SEDUCTION CINEMA EROTIC HORROR TRIPLE FEATURE

SEDUCTION CINEMA EROTIC HORROR TRIPLE FEATURE

Never ones to be accused of not offering value for money, Seduction Cinema's latest release presents three of their earliest films in one nicely priced, 2-disc package.

Disc one serves up the cult favourite MISTRESS FRANKENSTEIN.

A distorted male voiceover introduces us to the obsessed scientist Victor Frankenstein (John Paul Fedele) and his neglected wife Helena (Darian Caine), resigned to knitting in lieu of sexual attention from her husband.

Victor, we discover, is far too busy conducting experiments in his laboratory morning, noon and night. Unfortunately, not all is well in the lab: the monster (Michael R Thomas) is a well-spoken but aggressive simpleton prone to throttling Victor, while the lab assistant Igor (Bennigan Feeney) is a camp worry in himself.

Meanwhile, Helena is getting increasingly frustrated with her lack of a sex life. It doesn't help matters when she hears two maids pleasuring each other in a literally steamy bathtub sequence.

However, following a bizarre horse-riding accident, Helena dies - much to the frigid Victor's angst. Naturally, after his initial disappointment, he takes his dead wife back to the laboratory in a bid to reanimate her. For whatever reason, this involves attaching clothing pegs to her nipples.

Unfortunately the experiment goes wrong when Victor accidentally damages Helena's brain. He sends Igor out to find another one, and Igor winds up buying a fresh lesbian brain from a dubious market trader.

You can guess how this affects Helena's disposition when she's finally brought back to life. Suddenly she's hungry for every bit of skirt going ...

Cheerfully cheap, shamelessly silly and curiously charming, MISTRESS FRANKENSTEIN needs a certain frame of mind to appreciate its no-budget stupidity to it's fullest.

Performances are surprisingly game, with Caine giving it her all in this early role. She looks hot, and gets into the lesbian scenes with relish. Fedele is as OTT as ever, gurning and shouting in equal parts. Feeney elicits laughs from a role that should potentially be offensive. And even director John Bacchus (working her under the pseudonym of Zachary Snygg) gets in on the fun by playing several characters - most notably the oddly accented Stable Boy.

Uninterested in the horror aspects of the FRANKENSTEIN story (although the monster FX aren't too bad), the comedy is very prominent in MISTRESS FRANKENSTEIN, perhaps more-so than in any other Seduction film.

Sight gags range from a pantomime horse posing for a real horse, to Benny Hill-type speeded-up film footage. Elsewhere the script is rife with double entendres; physical slapstick comedy; puerile tit gags; 'honk-honk' noises on the soundtrack when backsides are felt; the gay Igor brandishing his feather duster in camp fashion; a jester character (John Link) bearing an uncanny resemblance to Bobby Ball; a succession of theatrical supporting characters that all go by the name of Karl (Karl the Drummer, Karl the Shepherd, Karl the Chimney Sweep, etc) and more. You should get an idea from the above about just how silly the film is.

But it's also surprisingly erotic once the girl-on-girl fun begins (the second half of the film offers a LOT of softcore lesbian fumblings). Lengthy softcore scenes set to slow electronic music involve red studio lights, golden toned bodies rubbing against each other, and the always-welcome sight of Caine in PVC gear and fishnet stockings.

Other cast members include AJ Khan, Jessie Harcourt and Jade Duboir. Debbie Rochon also features, but not in any sex scenes.

The film is presented uncut in it's original full-frame aspect ratio. It's a solid transfer of the shot-on-video feature, offering sharp detail and accurate colours.

English audio is presented in 2.0 and does it's job well throughout.

Disc one opens with an attractive if basic animated main page, giving access to the main feature but no scene-selection menu (the film can however be navigated through using your remote, by way of 18 chapters).

The only extra on disc one is a commentary track recorded by Michael Raso and moderator Ed Grant. Raso clearly has fond memories of this film, harking back to a time when his films consisted of largely the same small casts and crews, and when he was more involved in the writing side of things as well as producing. The pair enjoy a light yet informative chat, which neither has a problem keeping flowing.

Disc two is home to GIRL EXPLORES GIRL: THE ALIEN ENCOUNTER and THE EROTIC GHOST.

In GIRL, a text intro (imagine a VERY cut-rate version of the text at the start of STAR WARS) explains how a distant planet called Quonatia has ran out of Vitanum - the chemical required for the planet's occupants to reproduce.

So two of the planet's younger travellers - Zorkon (Snygg/Bacchus) and Galaxia (Laurie Wallace) travel to Earth to learn more about alternate methods of reproduction. When they first beam themselves down to Earth from their insanely cheap spaceship, they are green beings with rubber monster hands and boiler suits. After spying through a bedroom window on a handsome couple shagging, the aliens realise they must adopt human form to blend in.

Checking into a motel room, Zorkon and Galaxia try out what they've just witnessed. They find it sufficiently arousing, and set about learning more about Earthling sex on their own.

