", a display of plenty of fetish content as a professor played by Christy Love finds her teacher's aide Kenna James having sex with TS girl Jade Venus in a faculty area, and after bawling them out finds herself invited to a kink party;.
Four masked women showing up, the trio plus another TS star Korra Del Rio for plenty of mixed and match trans-lesbian sex, emphasizing anal action, with a dollop of foot fetichism thrown in. It's well-made and entertaining. Vignette was previously released on the VOD titled "The Way I Like".
Four Star Playhouse: Here Comes the Suit (1955)
Niven's comedy expertise
This very cute segment for Four Star Playhouse spotlights David Niven's comic timing and ability, at times reminding me of a true master -Stan Laurel. It's a treat for any of his fan's to see.
He plays a nerdy advertising man who handles Novelty accounts (think of a couple years later, items like hula hoop or frisbee). He gets no respect, from his boss, who passes him over for a vice president promotion, strangers he meets on the street and even the office building elevator operator, beautiful Joi Lansing in a walk-on role.
As farcical elements accumulate, the show takes its central turn when super-effective con man causes Niven trouble by giving him the hard sell pitch and membership in a suit raffle club. Forced to tailor one free suit, he sticks Dave with the loudest possible striped clown suit, which instead of humiliating our hero makes him popular with everyone and even gives him ideas that his boss at work loves, earning him the promotion after all. And even sweater girl Joi Lansing returns to give him a wolf whistle of approval.
For pure escapist fun, this is a world-beater of a comedy.
Winner Takes All (1986)
Very silly inheritance scramble
Ron Jeremy doesn't single-handedly ruin this lousy Stuart Canterbury comedy, but he sure tries. I'll describe the worst performer later on.
Story is a one-joke wonder: Ron and his cousin Herschel Savage are competing for an inheritance of millions of dollars, and Ron sabotages Herschel's chances. The back and forth rivalry is dumb and so is the slapstick approach taken by director Canterbury. Nothing worse than to encourage Ron to overdo it.
The femme cast is very attractive, yet for inexplicable reasons, Ron's beautiful secretary Crystal Breeze has no sex scene. Low point is when Herschel's fiancee Taija Rae is two-timing him with Mike Di Marco -Mike's pained expressions and shrieks during his cum shot are the fakest of the genre's cliched "male orgasm" noises.
Hot Pursuit (1983)
Annette in goofy Euro porn
I am fascinated about how European porngraphers in the VHS era often used American talent -flown over to appear in mainly slapdash Italian, French or German features, as well as American porn features shot in Europe. This predates that trend, a theatrical movie shot in Holland, with fake credits to hide that fact.
It's nonsensical on purpose, satirizing all sorts of things while including many crude XXX scenes. Haven's beauty shines through, but the vast quantiy of silly filler sinks the movie entirely.
She plays a singer whose stage persona is that of an underage teen, on stage with her little teddy bear, singing infantile bubblegum rock music. Authentic recording studio footage is quite realistic, establishing that Annette really sings, and here director Willem van Batenburg can't resist tossing in some satire. In one session, Annette's mean manager is on the phone, not paying attention to her singing her heart out, and in another scene the engineer in the booth is mainly drinking and snorting cocaine on the job.
The central premise is that Annette shot a porn movie when she was young, and needs to find it to suppress it, as its dissemination would kill off her hit career as a cute and innocent singer. I watched the movie with its Anglicized opening credits, yet when the porn movie she shot was shown I thought the male star looked like Willem Dafoe; oddly enough I was in the right ballpark, as the Dutch personnel turns out to be led by a director named Willem!
She hires Abel Caine (a truly untalented performer with zero cane) as a private eye to find that movie, and Abel dominates the rest of the movie in his trenchcoat bumbling along in hot pursuit of the pron artifact.
He locates the clown who shot it, and is told he hid the can of film in the mattress of a hotel. The hotel owners are uncooperative, so Abel has to do weird things to search all the rooms and mattresses.
Some scenes have direct sound English but most are crudely dubbed/synced. In a bunker nearby that seems left over from World War II is another makeshift music studio where a rock band imitating '70s Lou Reed has sex with Annette in her second role satirizing the stereotype of a New Age tantric sex guru wearing a fake black wig. She was a good sport making this movie and making love to amateur talent, but watching it is a chore.
