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Released by: After Hours Cinema
Released on: 5/24/2011
Director: Shaun Costello
Cast: Carter Stevens, CJ Laing, Jamie Gillis, Long Jean Silver, George Payne
Year: 1978/1981/1983
The Movies:
Following their release of the notorious The Perils Of Prunella, After Hours Cinema delves deep into the depths of skuzzy cinematic depravity with their second Avon 7 release under their New York Grindhouse line. This triple feature of Shaun Costello directed features is chock-a-block with kinky BDSM, bad dialogue, weird acting and questionable morality, all of which means a good time for those with an interest in the New York City smut movie scene that once was and will never be again. These films were made by Costello for the Gambino crime family who basically were in charge of supplying made to order roughies for the Avon 7 Theater, a dingy fleapit on 7th Avenue, now long gone, that became notorious for showing rough and tumble BDSM films to the skuzziest of New York's Times Square crowd - this collection preserves three of those films for your viewing pleasure. Here's a look…
DISC ONE:
SLAVE OF PLEASURE (1978)
The third film in the 'Dan McCord' films finds super-perv Jamie Gills playing a French (maybe... the accent comes and goes and when it's on, it's still really bad) slave trader named Henri Picard who is operating a crime ring in New York City. Henri seems to have a knack for kidnapping sexy young housewives and moving them off to his clientele before anyone can nab him for it. When one of these housewives goes missing and her husband, Richard Anselm (Shaun Costello), gets upset, he calls in Dan McCord (played once again by Roger Caine) to track Henri down and save his nubile young wife from certain doom.
Things get complicated when it turns out that the husband was having an affair with his wife's best friend, Barbara (played by the always entertaining C. J. Laing), who is connected to Henri in that she's been supplying him with a pretty steady stream of beaver to snatch. The unwitting victims are, once sold, abused sexually in some grisly sex scenes (one of which involves some toe sucking... there's a lot of that in this movie for some reason) as well as having all manner of degrading insults hurled at them. Throw in a subplot about a government created super drug called UT-13 and you've got yourself a winner.
The plot lends itself to some pretty rough stuff, especially when towards the end Barbara is found out and she feels the rough touch of sexual retribution. She's bound and beaten and has her nipples subjected to some serious abuse in the form of some razor blade love. Look for Mr. R. Bolla of Cannibal Holocaust in one scene with an unidentified brunette. A lot of the film is shot around Coney Island and Costello makes great use of that area's naturally seedy charms. Herschel Savage, Ashley Moore and Gloria Todd also appear but C. J. Laing and Jamie Gillis are the real reasons to watch this one with the lights down low and a cold beer in hand. Made on the fast and cheap, Costello still manages to create a wonderfully seedy atmosphere and shows enough interest in the sex scenes to make sure that there's plenty of heat throughout the film - that's where the cold beer comes in handy.
Carter Stevens lines up an all star cast of smut stars for this one! The plot follows poor Patrice Trudeau who, after swinging with her husband and some friends, is kidnapped by a group of thugs who subject her to a sexual reawakening - bondage style! Her husband has to scour the back alleys and cesspools of the Times Square area to find her, but will he get there in time or will it be too late? You'll have to watch (and listen to the unintentionally hilarious narration) to find out!
Long Jeanne Silver makes a stand out appearance in this one, using her stump to hump in that special way that only she can make happen and in a group scene no less. Just because his frequent co-collaborator Phil Prince didn't direct this one doesn't mean that George Payne doesn't show up though, he's here as one of the thugs and giving his all in another one of his patented sex crazed performances, as is Dave Ruby. This one doesn't quite have the same solid story going for it that the first film in the set did, but it's fairly well made and Silver's freak show factor definitely makes it a curiosity item. Stevens is fun in the roll of the head kidnapper.
The bondage scenes are, once again, well shot and seem interesting to Costello who films them with quite a bit of attention. The sets are grubby looking and the vintage New York City footage is welcome, adding a naturally dirty feeling to an already filthy film.
DISC TWO:
MY MISTRESS ELECTRA (1981)
This one was directed by Shaun Costello and stars Mistress Electra, George Payne, Marlene Willoughby Dave Ruby and Carter Stevens, who by this point were basically Costello regulars.
Stevens plays Harry, a pervert who shows 8mm porn loops once a week at his little shindigs. A meek computer nerd friend of Harry's is having a good time at one of these get-togethers until he sees his wife (Mistress Electra) up there on the screen doing her thing, especially since she doesn't want to get too kinky with him in the bedroom. A cop follows a few leads for him and eventually tracks Electra to a shady photographer's studio in the heart of Times Square where he sees Electra being photographed by Marlene in a group session with Payne and Ruby.
Surprisingly (or not, considering Costello's work) the soundtrack from Taxi Driver is used quite a bit in this one - at least in the original version (After Hours has understandably replaced the music that was used in this film without permission). Highlights include Electra taking some serious double penetration action and plenty of great footage of 42nd Street in its prime adds to the weird atmosphere.
The sex scenes don't have quite the same amount of energy and enthusiasm as the first two films do but the story is good enough that you won't mind so much and you've got to love the scene in which George Payne lets Marlene Willoughby treat him like her slave. There's definitely enough going on both cinematically and sexually that you'll have no problem finding something to dig about this picture.
All three films are presented fullframe, which is how they were shot and how they are meant to be seen, and taken from original 16mm film prints. These aren't bugged but a copyright notice does appear on the title card of each film. How does the picture quality stack up? Pretty nicely, actually. There's plenty of scratches and age related debris to get worked up over if you're into that type of thing but the discs are well authored and don't show any compression problems. These are certainly much better looking than the previous Alpha Blue Archives releases which were tape sourced and much, much softer looking. While this won't win any awards for video quality, all three movies are in much better shape here than they have been on DVD previously. Considering the scarcity of elements for stuff like this, quite frankly it's a minor miracle that it looks as good as it does here.
Audio chores are handled for the three films by way of a trio of Dolby Digital Mono soundtracks. There's nothing fancy about any of these mixes but they get the job done. Expect a bit of hiss, a snap, crackle and pop here and there, and periodic fluctuations in the levels, but none of this is particularly detrimental. Sure, it'd have been nice if more clean up was done on the A/V side of things but there's something to be said for maintaining the sleazy charm of productions like these.
There are no extras on the first disc but the second disc contains a collection of Avon 7 trailers for My Mistress Electra, Kneel Before Me, Dr. Bizarro, Oriental Techniques Of Pain And Pleasure, Wicked Schoolgirls, Bizarre Styles, Tales Of The Bizarre and House Of Sin - fine films, the lot of them. You can watch the trailers individually or through a 'play all' feature. Here's hoping we see film sourced releases for the titles listed there that haven't been released sooner rather than later, because Kneel Before Me is a masterpiece!
Inside the keepcase that holds the two discs is a booklet of liner notes from John Nilsson that provide some welcome historical background on the Avon 7 theater and director Costello's involvement (or more specifically his lack thereof!) with the proprietors of said establishment.
The Final Word:
The Avon films were notorious for a reason, and they're just as twisted and perverse now as they were when they were first made, time has not softened them at all. This isn't smut for all tastes but those with an interest in the classics know that there's some really interesting moviemaking on display in and amidst the various roughie set pieces. After Hour's two disc/three movie set is going to please anyone with an interest in the content and while it would have been nice to get some commentaries or interviews here to provide more context, the plethora of pervy trailers and liner notes are welcome extras. Great stuff, here's hoping we see more releases like this in the future.
I HOPE THAT YOU WILL NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT!
Thank you,
Shaun Costello