Zorkon employs books and the aide of dancing strippers (including Caine) to learn more, whereas Galaxia goes for the more direct approach, leading in to some satisfying softcore lesbian scenes.

Look out for the scene Wallace shares with Natalia Ashe in a swimming pool. If those orgasms seem genuine, well ... my comments below about the 8-page booklet included in this set explain why!

Elsewhere we get Caine sucking on a banana, a decent lesbo shower session and some very firm bronzed female buttocks to enjoy at regular intervals. Not to mention Wallace (a.k.a. Katie Keane) who is stunning, and someone I'd personally choose over Caine any day of the week.

The comedy is still evident in GIRL, but it's not as broad as it is in MISTRESS FRANKENSTEIN. The sex scenes come thicker and faster this time around, and apart from the opening gambit (very BLAKE'S 7) there's little in terms of production values, no matter how base. Still, it's a fair way of spending 83 minutes.

Finally, we move on to THE EROTIC GHOST (a.k.a. SEXY SCARY MOVIE).

Eerie music and smoke-filled titles open the film in sombre fashion, and it's true - THE EROTIC GHOST is certainly lacking in the comedic overtones of the first two films in this set.

That said, it's still a Bacchus film. So, expect soft-focus lesbian sex (literally the minute the opening titles are over!), early John Waters-type performances and ripe dialogue throughout.

This time around, Caine plays bored housewife Doris, who succumbs to the lesbian temptations of an S&M-fixated ghost and two horny she-devils.

It begins with her fantasising about being dominated by the ghost (Tammy Parks), only to wake up to being fucked by her husband Robert (Snygg/Bacchus). He clears off to work and it's evident that Doris no longer pines for him.

It would appear the opening liaison with the lesbian ghost has stirred something within Doris (the ghost continues to appear to her naked while Robert bores her to tears with his own woes).

Later, when Robert returns to work, Doris is further lured towards temptation by two she-devils who appear to her (Victoria Vega and Jade Duboir). Ultimately they seduce her and the film descends further into stylishly shot, softcore supernatural carpet munching.

Visually attractive and possibly the most strongly paced out of these three films, GHOST however loses the energetic silliness of the first two. It still flirts with comedy, mainly when we follow Robert to his workplace with the ever-insane Fedele - but for the most part remains a gently scored, hand-held examination of slow showers and lesbian encounters.

Look out for blindfold sex and even one girl-girl seduction scene that employs a strap-on. Nothing hardcore though, of course.

Both films are presented uncut in their original 1.33:1 aspect ratios. As with disc one, picture quality on both films is extremely reliable. Colours are vivid while never bleeding, and detail and contrast are well rendered.

Again, the English 2.0 audio offered in each film is free from problems such as hiss or drop-outs.

Disc two has an animated main menu but no scene-selection menus. That being said, GIRL has 18 chapters, while GHOST has 14.

Extras on disc two are restricted to an array of trailers from the Seduction Cinema vaults. Titles included here are BATBABE: THE DARK NIGHTIE, CHANTAL, CLOAK AND SHAG HER, CURIOUS OBSESSIONS, DR JECKYLL & MISTRESS HYDE, THE EROTIC DIARY OF MISTY MUNDAE, THE EROTIC GHOST, AN EROTIC WEREWOLF IN LONDON, FIRE IN HER BED, FLESH FOR OLIVIA, GIRL EXPLORES GIRL: THE ALIEN ENCOUNTER, THE GIRL WHO SHAGGED ME, G-STRING VAMPIRES, HOT VAMPIRE NIGHTS, THE INSATIABLE IRONBABE, KINKY KONG, LORD OF THE G-STRINGS, LUST FOR DRACULA, LUSTFUL ILLUSIONS, MISTRESS FRANKENSTEIN, MUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, SATAN'S SCHOOL FOR LUST, SACRED DESIRES and SPIDERBABE.

Inside the 2-disc keepcase is a colourful 8-page booklet that rates as the best 'extra' of this set. Boasting some very attractive photographs of Caine and co in various nude poses, the booklet also benefits tremendously from entertaining liner notes from Media Funhouse host Ed Grant.

Grant offers a good slice of contextual background on the three films proffered here, exploring the genesis of Seduction Cinema from it's ei cinema days and through these early efforts, even taking the trouble to interview Bacchus and Caine into the bargain. Interestingly, they both cite MISTRESS FRANKENSTEIN as their favourite Seduction picture, as does producer Michael Raso.

Grant also explains why the original Seduction film, TITANIC 2000, isn't included here. The best tit-bit of the booklet though, is the revelation that a girl-on-girl oral scene in GIRL EXPLORES GIRL got over-heated and ended up being performed for real ...

Three films on two discs, all for the price of a single DVD release. As I said at the top of this review, Seduction Cinema can't be faulted when it comes to offering value for money. Although these films are unlikely to appeal to all tastes, it is difficult not to find the good in them. Watched in the right mindset - get some friends round, get the beers in - they're tremendous fun at times, and the girls are undeniably hot.

Review by Stu Willis


 
Released by Retro-Seduction Cinema
Region 1 - NTSC
Not Rated
Extras :
see main review
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