JUNE 11, 2009

A welcome throwback to the days of scaled-down, DIY shot -on-video horror in the woods like Savage Harvest, the recent Summer People is that rarity in indie horror, a slow burner that takes its time to build atmosphere, characters, and creeping dread rather than assaulting the viewer from frame one with jackhammer effects and editing. This debut feature for director Scott Feinblatt follows four kids as they venture out into the boonies to stay at a remote cabin, and the local townspeople don't seem entirely comfortable with these "summer people" stirring up trouble in their neck of the woods. Before you can growl "I'll swallow your soul," the idiots are dabbling around in black magic, unaware that Native American spirits control the land and are still coexisting harmoniously (more or less) with the residents. Freaky little events like rearranging furniture set everyone on edge, and then things... start to turn nasty. Though obviously shot on the cheap (most daylight scenes rely entirely on natural light) and relaint on the most familiar plot in the horror handbook, Summer People distinguishes itself with solid performances by the leads (especially Neil Kubath, who could be an indie actor to watch), some surprisingly ambitious shocks in the second half, a creepy downbeat ending, and the aforementioned confidence to rely on story and pacing instead of pure sensationalism. Ah, and there's an animated opening and closing, too! The independently distributed DVD can be purchased at the offical site and is presented in anamorphic widescreen, looking about as good as it could. Extras include a handful of deleted (basically just expanded) scenes with some additional exposition, a funny 15-minute collection of behind-the-scenes footage (most memorable for accounts of the director's accidental double entendres and an impromptu trip to WalMart), and galleries of special effects make-up, stills, and storyboards.


You might recall in the last Sick Picks some coverage of "pornochanchada," or Brazilian sex flicks from '70s and '80s, now getting some U.S. play thanks to Impulse Pictures' The Chick's Ability. Well, now they're back with another astonishing discovery, Violence and Flesh (Violência na Carne), starring that same film's voluptuous star, Helena Ramos, in what basically amounts to a skankier version of Last House on the Beach. On the run from the law, three convicts pop a bullet in their getaway driver and torch the car for good measure (an opener that rivals Pink Flamingos for prolonged cinematic pyromania). Feigning a roadside injury, they carjack a passing motorist who happens to be a director en route to a weekend rehearsal with his cast at a beach cottage. Once there, they wait for all the thespians (a mixture of straight and gay characters) before unleashing a torrent of sexual abuse. However, one of the convicts winds up getting a little too close to one of his captives, setting the stage for a grueling final showdown. Filled with both elements found in the title, this isn't as explicit as some other chanda titles (many of which verged on hardcore or just hopped right over that barrier completely); most of the carnal activity is confined to the second half and is basically lots of heaving bare breasts and butts, with some astoundingly nasty forced scenarios thrown in for good measure. Ramos gets a lot of screen time as one of the main actresses, showing off her dramatic assets as well as her more physical ones. There's also a prolonged and pretty darn steamy encounter on the beach that's intercut with one of the most outrageous scenes in the film. Impulse's DVD appears to be a fine, fresh transfer from original film elements, presented full frame (with nothing noticeable missing as it's currently framed). The Portuguese mono audio sounds fine and comes with optional English subtitles. Deliciously decadent stuff, and proof positive that America and Europe weren't the only countries churning out great drive-in product back in 1981.


