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Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: January 13th, 2015.
Director: Carlos Tobalina
Cast: Jamie Gillis, Serena, John Holmes, Mai Lin, Tawny Pearl
Year: 1981
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The Movie:
Vinegar Syndrome continues to release the films of the late Carlos Tobalina. That trend continues with this latest double feature release, once again under their Peekarama double feature line of DVDs, which offers up two films made by 'Troy Benny' in 1981.
Sexual Heights:
The first feature takes place at a pretty swinging bachelor pad of sorts where a quarter of divorced guys all bunk. What divorced guys? Why Ron (Jamie Gillis), Art (Michael Morrison), Jim (Jesse Adams) and Joe (Herschel Savage), of course. They seem to spend an inordinate amount of time hanging out and watching porno together and it is on one such occasion as this that Joe spots Laurie (Tawny Pearl) in one of the evening's featured films. Why does this matter? Because she was once a babysitter in his employ, that is until her flirtations were made flesh and he boned her, that act of infidelity being the main reason he's no longer married.
Still stinging from the divorce, bitter Ron decides he should give Laurie a bit of payback and so he and his pals come up with a scheme to get her good. One quick phone call later and she's come over to watch the young child (a doll) of mom (Jim decked out as a woman) and dad (Art). They even get a limo for the occasion, driven by Ron who is the puppet-master here, and hire a maid (Joe, also in drag) to keep an eye on things. What's the motive here? They lace her drinks with dope (acquired from John Holmes naturally - he actually opens the movie with a scene where he schlups Kitty Shayne and then later gives it to Mai Lin!) and fire up the VCR to only play smut, then watch her through a two-way mirror and take turns with her once she's all stoned and horny. So horny is she, in fact, that she calls a few friends over to join in on the festivities. Soon enough Pat (Lysa Thatcher), Amy (Holly McCall) and her younger sister Lolita (Lolita Grant - dressed to look young but obvioulsy not) are all on hand to do dirty deeds with the dudes... once they get their lesbian orgy out of the way. But what if Laurie figures out who is really behind all of this and why…?
Silly and smutty Sexual Heights is amusing enough if far from politically correct in both story and execution (but who watches vintage porn for political correctness anyway?). The movie definitely plays fast and loose with the whole notion of consent, throwing it aside in favor of playing to fantasies of 'older' men having their way with 'younger women' whether they like it or not, but the whole thing is done with such a dopey tone that it's hard to get too worked up over it all. In typical Tobalina fashion, there doesn't seem to have been a whole lot of thought put into the storyline, these guys are just out for a bit of payback and some cheap thrills and that's all there is to it, there's no depth to the immorality here to really get into. Things just sort of happen and that's that.
As far as the performances go, Gillis, Savage, Morrison and Adams are amusing enough as the four guys behind all of this. Each one gets a decent amount of screen time and handles both the carnality and the comedy well enough. Look for some familiar faces in the videos that are shown on the TV - Serena and a few other familiar faces show up in them. Tawny Pearl is top billed as far as the ladies go, and rightly so - she's a kick to watch.
Undulations:
Up next, the story of a cable TV show called Undulations hosted by Mai Lin (playing… Mai Lin) and Georgia Drugg (Suzanne French). We tune in just in time for a very special episode in which the ladies interview John Holmes and Jamie Gillis with some help and insight from Maggie Miller (Kitty Shayne), who just so happens to be the president of The International Male Watchers Society!
As the interview plays out, we're treated to various scenes of carnal couplings - Gillis gets it on with Serena and Jennifer Duran, our hostess Georgia celebrates gay pride by going down on Brooke West only for Gillis to get in on the action a bit later. Billy Dee shows up to get it on with Aunt Peg, John Holmes gives everyone some cocaine and then slips it to host Georgia and before it's all over Gillis plays around with Kitty Shayne and hostess Mai Lin.
There's not much of a storyline here making you wonder if Tobalina assembled this from bits and pieces shot for other projects and linked them with the TV shot setting to create something semi-coherent. The sex scenes are decent enough, anytime you get the chance to see Mai Lin in action you should do so, and the comedic bits are strange enough that, if they don't necessarily work in the traditional sense, they stand out as completely bizarre. It's a little weird to see Holmes doing coke towards the end of the movie given his personal life and the problems with addiction that he had, but there it is for all to enjoy complete with Holmes on camera moralizing about it and talking about its effects on women he has known (in the Biblical sense, of course).
Video/Audio/Extras:
Both features look great in 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen transferred in 2k from their respective 35mm negatives. The elements used were in excellent condition and while there is a scratch or two here and there, for the most part the transfers are as clean and as colorful as you could hope for. Expect some grain, but you'd be silly not to and it's never particularly distracting. These are solid transfers through and through, no serious print damage to complain about, sharp detail, very film like but still crisp and clean. Expect some grain, but you'd be silly not to. At this point in time anyone who has been following these releases knows to expect excellent quality - this release continues that trend.
Both movies get the Dolby Digital Mono treatment, in English with no alternate language options or subtitles provided. Both films sound fine. Dialogue remains clear and crisp and the scores sound good. Levels are properly balanced for both features though some might note some minor hiss in a few spots.
The only extras on the disc are static menus, chapter selection and trailers for each feature.
The Final Word:
Vinegar Syndrome's DVD release of Peekarama: Sexual Heights/Undulations is a good one, offering more Tobalina than most sane folks will want in sparkly fresh condition! These might not be instant classics, but they're fun little smut flicks that fans of vintage adult movies should get a kick out of.
