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
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".
Danza macabra (1964)
Scariness with Barb
One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Antonio Margheriti; Executive Producer: Marco Vicario. An Italian-French co-production, Released in America by Woolner Brothers, retitled "Castle of Blood". Screenplay by Bruno Corbucci and Giovanni Grimaldi, from Edgar Allan Poe's story; Photographed by Riccardo Pallottini; Edited by Otello Cotangeli; Music by Riz Ortolani; Assistant Director: Ruggero Deodato. Starring: Barbara Steele, Georges Riviere, Margrete Robsahm; Arturo Domenici; Silvano Tranquilli; Sylvia Sorrente, Umberto Raho and Salvo Randone.
Standard premise of a man betting he can stay overnight in a scary grisly-historied castle is trotted out again, with Barbara providing both beauty of her own unique sort plus shrieks. Confusion for fans is caused by the fact that about the same year, Riviere also starred in another Italian horror film titled "Castle of Terror".
Four Star Playhouse: The Devil to Pay (1955)
Devilish fun: a Joi to behold
Charles Boyer gives a rather subtle performance in this comical trifle in the familiar vein of "A Christmas Carol".
He plays a ruthless businessman, who puts rivals out of business without malice but also with a care in the world. So when the devil (played quite cutely by veteran actor Florenz Ames) shows up in his office one day (unannounced, of course), one assumes it's to collect Boyer for a trip to rot in Hell.
But instead, Mr. Scratch wants Boyer to visit him Down Under for just two months in order to bring efficiency to the operations there, as a backlog has caused many deserving sinners to elude their date with destiny.
Boyer succeeds in his task, but of course the final twist gives him his overdue comeuppance. This droll and whimsical tale is well-played by both actors, and special mention goes to Joi Lansing, one of the all-time greatest Hollywood blonde bombshells, who plays Boyer's secretary and who in Hell emerges with the glamour treatment (most alluring), even briefly doing an imitation of Monroe's famous breathy mode of speech.
We Can Build Her (2024)
Droll sci-fi comedy
Filmmaker James Avalon's dry sense of humor is on display throughout this Wicked Pictures feature, providing something like a template for how directors can deal with porn's current all-sex bias.
In the 2-1/2 hour long feature, he makes fine use of the limited "story/character" portions of the show and manages to demonstrate their importance, especially to create a comedic result.
This all begins with casting Shawn Alff in the leading role, and actually giving him top billing over the sex performers, extremely unusual for a porn movie (especially now). He plays an ordinary guy, living in post-Apocalypse America. Avalon subtly hints at the outset, when Shawn returning home has to wear a ventilator face mask to go from his car to his lavish, modern house. Later on, there is a brief conversation scene where he tells how his parents moved from Brooklyn to "a habitable area on the West Coast" after the "Great Cleansing Event", and how they died of lung cancer due to them being anti-maskers, exposed to toxic radiation.
In that opening reel, following quite imaginative opening credits' design, he finds his wife Freya Parker in bed with his best friend (and former college roommate) Robby Echo/Apples. This scene sets the movie's comic tone, as Freya continues having sex as he watches, sitting there in the typical Cuckold Genre mode of porn.
Also extremely effective in a NonSex role is Scarlett Alexis, who voices Shawn's computer companion Vera, controlling everything in his smart home and being very personal (verbally) and protective of him. She is a key character in the story, though self-described as a "nonentity" (in the true definition of that term).
After reciting a partial list of Shawn's failure in his relationships with women, Vera suggests he try a matchmaker service offering androids. This takes him to PerfectMates (after viewing a very perceptive promo for the service) where Michael Vegas gives him the hard sell, offering three up-to-date models for him to try out with a "1000% guarantee". That 1000 instead of 100 should have been a red flag, but Shawn is desperate.
Two beauties Evelyn Claire and Melanie Marie flunk out when physically tested on try-out by Shawn but he has more success with the third model played by Kylie Rocket, in a segment where Avalon succeeds in delivering rom-com content worthy of a mainstream movie. Kylie's model has all the latest AI programming but no memory -she reacts to Shawn in conversation more humanly than the human women he's known, and eventually she's reduced to tears. This leads to a very interesting conclusion, once all the sex scenes have subsided, to a serious sci-fi movie.
Because Shawn is a writer and crew member in Adult Cinema but not a sex worker, Avalon's script manages to have pro studs handle his sex scenes, principally Wicked's contract man Seth Gamble whose body is "virtually" inhabited by Shawn for two XXX scenes.
"We Can Build Her" should give others a clue that there is a path in Adult Cinema beyond the Gonzo crap that is so dominant these days.