Lurking much further in the gutter is After Hours' Sex on Capitol Hill double feature, which pairs up two politically-themed '70s porn quickies presumably timed to coincide with the recent(ish) presidential election. The big draw here is Presidential Peepers, the "lost" Richard Nixton-themed smut flick from '75. Watergate jokes and unsimulated copulation don't really seem like a natural mix, and this one proves it -- but boy, is it strange enough to hold your interest. Late sex flick legend Tina Russell (in what is purportedly her last film) gets to act a little more than usual (which isn't necessarily a good thing given her limited skills). There's not much plot here as Tina and two other girls pal around a cheap simulation of the Oval Office with "Richard M. Dixon," a Nixon impersonator whose resemblance to Tricky Dick earned him a string of odd '70s roles like The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover and Good to See You Again, Alice Cooper. Here he pretty much sits at his desk and does his Nixon schtick (while keeping his clothes on, thankfully) as everyone else bumps and grinds in what looks suspiciously like spliced-in loops. Russell has two scenes, mostly involving the ubiquitous Marc Stevens (oddly enough, both of them wrote incendiary autobiographies around the same time) as well as short-lived regular Helen Madigan. Manhattan public access smut legend Ugly George (who essentially started the "Girls Gone Wild" template years before it caught on) also pops up near the end as a photographer in an amusing softcore orgy scene. The packaging boasts this is taken from the original 16mm negative, the sole surviving element, and this actually is one of their best-looking releases in their grindhouse line. Considerably more banged-up and obscure is its co-feature, All the Senator's Girls, which features "Glenn Swallow" as a mustachioed politician whose anti-porn crusade doesn't exactly jibe with the fact that he sleeps with anything in a skirt, be it at his desk or on a yacht. Errr... and that's pretty much it. Both films are anamorphically enhanced and actually look okay framed that way; apart from the usual trailers, the big extra here is another set of Michael J. Bowen liner notes with an understandable focus on Ms. Russell covering most of the highlights of her career and the possible cause for her untimely, mysterious death.


One of the strangest phenomena about '70s adult filmmaking was the trend of creating multiple versions at the same time, one for the raincoat crowd as well as a softer cut often featuring more plot and plenty of alternate footage. One of the most extreme examples of this approach is 1977's Punk Rock, also known on video as Rock Orgy and Teenage Runaways. The film was originally shot as a full-on porno flick starring late switch-hitting soap actor Wade Nichols as Jimmy Dillinger, a private eye combing New York's rock 'n' roll underworld as he follows a Spillane-esque trail after a tycoon's kidnapped daughter with plenty of murder and dope dealing around the corner. Then the producer recruited director Carter Stevens to revisit the film as a much less explicit grindhouse film with its brief bits of new wave performances expanded or replaced to spotlight the burgeoning punk scene, represented here by garage bands like the Stilettos, the Fast, the Squirrels and the Spicy Bits doin' their thing at Max's Kansas City. It's pretty fascinating stuff, and while the hard version has been around on video for ages (most recently in Alpha Blue's Carter Stevens triple bill set), this R-rated 96-minute variant has been incredibly elusive until now. For once it's great to finally see this very different and in some ways far more interesting retooling of one of the decade's most interesting trash cinema hybrids. Accompanying this DVD release is the significantly less interesting softcore version of Pleasure Palace, a 1979 crime and sex outing with Eric Edwards and Jamie Gillis about a couple of big city guys who decide to open a whorehouse in the coutryside, only to get far more than they bargained for. Serena and Richard Bolla are also on hand in a fairly well-acted but innocuous potboiler whose most intriguing aspect is the fact that, according to the commentary and liners, it was shot in a real brothel. Stevens actually provides full chat tracks for both films and seems to have a good memory for the production of both, talking about his experiences with the actors, the necessities of theatrical tweaking for films in the '70s, the nature of porn pseudonyms, and much more. Secret Key's release also has a video interview with Stevens (in a funny T-shirt) about his career (including some good memories of Serena), a music video by the Fast for "It's Like Love," and the aforementioned liners, again written by Bowen. Only the second film is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen, with Punk Rock full frame and looking fine if a bit worn and soft and Pleasure Palace much more vivid and colorful but more tightly framed.


While we're talking about the mainstreaming of porn, nobody could have ever expected that a new reunion of '70s legends Ron Jeremy and Veronica Hart could possibly turn out lik One Eyed Monster, a comedic, R-rated horror film about the mayhem unleashed around a remote, snowy cabin when a bunch of people gathered to shoot an adult film are terrorized by a ruthless alien -- which has inhabited Ron Jeremy's penis and is wiping everyone out one by one. (Remember, this has an R rating, so you just get hilarious POV shots of the offending interstellar invader.) Swift, silly, trashy, and entertaining, While the concept of murderous genitalia has been around since the days of Soul Vengeance, this is certainly the first time the concept has been applied to America's favorite hedgehog reality TV star. It's actually quite atmospheric and really funny if you're in the right mood, and director Adam Fields does a good job balancing of keeping things light and interesting even when people are getting their skulls punched open by a rampaging phallus. If that weren't enough, the cast also includes former Buffy regular Amber Benson and everyone's favorite '80s drive-in tough guy character actor, Charles Napier (looking incredibly grizzled and easily stealing the movie with an unforgettable monologue).


