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Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: March 28th, 2017.
Director: Victor Milt / Leonard Kirtman (as Jay West )
Cast: Harry Reems, Zebedy Colt, Bobby Astyr, Annie Sprinkle, Maureen Anderson, Vanessa del Rio, Tony Richards, Nancy Dare, Marlene Willoughby
Year: 1975/1976
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The Movie:
A double dose of mystery films, to be enjoyed only by those aged eighteen years and older!
Sherlick Holmes:
This wonky XXX parody follows Sherlick Holmes (Harry Reems) and his trusted partner, Dr. Watson (Zebedy Colt), who when we meet them are having at it with the maid. From there, we learn that Holmes has developed a time travel machine device that he intends to use to help solve various mysteries.
Soon enough, our two master detectives have inadvertently arrived in the Manhattan of the mid-seventies. It doesn't take long before they start to enjoy all that vintage New York has to offer, starting with the services of some lovely ladies of the evening. This winds up landing them on the wrong side of a dangerous pimp (Bobby Astyr), eventually resulting in what is basically a chase through the city, with an interesting pit stop made in a bedroom where a buxom young woman (Annie Sprinkle) lies handcuffed and blindfolded in bed, awaiting her lover. Of course, Sherlick and Watson can't help but pay attention to the pretty young thing - oh, and that maid from the opening scene plays a part in this too - but will they ever make it back to their proper time?
Clearly shot on location in New York without permits, a lot of enjoyment can be had by watching the expressions on the faces of people sort of standing around while Reems, Colt and Astyr, often tricked out in completely ridiculous outfits, chase each other around town or ramble off completely absurd lines of dialogue. Reems and Colt both demonstrate solid comedic timing here, able to remain in character and crack wise all while being serviced below the belt by the various female denizens of the picture. Astyr is also pretty funny here, having no trouble whatsoever going as over the top as the movie needs him to go.
As to the picture's carnal content, the highlight by a wide margin is the scene with Annie Sprinkle. Not only does she look great here but she delivers in terms of heat and intensity, clearly having a good time taking on the film's two heroes. The rest of the couplings are a bit more pedestrian and more often than not, the bumping and grinding is played for laughs - which is fine, because the comedy actually works quite well here thanks to the efforts of the cast and the film's rather zany pace and tone.
Reunion:
This second film begins with a quiet, dramatic scene where a group of six friends is invited to take a scenic boat ride out of New York to spend a weekend at an island home. Along the way, old flames ignite once more, resulting in some reasonably steamy boat sex (between Tony Richards and Bree Anthony)!
Once our crew (which includes Vanessa Del Rio, the aforementioned Ms. Anthony, Nancy Dare and Marlene Willoughby and Taylor Young) arrive, however, they soon learn that their mysterious and heretofore unnamed host is actually Arthur Sassy (Alan Marlow), someone that the group used to pick on during their younger days. Not so surprisingly, now that things have changed, this poor bugger has decided to use his fortune to exact a bizarre plan of sexy revenge! How does he do this? With some help from a strange music box that somehow has the ability to hypnotize people. Once he gets them under his control, he's able to use and abuse them as he sees fit.
Borrowing pretty heavily from 10 Little Indians, this movie has pretty decent production values and it moves at a good pace. There are some plot holes to be sure (why is the maid a man in drag?) and there's an element of predictability to some of it based on the derivative nature of the revenge based plot, but the story here is good enough to hold our attention. Lighting and camerawork is above average for mid-level seventies smut and the soundtrack is generally always appropriate, accentuating the story and the sex rather well.
Performances are never truly great but with the exception of the perpetually one-note Taylor Young, they are always at least competent. Vanessa Del Rio and Alan Marlow both stand out here, handling the dramatic side of the picture well enough and with Ms. Rio really catching fire during her sex scenes.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Both movies are presented anamorphic widescreen in standard definition transfer taken from new 2k scans of “35mm vault elements.†Each film, framed at 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen, looks pretty good even if there is some very minor print damage here and there. The opening few minutes of Reunion are a bit worse for wear but the feature cleans up a fair bit once we get past that stretch. Good colors, good depth and texture, strong black levels - these look really good and show about as much detail as you could realistically hope for in standard definition.
Both films get the English language Dolby Digital Mono treatment. Clarity isn't great, particularly on Reunion where the dialogue is a bit muffled, but it'll do. Some minor background hiss is also noticeable. Sherlick Holmes does sound better but it too is less than perfect.
Static menus and chapter selection are provided for each film, but there are no extra features included on this release.
The Final Word:
Vinegar Syndrome's DVD Peekaram double feature release of Sherlick Holmes and Reunion isn't the most essential entry in the line but it is worth checking out for the sheer absurdity of the first feature, wherein Reems and Colt really do deliver some amazing performances.