Transfixed: Housewife's Handy Helper (2024)
Ember sells it
With Tony Sting as the stud, Ember Fiera puts on quite a show as a very sexy TS housewife humping the handyman while her husband's away. The all-sex segment overstays its welcome (a half-hour of repetitive sex) but this lovely leading lady (with a dick) holds one's attention.
The gimmick, played for comic effect, is that the show begins with Ember on the phone with her hubby, while out-of frame Tony is giving her a blow job. Her dialogue is filled with double entendres, and once the XXX begins, Tony rather relentlessly f*cks her in the usual positions.
I expected Ember to counter with some pegging, but there are zero twists or turns once the action gets going. Fans looking for the website's promise of "trans lesbian sex" will have to look elsewhere, or wait till Casey Calvert guest stars in the next installment.
Studio One: Wintertime (1951)
Tough post-war drama
Anne Bancroft early in her career (1951) stands out in this story of post-war gloom and despair, set in Norduna, Germany in 1946. The live performance takes us back to a world of the Black Market and folks trying to survive against the threat of Germans working for the Soviets. The anit-communist sentiment of the time is ever-present in the writing, but at its best the neverending plight of displaced persons, now even more prevalent 73 years after this show was broadcast with wars in Europe, the Middle East and Africa still raging, is vividly depicted.
Anne, playing Latvian refugee who at age 24 has already witnessed the death of all her family except her brother (now hunted as a terrorist by the communists) and unspeakable horrors from both the Russians and the German, hooks up with Patric Knowles, a German sea captain returned to his home after being an American prisoner held in Texas during the war.
The bitterness of these survivors is best expressed by Leni Engel, a German woman who was once betrothed to Patric, but is now barely surviving. I was surprised to learn of her lengthy career, dating all the way back to co-starring in a Wheeler & Woolsey comedy feature (a fine one at that) made 20 years earlier at RKO.
Knowles' stoicism as he fights his shame at being a German, balanced by his hope for some sort of redemption is well-matched by the emotional power of Bancroft's subtle strength, when the hope for either of them is dim at best. Dennis Patrick, the character actor whose finest hour didn't come until 1970 co-starring with Peter Boyle in the classic "Joe", is pretty amazing as one of the villains of the piece, a militant dupe of the communist cause working toward world domination, until Knowles takes him down. As an evil German working for the Russians, Kurt Katch is well-cast as Anne's torturer.
Climax!: Scream in Silence (1958)
Powerhouse melodrama
Anne Francis stars in a memorable performance as a deeply-troubled young waif in this live show, backed by a terrific ensemble cast. There's zero comic relief as a crime story unfolds in a cold, cruel atmosphere of selfish, cruel people surrounding her.
Only glimmer of hope is in her neighbor, a kindly psychiatrist played by Skip Homeier with suitable intensity, nearly matching that of Anne's. Betty Field as her tough-facade stepmom, Sidney Blackmer as her mean-spirited dad, and William Talman, instantly shifty and villainous as the bartender at her parents' bar complete the front-line cast, all of them ready to explode at a moment's notice.
Performing live adds immeasurably to the sustained sense of dread as the show rapidly shifts into melodrama and venal crime, climaxing at the end of the first act with Blackmer's death. Anne's guilt and the gimmick of Skip the shrink using narcosynthesis to try and pry the facts of dad's violent death from Anne's mind lead to a police procedural solution, with the viewer treated quite fairly in witnessing the facts of the case before Skip and the cops can find out.
Obviously a must for Anne Francis fans, it stands up quite well 66 years (wow!) later as potent dramatics from the small screen.
Bimbo Cheerleaders from Outer Space! (1988)
Beneath my dignity
I have a bone to pick with director John T. Bone. He gives amateurs a bad name by using a pro cast and crew to deliver results worse than most if not all teenage amateurs with a video camera (or now, a cell phone) could achieve in terms of porno spoofing.
The premise is that school cheerleader Tracey Adams has written a sort of school pageant mocking Star Trek & Star Wars, replete with scrawled sketches on paper to represent sets, a toy with firecracker to represent the space ship. Level of humor is way below even the most modest of expectations.
At one point an actress rebels against reciting Tracey's ridiculous dialogue, but the show must go on. Low point of "acting" is likely Randy Spears wearing a gorilla mask, which he removes out of exasperation, to play a Nookie named Chewnocka.
The mission takes them to the Planet Pancreas Four. Robert Bullock (who uses a fake name in the credits, unlike most of the rest of the cast) plays the last man on the planet, but the problem is that he was raised by the Amazonian women there and is a fairy as a result. The planet's queen Eva is facing extinction of their race but after seducing her for some Sapphic sex, Tracey decides an orgy with Bullock will solve his problem.