What, that's not enough Ron Jeremy for you? Okay then, feast your eyes on Porn-o-Rama from the folks at Private Screenings, best known for reviving scores of forgotten '80s softcore favorites, This particular offering is a five-part documentary lensed in the early '90s by Paul Norman, the director who crammed the Clinton decade with countless straight and bi titles. Ron Jeremy and Alexis DeVell walk you through a series of interviews with familiar faces from the era along with plenty of backstage footage (nothing really explicit, though lots of bare breasts are on display). There have been plenty of backstage and blooper releases before, but this one is truly exhaustive as it spends two and a half hours in the trenches, asking lots of wildly inappropriate questions and getting answers ranging from the hilarious to the utterly perplexing. Each episode seems to revolve around a basic theme (why they do it, how family and friends react, etc.), though you won't find any major revelations as everyone just seems to be having lots of laughs (not surprising given that this was crafted by the industry itself). Among the subjects here are Samantha Strong, Tom Byron, Jon Dough, Francesca Le, Brittany O'Connell, Nick East, the tragic Cal Jammer, and lots, lots more. The whole thing was shot on a home video camera and definitely looks it, so don't expect any striking home theater demo material here. As a time capsule it's pretty fascinating to see a parade of faces like this, especially when many of them are long gone (from the industry or even from this planet). Just don't expect much titillation value, 'cuz it ain't there. Oh, and the cover art is supremely disturbing.


Next up... I swear, this is the last porn-related title -- really... is the thematically-related Porn Stars of the 80s and Porn Stars of the 90s, the latest salvos fired from Midnight Blue, the infamous public access show ramped out onto DVD for the past two years via the folks at Blue Underground. Once again irascible Screw editor Al Goldstein guides you through the underbelly of the East and West Coast flesh factories, with the '80s one ultimately coming out a lot more interesting than its companion piece. That's entirely due to the presence of talent involved, including the legendary and apparently very wound-up Vanessa Del Rio ("I don't trust myself!"), a lot of hamming by a much younger Ron Jeremy (who also demonstrates his dubious stand-up abilities), and lots of facts from the candid (and sometimes undraped) Nina Hartley, an about-to-retire Desiree Cousteau ("I feel overexposed"), Samantha Fox, a very fluffy-haired Paul Thomas, John Leslie, Veronica Hart, and Annette Haven. As you can see, they've got all the heavy hitter bases covered for the era (except for Traci Lords, obviously, but we all know why she isn't there...). The usual barrage of hilarious and fascinating vintage ads (including escorts and phone sex, not to mention a hilarious musical vibrator bit by "Weird Uncle Louie") add even more spice to the stew, arguably the most entertaining title so far in the Midnight Blue line. (The very retro menu screen is a nice added touch, too.) While the '90s era certainly has its fans, the Midnight Blue volume dedicated to it definitely reveals a show on a downswing, losing much of its lo-fi, grubby charm as the business became flooded with a staggering amount of video product, not to mention the dawn of the internet era. The highlight is probably the vivacious Jeanna Fine, one of the most aggressive stars of the decade, who wears a really over-the-top outfit and talks enthusiastically about her work. (Her anecdote about co-star Sikki Nixx is especially surprising.) A leathery Randy West also gets a huge chunk of interview time, and other contributors include Ashlyn Gere, Christy Canyon, Viper, Teri Wiegel, and Tom Byron. Both discs come with an optional "Money Shots" text trivia track that rattles off lots of arcane tidbits about each person onscreen, and the '90s DVD piles on a few oddball extras like Al Goldstein cussing out Jenna Jameson, Annie Sprinkle's "Titty Cupcakes," and a Ron Jeremy primer in... well, just watch for yourself.


 




PREVIOUS SICK PICKS:
March 19, 2009
October 27, 2008
August 7, 2008
July 25, 2008
May 31, 2008 (Aussie Special)
February 19, 2008
January 8, 2008
October 23, 2007
October 8, 2007
September 29, 2007


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