Route 66: To Walk with the Serpent (1962)
Prophetic
Hard-hitting and at times over-the-top, this unusual Route 66 segment takes on the threat of right-wing extremists, out to turn America into an autocracy. Would that this might be a dated story, but instead it seems torn from today's headlines.
Dan O'Herlihy is magnificent as the Monitor, son of a noted Princeton historian, who leads a neo-nazi movement named The Patriot Sons of Hamilton (remember this is long before Lin Manuel Miranda popularized the Founding Father). I bet screenwriter Will Lorin knew that his character's sentiments wouldn't die out. But how could he expect that Trump would come along and parrot them to a vastly larger audience than Dan's little rallies?
For example, O'Herlihy forcefully pronounces to anyone who will listen: "Now is the time to hate. Learn to hate before it's too late!".
He calls immigrants: "Misfits of foreign lands", "Parasites in our heartland". His group's motto is Awake America, and their salute consciously resembles that of the Nazis.
O'Herlihy can't bear to be touched (a la germophobe Trump), but he is suicidal, even dramatically putting his hand into a ceremonial fire to stun the crowd, even willfully choosing his right hand to be more impressive.
Maharis and Milner meet him by chance, while sightseeing historical monuments and statuary in Boston, and federal government agent Simon Oakland enlists them to go undercover infiltrating Dan's movement, in order to get intelligence on where and when he's planning to use plastic explosives to stage a huge event of violence.
When Dan's investigators discover Maharis is an orphan, his minions turn on poor George, calling him a mongrel. When they beat him up, a dramatic moment has Milner joining in to punch Maharis in the stomach to prove his loyalty to Dan.
It's far-fetched on the writer's part that M & M save the day, and the episode is top-heavy in having Dan so dominant (and an unremarkable supporting cast). But the message is hammered home effectively.
The Virginity Raffle 2 (2024)
Nothing to moan about
Five years after Missa X's original "The Virginity Raffle" starring Kenna James and Chad White, comes this followup, likely to generate a series.
Myra Moans is a natural for the role, having been deflowered by stepdad Chad White last year in "My Virginity Is a Burden VI". She's caught by stepdad Ryan Driller during a webcam session in which she's planning to raffle off her virginity to one of her "little gremlins", as she affectionately calls her fans on-line. It doesn't take too much persuading to get Ryan to do the honors instead, as he wouldn't like some stranger to do it, would he?
The lengthy softcore buildup to the big event adds a lot to this feature-length vignette, and Myra is certainly among the prettiest of the recent crop of Adult starlets.
Naked City: A Very Cautious Boy (1961)
Jumps the shark
I had an odd premonition at the beginning of this episode, when Paul Burke goes on vacation, after a comical scene with his boss Horace McMahon. How will "Naked City" hold up in his temporary absence. Answer: NSG.
The series, especially in its first season with James Franciscus and John McIntire, gave a gritty, realistic (on-location) approach to a NYC crime show. Perhaps hiring Gilbert Ralston as sceenwriter was the mistake for "A Very Cautious Boy". Ralston was a prolific TV writer, best known in movies for the horror classic "Willard" (and it sequel "Ben"), as well as an ultra-violent movie "The Hunting Party", one of the more striking movies made in the wake of Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch". His ludicrous script turns the show into a hokey, at times campy melodrama.
Peter Falk walks through this starring role as a cold-blooded (and wooden) hired killer who calls himself "an insurance man". He's hired by a cute old restaurateur couple (Ruth White and William Hansen) to get rid of a lawyer who is shaking them down. Falk shakes the couple down for $20,000 to kill him.
A tedious subplot involving the then novel Karate craze. Between some martial arts scenes and Falk's later rather silly footage as a frogman to commit the murder, it's mainly obvious stunt men who carry out much of the work.
Final twists in the story are absurd, as kindly old Ruth White turns out to be a violent villain, and Falk's woodeness becomes similar to the gait of the Frankenstein monster as he plays his final scene, severly wounded but still violent. Police work is laughable here, too, without brainy Burke on the scene.
Only bright spot is Macha Meril as Falk's "romantic" interest, after she had been showcased in a juicy role in the sister series "Route 66". After just one feature film here (starring Dean Martin), she went back to Europe, never to come back to American roles, apart from Cannon's 1986 feature "Duet for One", made in London.