Another low point is when Eva and Robert are trying to come into the spaceship after Tracey lands it. The hatch won't open, so she gets a scissors and cuts the paper set to admit them. How amusing!
The sex scenes are as slapdash as the rest of this junker, which cost something to produce (some name porn talent and a real crew) but looks cheaper than any porno out there, clearly Bone's goal.
Cheating (1994)
Overly ambitious PT dramedy
"Cheating" falls squarely into Paul Thomas's specialty, a life-style romantic drama, in the form of a comedy. Ashlyn Gere's birthday party is the occasion for an endless string of increasingly far-fetched "unfaithful" sex acts among her friends, culminating in a surprise, rather cutesy, ending.
Problem here is quite obvious, though prolific pornographer Paul didn't care - he was directing over a dozen features a year for Vivid, so many that he used different names (including Judy Blue) and even a Vivid sub-label (Wave) to hide the fact of his overdoing it.
Unlike current porn structure, the 90-minute movie has a large number of brief sex scenes instead of dwelling on just 4 or 5 endless ones. And the complex editing tosses in brief flashbacks at will, sometimes in quite confusing fashion. For example, the first sex scene has Gere arguing with hubby Steven St. Croix, and we're treated to her having a hot and heavy sex flashback with Colt Steele ("the other man") climaxing with him about to deliver a cum shot in her mouth, but it turns out to be Steven ejaculating! This sleight of hand via the editing room is creative and flashy, but more in the nature of audience manipulation than effective storytelling.
Worse yet, with the running gag of Nick East repeatedly betraying his wife Alex Jordan during the very party she is hosting, the danger of getting caught humping his mistress Leena becomes so great that all credibility is lost.
I suspect PT was actually making fun of the arbitrary injection of sex at every turn in a porn movie, at the expense of hurting his own more serious movie. Some proof of that is later in the film where Gere is cheating with Jonathan Morgan, wife of Euro beauty Christna Angel, outdoors, and the camera pans from him giving her a facial to Leena & Nick East humping in a car about 5 feet away from them, unnoticed. That impossibility leads to Nick & Leena getting out of the car to continue having sex on the car hood, one of porn's most corny gimmicks, right up there with having sex atop a pool table.
So the enjoyably farcical nature of this sex, sex and more sex comical format continues in showy fashion right until the finale, when Gere suddenly turns very, very serious to confront everyone, almost like a scene from a mainstream movie like "The Big Chill", with an accusatory "What happened to us?" speech. Not to worry, the one missing member of this clique of adulterous friends finally shows up to present Gere with her present and make the surprise announcement that returns us to levity. Watch and see.
Devil or Angel (1999)
Mild erotic fantasy
Ulie Meadows stars in this glossy fantasy, which held more promise than it delivered. For me it was like a three-act play that settled just for the first act -the story didn't develop at all, just degenerating into a series of sex acts.
Julie's stuck with a useless husband, played by Randy Spears as uptight and only begrudgingly having sex with her. He also bosses her around. But Julie escapes in her dreams, erotic dreams set in a glamorous home with a bar, where Evan Stone in a cowboy hat seems to be in charge.
Nightly, Julie witnesses folks having sex in the house for her to watch, and Spears is even there, sitting at a table in the background, scowling like a Trump forced to sit meekly through a trial. One of her best friends, Cheyenne Silver, is a principal sex performer in the dreams, and when Julie tells her about it she's amused.
Cheyenne introduces Julie to a hypnotist, and that role is played by Evan Stone, too. When he hypnotizes her, it returns her to the house/bar for another dream.
Raven Touchstone's screenplay doesn't make much sense, and ends up with Julie making love to Stone and then again with her husband Spears. Open ending is unsatisfying, leaving everything unresolved.
Dial 666 Lust (1991)
Taylor Wane's clunker
Taylor Wane wrote and stars in this messed-up vampire movie, just another bunch of footage slapped together. The screen credits don't match the cast and it makes little sense.
She provides a teeny bit of voice-over narration and plays a vampire who's on the rampage. Police commissioner Mike Horner thinks he's defeated her, but at the end of the video indicates something's happening and it just ends.
Ron Jeremy is useless as a scientist who has a theory about the vampires, and added to their mythical lore is a dumb concept that after a femme vamp bites a guy, it goes into suspended animation, during which it carries a child. That subplot goes nowhere.
Sharon Kane shows up as a fellow vampire who has sex with vampire Cameo, while another vampire girl is shown but then written out of the script. A boring musical score (trying to sound eerie) doesn't help at all. I couldn't tell if Cameo also appears as Horner's wife -nothing makes any sense.