SLEAZY STAGS, AMERICAN STYLE

"Adults only. Sales to minors prohibited" warns the back cover. And so begins another foray into vintage smut, courtesy of the tireless folk at After Hours Cinema.

This time around we get a sweet collection of loops from the late 1960s and early 1970s, each of which were shot on either 8mm or Super-8 film. Home movies shot by randy yanks for the purpose of screening at small theatres and/or for hiring out for people to watch with friends, these "stag movies" were the way to view dirty movies before porn became big business in the early-to-mid 1970s.

The fun begins with AFTERNOON LOVIN', which finds a petite brunette being battered with a dildo in her bed by a leather-clad boyfriend, before the pair get it on with some very wet and hairy fucking and sucking. It's seedy and forgettable - but fun while it lasts, regardless.

BALLING IN LOVE has a pasty-white girl playing with herself for a brief while before two men - one of whom is sporting a fabulous centre-parting - jump in with tongues first, and then cocks.

COLLEGE PLAYMATE PART 1 begins with a very attractive young brunette pleasuring herself in the shower (complete with subtitled "Oooh"s), before taking a telephone call from her boyfriend - who she agrees to meet downstairs promptly for a ravishing. He looks disconcertingly similar to the blonde member of Yates' film crew in CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, but this remains worth it for the hot woman and the priceless text dialogue.

Next up is DIRTY BLONDE, which even has a warning at the start about it's adult content. It's so-so, benefiting from the inclusion of a very game redhead in the lead role. However, as she got it on with her ponytailed stud, I found myself more interested in trying to make out the posters on her bedroom wall.

The very old-looking SKIN DIVER follows, sporting possibly the softest picture in this entire set. But it's strangely beguiling, in an old home movie style. I think the exterior location (a woodlands hot-tub) helped. A good blowjob distinguishes this one.

The next loop is an odd one that just seems to begin randomly with the climax of a blowjob, before cutting to the final thrusts of sex between a taut woman and a heavily tattooed man. As it carries on, this film becomes nothing more than a succession of money shots (well, it is called BEST OF CUM #9). And not very good ones at that.

A light-hearted spanking opens NASTY BRUNETTE, before more fucking gets underway. This time the fun is shared between a girl with an unbearably cute smile, and some bloke in thick glasses. I hope he realises how lucky he was.

Another redhead opens the next loop, posing for her hippy boyfriend while he gets increasingly excited on the settee. Probably the most 'cinematic' of the loops in terms of editing and different camera angles, this is nevertheless more of the same. However, the lady's cheeky grin and some inspired fucking help this one stand out.

Next is a very worn print concerning a highly attractive girl soaping herself in the shower, before taking on two blokes - one black, one white.

A man is interrupted from his kitchen-cleaning duties in the next loop. The one that follows is better, involving double-penetration dildo sex, lesbianism and a truly gorgeous blonde.

The following loop, COFFEE 2 COCK, features a man in a truly shocking shirt (really, what was he thinking?). Regardless of that, his missus gets his cock out while they're in the kitchen and drags him through to the bedroom for more hirsute, smelly sex.

Lesbo dildo action returns for loop number 12, and things are starting to get boring now.

Loop 13 - EXPLOSIVE THREESOME - more of the same: women get it on, man comes along, cock is sucked, etc ...

Loop 14 - - at least begins with a sexy slow strip from a demure blonde, who then proceeds to take her vital statistics with a measuring tape. Why? No idea. But she's about to work off the inches (not that she needs to) when she rings in a food order and gets the black delivery guy to fuck her in her bed ...

Next up we get a prim-looking hussy deep-throating a cucumber before fucking it. Weird. This is called CUCUMBER PLUS, incidentally.

More of the tattooed man (or a tattooed man, at least) features in the final loop, TATTOO X 2.

The films are each presented uncut in anamorphic 1.78:1 transfers. They appear to be correctly framed, with no obvious signs of cropping. Colours where applicable are a tad worn and faded, and grain is as evident as other damage signs such as specks throughout. But these remastered transfers, culled from the original 8mm prints, are bright and clear regardless - and quite probably the best this stuff is ever going to get in terms of presentation. Image quality obviously varies, but it's hard to whinge about how these films look when this is most likely the only way you'll ever get to see them.

Audio is irrelevant as there is none: all of the loops are silent, save for the whirring of the 8mm reels.

The disc opens with a nice animated main menu page that celebrates the wholesome all-American nature of the content contained within (ahem). This comes complete with an image of the Statue of Liberty, and digital fireworks added for effect.

The main page offers an option to "Play All" of the loops in one mammoth run. From there, we get a rare occurrence on an After Hours Cinema disc: a Scene Selection menu! Essentially, this allows you to choose which of the 17 shorts you'd like to peruse at any given time.

The only extras on the disc are trailers for 8MM MADNESS, CHIC 69, DARIAN CAINE: EXPOSED, DR CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN, FORCED ENTRY, GRINDHOUSE HONEYMOON, GRINDHOUSE HOSTAGE, GUNILLA, LES CHIC, DIARY OF A NYMPH, SEX ON WHEELS, SEXORCISM, VAMPIRE STRANGLER and WENDY'S NAUGHTY NIGHT.

It's often that you get a booklet thrown in with After Hours Cinema's excellent packages, but not on this occasion. However, there was a voucher enabling the buyer to obtain 30 minutes of free porn downloads from their site, contained within the DVD's keepcase. You've got to love these guys ...

Although devoid of sound or familiar faces, these early loops - all roughly lasting around the 7 or 8 minute-mark (their total running time is 131 minutes) are definitely recommended for anyone with an interest in vintage porn. It's hardcore stuff, and it's performed with a healthy sincerity that arguably only amateurs can achieve.

Spirited, amateur sex, complete with bad hair and terrible home fashions - it's hard not to love SLEAZY STAGS, AMERICAN STYLE.

Review by Stu Willis