We Must Be More Careful! (2024)
Stepmoms on parade
Devil's Film mines the Gamma Entertainment treasure trove of mother/son (that is, stepmother/son) romantic scenes, selecting 3 "Mommy's Boy" segments and one "Pure Taboo" scene for this VOD.
The directing team of Michael Vegas & Siouxsie Q, working from a stupid script by Midnight, came up with this deadly dull Pure Taboo vignette. Tedious beyond belief, it had me thinking, over and over, like John McEnroe: "You cannot be serious!".
Dana Vespoli and her stepson Oliver Flynn arrive home after his dad's funeral, bearing a bag containing his uniform. He died a hero overseas in combat, and both of them are grieving.
How to get from this point to a hot and heavy sex scene is the issue for our trio of incompetent pornographers. They decided to pour on the pair's depression, so for over 15 minutes of boring set-up, the keep lamenting his death and wallow in their sorrow.
Mom decides to give the uniform to Oliver to keep, saying daddy would have wanted that. She has him dress up in it, and marvels at how closely he resembles her late husband. Still glum, Dana convinces him that daddy would have liked the two of them to rely upon each other, and emotionally support each other, so why not sex too? Oliver objects at first, but relents and they have sex.
As written, this scene is ridiculous (like most Pure Taboo stories), but having it presented so solemnly only makes it less credible. What's obvious is that the pornographers are convinced their audience will accept anything as long as it borders on incest.
Dee Williams' talent for comedy makes this "Mommy's Boy" segment "You're the Same Where It Counts" a winner, and of course she reliably delivers the goods humping away strongly with stepson Ricky Spanish, who at age 29 still looks like a young teen.
She is warm and utterly reassuring when Ricky comes to her and simply asks "Am I adopted?". It's a strange question to ask one's stepmother, when logically the confrontation must come with the father, as how can Dee vouch for such an important fact? But she carefully, and ever so earnestly points out all the ways he resembles his father in personal traits.
But after a recent family get together (not shown, as typically only two players are hired to shoot these low-budget segments), Ricky is taken aback that he doesn't look like any of his father's relatives. Dee sloughs this off, pointing out she saw a photo of his birth mom with him as a baby and noticed the resemblance, and continues to compare him with his dad. Finally, to prove her point, she suddenly pulls down Ricky's pants and declares: "That monster dong of yours is exactly like your father's".
This tongue-in-cheek five-minute intro to their scene is followed by Dee instantly seducing Ricky and having a great time f*cking on the couch. A definitely satisfying variation on the faux incest genre.
"Alternative Relaxation" is really dumb, making it more obvious than necessary that the so-called "story" content is meaningless -let's get on with the sex!
What we have is Penny hoovering in the living room, and stepson Tyler Cruise asking her to stop so that he can study for his college chemistry test. She admonishes him for studying too much, advising he needs to relax. She recalls her own college days and suggests he try something she relied upon. Sort of a self-suggestion procedure - to get more in touch with the material on a test so that one can be confident of handling it.
Musing that they have chemistry between them, which he agrees is true, she suggests they should take advantage of that fact and have sex -just "don't tell dad". On this flimsy basis, Lexi pours on the passion and delivers a solid sex scene, with Tyler enjoying himself, too. How that can actually help him pass chemistry is left a mystery.
Finally, in the title vignette, Ricky Spanish plays a rather wimpy stepson, easily dominated by his mom Penny Barber.
He's in hot water for misbehaving at school: his English teacher caught him looking at a nude photo in English class and told his mom about it. The photo was of Penny, and she admonishes him not to make that kind of mistake again, or everyone will figure out that they're carrying on an incestuous relationship.
When it comes time for punishment, Ricky looks forward to it, but Penny gives him a reward instead -sensual sex together on their living room couch. This segment could have benefited from a stronger story with some actual punishment, but Penny's expertise and an extended hand-job routine makes up for it.
Tale of Passion (2024)
Sensual ladies
Adult Time assigns this VOD to its Girlsway label, but the two scenes were made by Christina Shine's Hungarian label MixedX and Girlfriends Films.
