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Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: June, 2017.
Director: Duck Dumont
Cast: Tracey Adams, Nina Hartley, Amber Lynn, Joanna Storm, John Leslie, Jerry Butler, Joey Silvera, Barbara Dare
Year: 1986/1986
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The Movies:
A double dose of dirty ditties from Duck Dumont, courtesy of Vinegar Syndrome's Peekarama line of finely curated vintage adult films.
Pleasure Maze:
The first film is fairly plotless, but it is set in the future where prostitutes have been replaced with androids dubbed Nightdroids. The premise is that they're basically impossible to tell apart from the real thing. Anytime a new Nightdroid is created, however, it has to go through the 'Pleasure Maze' to make sure it's good enough to unleash into the wild. At the beginning of the movie, there's never been a Nightdroid good enough to make it all the way through the maze, which makes you wonder if any of these Nightdroids have made it out to market or not, but it doesn't matter.
When it starts off, a lucky guy named Parker (Joey Silvera) is testing things out with a lovely lady (Tracey Adams) in a futuristic looking room that's basically just got drapes hanging down the walls and a bed in the middle of the room. This is a set that's used a LOT in this movie, though sometimes the colors of the sheets change from white to blue. At any rate, they screw and everyone has a good time. From there, a bunch of other people screw - Nina Hartley takes on Don Fernando and Jason Jules, Billy Dee takes on Alexis Greco and Lili Marlene, and Stacey Donovan goes to town on Jerry Butler. Elsewhere, scientist types press buttons on a console of some sort, presumably to keep tabs on how the Nightdroids are doing throughout all of this. Before it's all over Nina Hartley gets into some girl on girl action with Joanna Storm, a girl named Delta (Amber Lynn) flies solo, Ms. Storm and Hartley go at it with Jon Martin and, last but not least, Parker gets a shot with ultra-fox Delta.
This one toys ever so slightly with some Blade Runner-esque themes of human life vs. android life and artificial intelligence getting so close to human that you can't tell the difference, but it never goes anywhere close to that film's amount of depth. Really, the story here is threadbare, existing solely to string together the sex scenes. Granted, that's the point of all of this - the sex scenes - but a bit more connective tissue definitely would have resulted in a more interesting film.
Having said that, despite the fact that all of the bumping and grinding basically takes place in the aforementioned sheeted rooms and is therefore not filmed in the most exciting of locations, the cast does emit a decent amount of heat. Nina Hartley is her typically enthusiastic self here and Tracey Adams gives as good as she gets and looks great doing it. Amber Lynn is in very fine form, if slightly underused and there's nothing wrong with Joanna Storm or Stacy Donovan's work here either.
Lover's Lane:
The second film has only slightly more story to it, but it at least has more interesting sets. As to the cast? Lots of carryover from the first feature, but most won't mind. The premise here is that a group of women get together and start swapping stories about their younger days, back when they used to head out to lover's lane to get down and dirty with the local guys (and occasionally each a lady or two as well).
First up we see Susan (Tracey Adams) have passionate but fairly pedestrian sex with Martin (Joey Silvera) before then seeing what went down when Ronda (Barbara Dare) went to Lover's Lane for a picnic only to be set upon by two horny bikers. After that, Lulu (Stacey Donovan) gets it on with a guy named Jack (Jonathan Lee), Sally (Alexis Greco) screws Dave (Billy Dee) and then we witness the requisite (but nicely done) girl on girl scene with Tina (Melissa Melendez) and Betty (Karen Chandler) going to town in the way that girls tend to do in porno movies. Before it's all over Ronda and Susan get caught by a nosey cop (Buddy Love) who is then brought in for some three-way action of his own.
Again, the plot here is thin, but it strings the sex scenes together well enough. There's a bit more variety in terms of the scenery that we get here as well, with sex in various rooms, the lesbian scene happening in the back of a vintage car and some 'outdoor' stuff (clearly shot on a soundstage) for Ronda's biker three-way. This makes the movie a bit more interesting from a visual stand point. Again, the performers all do fine work and fuck for the camera with some noteworthy enthusiasm.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Both movies are presented anamorphic widescreen in standard definition transfer taken from new 2k scans of the original 35mm negatives. Each film on the disc looks great, offering strong detail and clarity throughout. Additionally, both films are pretty clean and show little in the way of print damage. Great colors, good depth and texture, strong black levels - these look really nice.
Both films get the English language Dolby Digital Mono treatment. Clarity is just fine in each film with the music used in each feature sounding nice and clear. Balance is fine in each picture. There's a bit of hiss in Ladies Night but it's nothing too distracting. Otherwise, dialogue is clean, crisp and clear. There are no alternate language options or subtitles provided.
Aside from a trailers for each feature, there are no extras on the disc, just a static menu offering feature and reel selection.
The Final Word:
Vinegar Syndrome's DVD double feature release of Peekarama: Pleasure Maze/Lover's Lane presents two mid-eighties features in nice shape. Neither of these is really an essential classic, but they're both nicely shot and feature good casts doing fine work.
