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Released by: One 7 Movies
Released on: August 2, 2011.
Director: Joe D'Amato
Cast: Mark Shannon, George Eastman, Annj Goren, Fernando Arcangeli, Lucia Ramirez
Year: 1980
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The Movie:
An odd retitling of D'Amato's Sesso Nero (and featuring cover art that looks like it belongs to his Papaya: Love Goddess Of The Cannibals?), the film begins when a guy named Mark (played by Mark Shannon) learns from his doctor that he has 'prostate hypotrophy' and that in fifteen days he'll need to have an operation that will basically remove his man bits for good. With no time to spare, Mark leaves New York for a tropical island he used to frequent ten years ago. Why? So his friend can put him up at the Sheraton where he'll drink J&B and wake up to the maid masturbating while watching him sleep, that's why. After he wakes up and gets a hummer from her, he goes out to visit his old pal (George Eastman) who runs a night club where a skinny guy in gold boots gets naked on the dance floor with a frizzy haired lady to a tune called Sexy Nights. Mark is told he'll have to attend the show later, but that never happens and Eastman's character more or less disappears.
At any rate, the real reason Mark has come to this island isn't to get head from the maid or dance at Eastman's disco, it's so that he can find closure in regards to the death of a woman named Majra who he loved a decade ago. This isn't really something that his current wife is too keen on, but she can't really stop him even if she does show up randomly and tell him not to worry too much about losing his balls, after all she's sterile and she owns him. Okay. So yeah, Mark is wandering around the island and seemingly completely by chance comes across a woman who looks just like Majra (Annj Goren). He approaches her, she says she is Majra, and he starts to go a little nutty. At first he wants to make love to her but she gives him a 'Mexican Mushroom' which causes him to lose the use of his limbs. At this point, she brings out a black dude and gives him head while all Mark can do is watch. If that weren't bad enough, after that she has an orgy with a bunch of black dudes and another black chick - if you were curious as to why D'Amato called this one Sesso Nero, well, translate that into English and you'll figure it out pretty easily. So is Mark losing it or is this really Majra? If so, how did she come back from the dead? Why is Mark banging his best friend's wife? Is J&B the only drink you can get on this island? Why do the maids at the Sheraton masturbate while watching the guests sleep? Do we really have to see Mark Shannon's warty balls in close up? Yuck.
As bizarre as all of this is, at the heart of this movie is a simple tale about a man who wants to reconcile himself with past mistakes and who dearly loves his balls and is wanting to make the most of them before he loses them for good. Chock full of gratuitous hardcore sex, mostly oral but there's some full on penetration during the big finale and then there's the orgy too, Exotic Malice moves at a fairly good pace and features enough headscratchingly bizarre moments to keep most cult fans interested. Highlighted by a score from regular D'Amato composer Nico Fidenco, he of Black Emmanuelle fame, it isn't always logical but at least it is, like so many of the director's other movies, nicely shot. The cast of familiar faces, many of whom would act for the director before and after this film was made, are fine in their various roles and the whole things builds to a satisfactorily shocking finish.
While it's not always as sexy as it wants to be and it rarely makes a whole lot of sense, the movie does offer up enough sleazy charm and a sufficiently weird enough atmosphere that, coupled with the nice photography of exotic locales, makes for a pretty rad time at the movies.
Video/Audio/Extras:
One 7 Movies offers up Exotic Malice in 1.66.1 anamorphic widescreen in a transfer that looks decent enough considering the movie's modest budget and 16mm origins. There's the expected amount of film grain on display but print damage, though frequent, is generally minor. Colors are a little bit on the flat side but not to the point where it is really much of a bother. There are a few minor compression artifacts here and there but overall while this won't win any awards for video quality, it's perfectly watchable.
The only audio option on this disc is an Italian language Dolby Digital Mono track that does include optional subtitles albeit in English only. There are a few typos in the subs here and there and a tendency to omit spaces between words for some reason but you won't have any trouble following along with what's being said. Some minor hiss pops into the mix here and there, as well as a couple of very noticeable audio drop outs, but hey, at least the 'Sexy Night' song that plays in Eastman's discotheque sounds good!
Extras are slim but aside from a static menu and chapter selection there are some deleted clips included here. Taken from a worn out and fuzzy looking tape source, this is just four minutes or so worth of footage of one of the ladies from the movie involved in some solo action on a bed. It doesn't amount to much but it's here for those who want it and better to have it included than not - but it doesn't actually appear to be from this movie, though no information is given as to where it came from.
The Final Word:
As oddly compelling as it is horrible and ridiculous, Exotic Malice doesn't quite get the special edition that some D'Amato fans may have hoped for but it is at least now available uncut and with English subtitles in its original aspect ratio. That counts for something, right?