Shine's contribution is titled "Tale of Hidden Embers" is an incest tale starring Lia Lin, who narrates from her diary. At Christmas time, she celebrates with her stepmom Karina King and neighbor Christina Shine. She later hears the two older women having sex, and confronts Karina. She had planned to come out to her mother as a lesbian, and when she does, surprisingly stepmom seduces her -it's Lia's first sexual experience. The scene ends with Lia coming out to her dad, with a surprise admission, climaxing a rather serious porn segment overall.
London River and Sarah Vandella star in a silly segment from B. Skow's "Twisted Passions 32", issued in 2022 by Girlfriends Films.
Lover Sarah catches London, on River's day off from work, masturbating with a vibrator after she claims she's caught but in reading a fascinating book. Sarah confronts her and then seduces her in a lengthy but quite pointless "see a pair of MILFs in action" vignette.
Greek Week (1994)
Very silly, but oddly topical
A very silly porn comedy all about anal sex. Some of the content seems to be a mash-up of 2024 headlines, odd for an obscure XXX video from 1994.
Jonathan Morgan is fairly amusing as a stereotypical wise guy public relations man. His client Domonique Bouche takes umbradge at his stunt of planting the story that she's going to donate a million bucks to a local college, but she relents and services him (anal sex of course). His gimmick is that since she's a porn star the college will do anything to avoid the salacious publicity, and he tries blackmailing the Dean (poorly played by a miscast Steve Hatcher) for $200,000 to get rid of the unwanted donation.
Tom Byron plays an overage frat boy (the double meaning of Greek in the title) who gets to hump sorority girls Sahara Sands and Kelly Royce in a completely extraneous sex scene.
Student riots (represented only by noises on the soundtrack that drown out some dialogue sloppily) break out at the news of the porn star donation. (Flash forward to our sorry situation in 2024, you know, headlines of a porn star scandal, stunent riots on campus, erc.).
Many other characters pop up to keep the pot boiling: Alex Sanders as a goon of a student the Dean sics on Bouche to beat her up but falls in love with her instead; Lilli Xene as the Dean's busty secretary; Sarah-Jane Hamilton, betting top billing for a brief turn as a dominatrix type who humps Sanders before his assignment on Bouche, and silliest of all, Sally Layd as a magician's representative who shows up at the end to save Morgan.
Infidelity Volume 4 (2024)
The perils of cheating
They left the screenplay credit off of Sweet Sinner's "Infidelity 4", but director Mike Quasar has done a fine job with tight direction of a story about a marriage on the rocks.
Skylar Snow is at her wit's end when hubby Ryan McLane defaults on their planned location -he's way too busy with a big deal under way at his business. Though he insists that everything he does is for her, including building and expanding a successful company, she's not buying it, so as a consolation prize he lets her go on the vacay with her best friend Kay Lovely instead of him.
The gals in their bikinis are enjoying the resort experience, and unsurprisingly hook up with a couple of studs. Kay comes on strong to Euro stud Dorian Del Isla, while Skylar, still angry at her husband, falls for the come-on of smoothie Derrick Pierce. His line that he's made his pile of money and now is looking for love is transaparently bogus, but she's overly susceptible.
Back home, Ryan is having second thoughts about his life style, finally questioning his work/life balance, especially when it comes to letting his wife down. Meanwhile, his flirty secretary Millie Morgan hooks up with his business partner Robby Echo (a/k/a Apples).
Quasar manages a happy ending for this drama, involving blackmail and plenty of regrets.
Oopsie!: Deep Deep Tissue (2024)
A big three-way
"Oopsie!" goes the Oiler route in this entertaining (and brainless) episode of enthusiastic sex. Eva Maxim arrives for a massage and gets the full treatment from two plus-size beauties: Codi Vore and Summer Hart.
The vignette is somewhat shorter than usual for "Oopsie!" (reducing the "story" set-up to almost nothing). But the repetitious shifting between sex positions is boring. Sure, the three actresses maintain their high-energy, but it's strictly phony in giving the audience gonzo sex. The climax as usual is a very fake creampie for Codi, while earlier on Eva delivers a money shot through the hole in the milking table on Summer's kisser.
Pure Taboo: Family's Final Salute (2023)
Yes, Virginia, porn can be solemn and dull
The directing team of Michael Vegas & Siouxsie Q, working from a stupid script by Midnight, came up with this deadly dull Pure Taboo vignette. Tedious beyond belief, it had me thinking, over and over, like John McEnroe: "You cannot be serious!".
