HONEYMOON SUITE GRINDHOUSE TRIPLE FEATURE

This generous disc from After Hours Cinema presents three one-day-wonders from Shaun Costello.

One-day-wonders, in a nutshell, were porno films made on the cheap (invariably funded by mobsters looking to make a quick profit on the storefront circuit) in one day by minimal casts and crews. The term isn't era-specific but is generally linked to the 1970s - which is where this trio of offerings stem from.

And Costello? He's one of the most prolific of 70s porno directors, as well as largely considered to be one of the best. His feature debut FORCED ENTRY (1973) and later WATERPOWER (1977) still stand as two of the most notorious porno films of all time. This is not only because of their undeniably confrontational content (brutal [simulated] rapes interspersed with archive footage of war atrocities; enforced enemas depicted in explicit detail), but also because of their accomplished finish. Costello was a filmmaker of some talent, taking care to fashion narrative hooks and cinematic photography around scenes of authentically enjoyed sex. He peddled the real thing.

He worked with some of the true greats of the genre too - Harry Reems, Jamie Gillis, Tina Russell, Georgina Spelvin, Marc Stevens, Fred Lincoln, Eric Edwards, C J Laing, Vanessa Del Rio etc - and was never shy about getting hard in front of the camera himself.

Costello effectively retired from the business of directing porn in the early 80s, but kept busy for several years turning up for cameo roles in friends' films and enjoying a continued interest in cinema by way of executive-producing a clutch of minor titles (arguably the most significant to SGM readers being the 1991 film POPCORN).

But, going back to Costello's formative filmmaking year in 1973, he made no less than 32 "one day wonders" in the space of four months. No small feat at all, and what's even more remarkable is that the results were often highly watchable. Sometimes great, in fact.

Here, After Hours have collected and remastered the first two "one day wonders" shot by Costello, along with a third that would prove to be highly problematic even in porno circles.

First up we have HONEYMOON SUITE (a.k.a GEORGINA'S HONEYMOON SUITE; MARYANNE'S HONEYMOON SUITE).

The film begins in a darkened, smoke-filled room where we find six friends - three men, three women - enjoying a game of poker. The handheld camera revolves around the table keeping things intimate as we become drawn into the group's playful banter, led by the bespectacled Costello.

When the game spirals out of control, Marc Stevens (the late great possessor of a legendary ten-inch cock) suggests the group all marry each other. After the initial giggled response, the rest agree to this madcap idea and make haste to an unorthodox parish they know of nearby.

One bizarre and slightly comical wedding ceremony later, and then it's back to various bedrooms for our group to break off into couples and consummate their nuptials.

From there onwards, HONEYMOON SUITE offers non-stop sex of the sensual, mutually savoured kind. Sure, the bodies involved are hairier and flabbier than anything American filth has permitted onto the screen since 1990 - but that's part of the charm. This is real people, having real sex - not because it pays well, but because they're good at it and they LOVE it.

Silky library music plays on cue, soft red lighting adds a modicum of visual style and the candid docu-style camerawork continues to probe for the most revealing angles during some surprisingly charged and yet skilfully edited sequences. Watch out for a couple of noisy female orgasms, Spelvin being her usual spirited self while being double-penetrated and Russell swallowing a load without qualm or expression.

JOE ROCK SUPERSTAR follows (originally titled JOE COCK SUPERSTAR, as a riff on Joe Cocker). This stars Stevens as Joe, a glam rocker who we first meet while getting chastised by his manager backstage moments before a gig.

Flanked by his bandmates Costello and living legend Gillis, the group finally get on to the stage for a hilarious bit of miming in front of blinding spotlights. Check out Gillis on the drums!

The concert culminates with Joe getting his big cock out on stage (inspired by a similar true-life incident that led to Jim Morrison's arrest), and the inevitable groupie sex afterwards. But the big question is ... can the once-reliable Joe Cock get it up by the film's end? What do you think?!

More handheld camerawork, candid ad-libbed performances and grimy New York locales lend this film a Bohemian style not unlike early Paul Morrissey. Indeed, the early dressing room scenes could almost be snapshots of the Factory at play.

It is ultimately another porno quickie, albeit an ambitious one in terms of set-up (the band on stage; the various settings for the sexual escapades; the rather fluent script). The sex scenes are hot - women here include Russell again, and the impressive Ultramax - and well-lit. SUPERSTAR also offers some particularly squelchy oral sex.

Finally, we get COME AND BE PURIFIED (a.k.a. ATTEND AND BE PURIFIED).

Gillis plays Father Sexus, a conman posing in a dog-collar and calling on wayward souls to join his flock. With the help of his naked assistant Brother Francis (Costello again), Sexus dons cool glasses and holds sermons for his "children" before encouraging them to join him in an orgy.

Funny dialogue, brilliantly unabashed performances and blowjobs set to holy organ-led tinkering are the order of the day here. Gillis is a joy to watch as he revels in his blasphemous role, while Valerie Mallon and Ashley Moore are among the hotties getting stuffed.

This film, according to the notes in the accompanying booklet, had the mobster financiers' disapproval from the offset. The mobsters warned Costello that mixing religion with porn was asking for trouble, but he convinced them otherwise and went ahead and made it. He was wrong.

The film's subject matter proved to be a turn-off for audiences and, worse still, attracted the attention of the police who raided several cinemas screening the movie. This then led to other theatres refusing to screen the film, and the result was a loss for the mob. Luckily, Costello was making such a profit for them with his other films that he was soon forgiven.

In truth, the film is not contentious after all. It starts with a hot bathroom blowjob/sex scene and then moves into a story of almost comedic absurdity. It helps knowing that Gillis was in stitches in-between takes, which led to the entire cast frequently getting the giggles. This must've made life difficult for Costello, trying to tell a story and shoot a well-edited film with several key sex scenes in the space of a single day. But he did it - and the result is an agreeable, professional affair with some genuinely arousing pairings.

Each film is presented in anamorphic 1.78:1, having been remastered from original 16mm elements. Colours are strong and detail is refined for the most part, although some footage is clearly over-exposed and this leads to a few sequences suffering from overly bright imagery.

Natural grain is evident but never too heavy, while vertical lines and the odd speck on screen are endearing.

English mono audio graces each film and manages to remain clean and audible throughout. There is minor hiss on occasion, but by and large this is a problem-free proposition.

An animated main menu offers access to each film individually, or via the now-familiar "Grind It!" function that plays all three movies as one 'triple bill' package, grindhouse-style. Selecting the function kicks the show off with trailers for A TOUCH OF GENIE and CHIC 69.

There are no scene-selection menus, but the films can be remote-accessed via the following chapters: HONEYMOON (13 chapters); SUPERSTAR (10 chapters); COME (11 chapters).

An excellent 8-page colour booklet rounds off this package. The opening text from "The After Hours Collector" is perhaps a little sycophantic, but the ensuing essay by Costello is compelling stuff. Offering a fantastically candid and clear insight into events that occurred almost four decades ago, this makes for great reading. Costello's quick to establish that he wasn't the originator of the "one day wonder" (the likes of SNUFF co-creators Michael and Roberta Findlay had been making them previously), and unafraid of naming the mobsters who financed his early efforts. Costello even reveals his winning formula for producing one-day-wonders so consistently.

Good fun throughout and blessed with a host of famous faces from the age of classic smut, these three films and the complementing booklet serve as a most enjoyable history lesson of an age when people fucked on screen for kicks and an approach of "more cunnilingus, less backdoor bashing" - along with a semblance of narrative - made the films more palatable for couples. Theoretically.

Recommended.

Review by Stuart Willis