Hot Dreams

Released by: Pink Flamingo Entertainment
Released on: June 1, 2010.D
Director: Shaun Costello
Cast: Jamie Gillis, Sharon Mitchell, Michael Bruce, Marlene Willoughby, Alan Adrian, Tiffany Clark
Year: 1983

The Movie:

Another feature directed by Sean Costello in 1983 (and his penultimate feature all together), Hot Dreams follows the sexual exploits of a woman named Lisa Curtis (Sharon Mitchell), a sexy photographer who is coming to terms with the fact that the spark has gone out of her marriage to her husband (Michael Bruce). At the same time, while life in the bedroom may not be all that she'd hoped it would be when she said 'I do,' her lusts have not subsided at the same rate of decline. As such, Lisa is one of those horny, unsatisfied married women we always seem to see in the movies. Knowing this, it's not surprising to learn, through various vignettes, that she has a very active sexual imagination and that her fantasies tend to be on the slightly kinky side.

Once we know enough about Lisa for the movie to move, we see her in bed with Michael in bed. This segues into a series of fantasy scenes where we see her hook up with Jamie Gillis, Marlene Willoughby, and Alan Adrian for a group scene that takes place around the dinner table. After that we watch her at work at a photo shoot with a trio of male models. Here she winds up taking on David Ruby, George Payne, and Joe Santini at the same time. She gets pretty into this scene, devouring them with a fairly voracious sexual appetite. While this is going on, her husband is getting some on the side courtesy of a tryst with Tiffany Clark.

From there, we see her enjoying some time at the spa with girlfriends Anna Ventura and Joanna Storm - of course, this quickly turns into a lesbian three way, and we wouldn't want it any other way, but Kenny Dee, Ginger Jaye and Robin Sane also pop up here to make it a case of 'the more the merrier.'

More impressive is a scene towards the end of the film that Costello shoots on a boat off the coast of lower Manhattan. Here we watch Mitchell get involved with Sharon Kane, Bruce Michael and Ashley Moore right up on the deck with the World Trade Center towers and the skyline of Wall Street quite visible in the background.

Compared to some of Costello's other films, there isn't really very much of a story here and instead the emphasis is placed almost solely on the sexual activity itself. This is porn, after all, so it's obviously forgivable and entirely understandable, but those accustomed to his more narrative films might not get as much out of this. That said, the sex in this film is steamy to the point where you probably won't care. Mitchell is excellent in the lead, performing with more intensity and raw passion here than in many of her other pictures (let's be honest, it's obvious in some of her films that she was stoned out of her mind and possibly on another planet)

Costello's tendency to 'borrow' ideas from mainstream films is evident here right from the opening sequence, a XXX rated nod to DePalma's Dressed To Kill, and some of the musical cues used in the film might sound familiar as well. The cinematography is head and shoulders above the average adult feature of the era in which it was made (or any era, really) and the picture is beautifully shot by 'Art Ben.' Again, those interested in storytelling probably won't get as much out of this as they might like, but as far as artfully composed and highly charged sexualized set pieces go, Hot Dreams is pretty hard to beat.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Hot Dreams has been transferred from the best available elements, but those elements consist of a tape source. Thankfully it's a decent tape source, though there is a tracking line near the bottom of the screen (the overscan on some sets might hide this). The film was released domestically by Cabellero and that disc isn't readily available to compare, but it's hard to imagine, given Cabellero's track record, that it looks any better than this disc - in fact, it's probably a safe assumption (though let's stress that it is an assumption) that it looks worse. Generally, this disc from Pink Flamingo, which presents the picture in its original 1.33.1 fullframe aspect ratio, is quite good when you consider the source. Some of the darker scenes get a bit murky and of course the detail and clarity levels are below what a good film sourced transfer could offer, but the image is, if nothing else, consistently watchable.

The English language mono soundtrack does have some hiss and background noise present in a few spots (and for whatever reason a character's last name is bleeped out with a car horn sound effect) but these problems are minor and you won't have any problem understanding the dialogue. Levels are fairly well balanced and if there's a bit of distortion present in the high end, it's easy enough to look past it. Optional subtitles are provided in Danish, Norwegian, German, French, Dutch and Swedish.

The best extras, almost all of which are text based, are the interviews, the first of which is with Costello himself and covers most of his career. Conducted by Nicolas Rioult, it's a pretty solid read, as is the second interview with Maryse Alberti, who worked as a still photographer on many porno movies shot in New York City during the seventies including a few of those made by Costello. Costello contributes an essay entitled Hooked On Sleaze which describes in lurid and extremely readable detail how he got into the business before sharing some stories from his time in the trenches. Rounding out the extras on the disc is a slideshow of pictures of Costello from his porn directing days (0:30), a slideshow of stills and posters showcasing different Costello films (0:50), a recipe for a Forced Entry cocktail (!), animated menus and chapter stops.

Inside the keepcase is a full color booklet of liner notes from Nicolas Rioult that give a solid overview of Costello's career from the early days up to the present day and which discuss the impact his films had and some of the performers he was known to work with.

The Final Word:

Well made, well acted, and sexy even by the over inflated standards of today's adult filmmaking, Costello's Hot Dreams is truly deserving of its 'classic' status and will make a welcome addition to any vintage porno fans DVD library.