Dana Vespoli and her stepson Oliver Flynn arrive home after his dad's funeral, bearing a box containing his uniform. He died a hero overseas in combat, and both of them are grieving.
How to get from this point to a hot and heavy sex scene is the issue for our trio of incompetent pornographers. They decided to pour on the pair's depression, so for over 15 minutes of boring set-up, they keep lamenting his death and wallow in their sorrow.
Mom decides to give the uniform to Oliver to keep, saying daddy would have wanted that. She has him dress up in it, and marvels at how closely he resembles her late husband. Still glum, Dana convinces him that daddy would have liked the two of them to rely upon each other, and emotionally support each other, so why not sex too? Oliver objects at first, but relents and they have sex.
As written, this scene is ridiculous (like most Pure Taboo stories), but having it presented so solemnly only makes it less credible. What's obvious is that the pornographers are convinced their audience will accept anything as long as it borders on incest.
Mommy's Boy: Alternative Relaxation (2023)
Silly excuse for seduction
This "Mommy's Boy" segment is really dumb, making it more obvious than necessary that the so-called "story" content is meaningless -let's get on with the sex!
What we have is Penny hoovering in the living room, and stepson Tyler Cruise asking her to stop so that he can study for his college chemistry test. She admonishes him for studying too much, advising he needs to relax. She recalls her own college days and suggests he try something she relied upon. Sort of a self-suggestion procedure - to get more in touch with the material on a test so that one can be confident of handling it.
Musing that they have chemistry between them, which he agrees is true, she suggests they should take advantage of that fact and have sex -just "don't tell dad". On this flimsy basis, Lexi pours on the passion and delivers a solid sex scene, with Tyler enjoying himself, too. How that can actually help him pass chemistry is left a mystery.
Mommy's Boy: We MUST Be More Careful! (2023)
Penny's a forgiving mom
Ricky Spanish plays a rather wimpy stepson in this one, easily dominated by his mom Penny Barber.
He's in hot water for misbehaving at school: his English teacher caught him looking at a nude photo in English class and told his mom about it. The photo was of Penny, and she admonishes him not to make that kind of mistake again, or everyone will figure out that they're carrying on an incestuous relationship.
When it comes time for punishment, Ricky looks forward to it, but Penny gives him a reward instead -sensual sex together on their living room couch. This segment could have benefited from a stronger story with some actual punishment, but Penny's expertise and an extended hand-job routine makes up for it.
Thrill St. Blues (1985)
Horsing around at a brothel
As the overly informative IMDb synopsis indicates, Jack Baker's screenplay for "Thrill St. Blues" delves into prostitution in cockamamy fashion. It's as dated as that Dolly Parton-Burt Reynolds mainstream movie bomb on the subject.
Helga Sven is quality casting as the brothel Madam, and the sheer quantity of sex scenes included is impressive, but emphasis on Joanna Storm in scene after scene plus the dumbness of the content, especially including a massive obligatory orgy at the end, is wearying.
Offering some additional pulchritude are Heather Wayne, Heather Mansfield, Stacey Donovan and Lana Burner.
Tasting Her (2024)
Fictional versus "real" interviews
This Adult Time VOD takes a Girlsway segment and pairs it with one of Christina Shine's MixedX vignettes, both starting off with lengthy interviews. Vive la difference.
Christina presents "Eternal Eclipse", an intriguing riff on Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire", featuring from strong acting from star Liv Revamped.
Zazie Skymm interviews Liv, who recounts her "life" (if that's the correct term) as a vampire, which began when she got bit by Barbie Brill back in 1923. Two sex scenes are depicted: Brill & Liv, and after director Shine (looking very different as a brunette instead of her classic blonde locks) shows up as a lucky victim, a hot lesbian threesome as Liv and Zazie are joined by the original vamp Brill. Emphasis throughout is on foot-fetish action, and Shine does a nice job sustaining a sinister yet erotic mood, with plenty of flowery dialogue and narration.
The other vignette is from Bree Mills. Leana Lovings chose Scarlett Sage as her partner in this edition of Bree Mills' "The We Like Girls Project" for her Girlsway label. It's more streamlined than before, and amounts to All-Sex following an interview.
Sage becomes the first return visitor to Bree's set in this series, no doubt a fan's delight. But when Bree shows up on screen after the sex is finished, her discussion with the players about what type of sex they enjoyed the most is the approach to Adult Cinema long promoted by industry members involved in the Gonzo revolution: a blow by blow description of sex acts, far removed from Acting or Storytelling. Mills is a promoter of this trend, despite her occasional story-driven feature projects.
So when Leana and Scarlett make love for the cameras, Bree especially enjoys what she calls a "pro move", further evidence of what's going on here. The performers aren't called actresses anymore, they're referred to as "models".
Anal Attraction (1988)
Crap by any other name
A routine "all-anal" feature starring Randy West at his smuggest, this video apparently proved the appeal of this niche content, having been reissued endlessly in the VHS and even DVD eras.
Randy pompously hosts a party where he invites supposed big shots: Ron Jeremy as himself (looking bored, but definitely willing to accept a paycheck), cameraman Barry Wood as a rock star (he does look the part, a poor man's Rod Stewart), Buck Adams as an artist and Rick Daniels as a composer. Various girls including Trinity Loren and Jade East service them, while Bionca dons a strap-on dildo. Randy secretly tapes all of this, either for his own private enjoyment or to make a buck, and the rather tedious video ends with a lengthy orgy in which Ron deigns to participate.
Quality-wise, a useful rule of thumb is to avoid any video featuring Ron Jeremy, though accidentally, way back when porn was made for theatrical exhibition, he did show up in a few winners.
Girlsway Originals: We Like Girls - Scarlett & Leana (2023)
All-sex, following an interview
Leana Lovings chose Scarlett Sage as her partner in this edition of Bree Mills' "The We Like Girls Project" for her Girlsway label. It's more streamlined than before, and amounts to All-Sex following an interview.
Sage becomes the first return visitor to Bree's set in this series, no doubt a fan's delight. But when Bree shows up on screen after the sex is finished, her discussion with the players about what type of sex they enjoyed the most is the approach to Adult Cinema long promoted by industry members involved in the Gonzo revolution: a blow by blow description of sex acts, far removed from Acting or Storytelling. Mills is a promoter of this trend, despite her occasional story-driven feature projects.
So when Leana and Scarlett make love for the cameras, Bree especially enjoys what she calls a "pro move", further evidence of what's going on here. The performers aren't called actresses anymore, they're referred to as "models".
Scorching Secrets (1988)
Evidence of brain damage
A would-be auteur named "Mike Lamont" takes all the major credits for himself on this VHS stinker - what was he thinking? It's a really stupid feature -let me count the ways:
The video begins with a sex scene in progress between Peter North and busty Le Dawn -no set-up/no story. They turn out to be husband and wife but the clumsy dialogue doesn't establish what's really goiing on.
Several disconnected vignettes follow in different locations with pointlessly dangling details -like a brief silent scene of Le Dawn working in a porn video store.
Eventually both cheat on each other and North finds his wife in bed with his girlfriend Tammy White. That causes them all to go to Jesse Eastern, who ridiculously suggests that because of their mutual compatibility they should get married as a trio. He has them sign papers for $275, presumably to make it legal, and sure enough they have a ceremony outdoors but only the faceless guy marrying them attends with them.
So the genius Lamont ends the movie with their sexual threesome. The credits are as sloppy as can be, presenting half the cast in the opening credits, and the other half only in the end credits. That's a new one on me.
True Blue (1989)
Failed romance, Down Under
John T. Bone has made many gonzo features, as well as an excellent softcore mainstream movie ("Hindsight" starring Kathy Shower and Cyndi Pass). But this bucolic romance shot in Australia with a mixed Chatsworth/Aussie cast wastes the opportunity to make a quality Adult movie.
Worthless script is the main problem, but it seems like Bone/Bowen can't handle romance -perhaps grinding out porn made him too jaded.
The minimal story has Randy West working a farm in the outback, with women as his "station hands". His two brothers, Jon Dough and Joey Silvera, visit from America, and are taken with the local women. The rest of the movie is all of them f*cking each other, quite boring.
The running gag is truly awful, I couldn't spoil it but let's just say it revolves around the fact that Dough's nickname is "Shrimp". No surprise that one of the ladies is named "Barbie".
When I see a movie like this, I usually imagine the filmmakers, perhaps in the editing room or just at a conference in post-production, discussing the central issue: "What are we going to do with this meaningless footage?". In the case of a mainstream movie, especially indie productions, it translates to an unfinished, unreleased movie. But in the world of porn, that mainly sex footage gets slapped together and released, in this case, titled "True Blue" in honor of star Kelly Blue.
Charly (1968)
Moving and thought-provoking sci-fi
One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed and Produced by Ralph Nelson for Selmur Productions; Released by Cinerama. Screenplay by Stirling Silliphant, from Daniel Keyes' novel "Flowers for Algernon"; Photography by Arthur J. Ornitz; Edited by Fredric Steinkamp; Music by Ravi Shankar. Starring: Cliff Robertson, Claire Bloom, Lilia Skala, Leon Janney and Ruth White.
Sensitive science fiction pathos regarding a slow-witted man who becomes a genius as a result of an experimental brain operation, but who gradually reverts to his moronic state. Beautiful, classic performances from Cliff and Claire, and low-key direction make this a moving sci-fi romance.
Creature of Destruction (1968)
Poor ripoff
One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed and Produced by Larry Buchanan. Released by American-International TV. Screenplay by Tony Huston; Photography by Robert Jessup. Starring: Les Tremayne, Pat Delaney, Aron Kincaid, Neil Fletcher, Annabelle Weenick, Roger Ready and Byron Lord.
Amateur acting and glossy photography in this example of modern ineptness in filmmaking. A well-dressed hypnotist seeking fame for regressing a pretty young babe back to the 17th Century for the fans has actually regressed her back a few million years, bringing forth a cheap, goggle-eyed sea monster which rips up a few folks. Features the tag line: "There is no monster in the world ...as treacherous as man" -Montaigne.
The film is a complete steal from "The She Monster" (1956).
Captive Wild Woman (1943)
Offbeat subject for horror
One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Edward Dmytryk; Associate Producer: Ben Pivar, for Universal Pictures release. Screenplay by Henry Sucher and Griffin Jay; Photography by George Robinson; Edited by Milton Carruth; Musical Director: Hans Salter; Makeup Artist: Jack Pierce. Starring: John Carradine, Acquanetta, Evelyn Ankers, Milburn Stone; Fay Helm, Lloyd Corrigan, Martha Vickers and Paul Fix.
New horror theme introduced here, of a scientist experimenting to turn a female gorilla into a woman. Unfortunately her primitive background continues to emerge, especially at times of sexual arousal. The racist overtones of the story are not dwelled upon, although they are certainly present.
Night of the Demon (1957)
Brilliant horror classic
One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Jacques Tourneur; Produced by Hal E. Chester and Frank Bevis. A British production, Released in America by Columbia Pictures as "Curse of the Demon". Screenplay by Charles Bennett, from M. R. James's story; Photography by Ted Scaife; Edited by Michael Gordon; Music by Clifton Parker; Production Design by Ken Adam. Starring: Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis, Maurice Denham, Athene Seyler, Liam Redmond, Rosamund Greenwood, Charles Lloyd Pack and Reginald Beckwith.
Tourneur's stylish horror film is considered the finest modern one by many, due to its subtle suggestions of the supernatural, its brilliant pacing and its literate screenplay. The opening is brilliant, with shots of Stonehenge and a narration considering the magic power of ancient rune symbols. Immediately following the credits, we are traveling through the woods with Maurice Denham, while malevolent gnarled tree limbs hover above the car. On the return trip we see the demon coming out of the forest in a glowing, swirling storm cloud, a terrifying visual depiction of H. P. Lovecraft and Frank Belknap Long horrors.
Dana goes to London to preside over a parapsychology conference to study the Carswell devil cult. A skeptical scientist, Dana finds himself in the midst of a mounting variety of visual, aural and tangible supernatural phenomena.
The viewer is carried along with Dana in a gradual recognition that unnatural forces are indeed at work. The center of attention is a parchment inscribed with runes which Dana matches up with runic inscriptions at Stonehenge. To save himself, he must return the parchment to Carswell, or face the demon that has been called up from Hell.
At the film's end, when Dana goes to examine Carswell for evidence of the demon's attack, Peggy Cummins says: "Maybe it's better not to know". After starting towards the body, Dana returns, saying: "You're right".