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Released by: Alpha Blue Archives
Released on: December, 2015.
Director: Joel Scott/Jack Williams/Richard Mailer
Cast: Annette Haven, Leslie Bovee, Abigail Clayton, Jamie Gillis, Eric Edwards, John Leslie, Amber Hunt, Ginger Lynn, Kelly Nichols, Colleen Brennan, Sheena Horne, Shanna McCullough, Gail Force, Mike Horner, Joey Silvera
Year: 1977/1985/1987
A Coming Of Angels Triple Feature - Movie Reviews:
1977's classic A Coming Of Angels is presented on DVD by Alpha Blue Archives with its sequel, appropriately titled A Coming Of Angels: 'The Sequel' and another Annette Haven vehicle, 1987's The Huntress. Here's how it all plays out…
A Coming Of Angels:
Annette Haven, Leslie Bovee and Abigail Clayton are Carrie, Robin and Jennifer - three 'angels' who have to go into action when their partner, Sherry (Amber Hunt), is kidnapped by a white slave trader named Mark (played by the filthiest man in fuck films, Jamie Gillis). As you might expect from Gillis, he's keeping Sherry in his underground dungeon out in the woods surrounded by nothing but snow and trees. The girls show up and soon they're using every dirty trick in the book to spring their playmate and save the day.
What does that involve? Well, the first sex scene in the film involves Robin taking good care of a guy named Andy (Eric Edwards) in a room full of exotic plants! Robin isn't quite done, however, as she's in the next sex scene too where she has to screw this guy named Robert (John Leslie) while sinister Mark watches, encouraging abuse before joining in on the fun. From there, Robert winds up spending some quality time with Sherry herself right there in the kitchen only to get interrupted by, you guessed it, Mark! And he's none too happy about this. Thankfully, Robin shows up and manages to persuade Mark into going off with her - but it seems like everyone is fucking everyone else while this is going on! Before the movie comes to a finish, the three angels themselves all decide to have a little girl on girl on girl time in the bedroom. That's not all though - Robin decides to get a piece of Robert for herself, which leads to a pretty solid scene with Haven and Leslie in a fancy bedroom complete with a little strip tease from Haven, before Robin decides to give Mark a taste of his own medicine by… having rad sex with him.
Directed with a modicum of style by Joel Scott (who is also credited as the producer of Sometimes Sweet Susan), this 1977 production mixes a nice amount of humor in with some surprisingly tender sex scenes. A bit of kink comes from the dungeon set pieces and from Gillis' dominant presence but it's all in good fun and no one gets hurt, making this a good couples film for those who are okay with way porn was made decades ago and who don't expect full on gonzo all the time.
While those who require copious money shots in their smut might be disappointed in this one, those who appreciate the classic beauty of the three female leads ought to really enjoy this film as it's well-shot, well-paced, funny, and very sexy. Annette Haven, stunning woman that she is, looks as good here as she has in many of her other movies and the fact that she looks like she's really enjoying herself on screen adds a whole lot of heat to the movie whenever she appears on screen. Bill Margold called her the first true beauty of the porno industry, and who am I to argue? She's a stunner and she could act too. In fact, pretty much everyone in the cast can act, which makes this one plenty fun to watch. Seventy-two-minutes well spent! As to the sequel, made by a different director and shot on video almost a decade later? Funny you should ask…
A Coming Of Angels: 'The Sequel':
Eight years after the first film was made, someone named Jack Williams, who doesn't appear to have any other credits to his name, decided, with the backing of the Gemini Films Production Corp., that it would be a good idea to once again pay a visit to the Angels Detective Agency. This one gets right to the chase - a lucky guy named Charlie (played by Paul Thomas) is having a three-way with two hot babes, Allison 'Al' McMurphy (Ginger Lynn) and Michelle (Kelly Nichols) while some seriously dated (but rad) eighties synth music provides the pulsing soundtrack for their bumping and grinding. The alarm goes off and he kicks them out - it's time for work!
Cut to the Angels' office where Carrie Small (Annette Haven) is chewing someone out over the phone while a guy we later learn is named Clark does sit-ups in the corner. A guy walks in, Senator Ken Campbell (Jamie Gillis), and he's got a problem: his daughter (Jill Ferari) was kidnapped five days ago. We know, while the Senator doesn't, that his daughter is actually enjoyably fucking her kidnapper (Herschel Savage). Either way, Carrie takes the job and agrees to find out what happened to the Senator's daughter. This leads to the two of them going at it in her office, of course. Carrie sends one of her agents, Michelle (Kelly Nichols), to talk to the Senator's wife, Daria (Colleen Brennan), to see if she's got any info but the wife is seriously wasted and not of much use. Elsewhere, Angels' agent Allison argues to the Senator's assistant, Don (Eric Edwards), which leads to… sex! Right there in the campaign office! After that, she gets the answer to some questions from Edwards who stands in front of a framed picture of Gillis without cracking up.
The Angels get together at the office to review what they've learned, but it isn't much. Carrie splits, she hasn't eaten all day we hear, and agents Alison and Michelle have rad lesbian sex on the couch and use the heel of a show as a sex toy. Meanwhile, Don and the Senator's wife make out in front of a fireplace! Carrie learns some details about the case and tells the Senator what's going on - they're going to take care of it and get his daughter out without causing a media frenzy. As the movie draws to a close, we learn who was really behind the kidnapping… and we get to see Annette Haven bone down with Paul Thomas!
This eighty-seven-minute picture is just as goofy as the original film. Bovee and Clayton are nowhere to be seen but Lynn and Nichols are very suitable replacements. Ginger is really good here, her acting is, well… it's Ginger Lynn so her acting is… Ginger Lynn but she's on fire in the sex scenes. Continuity was clearly not an issue here as Gillis returns as a completely different character. Either way, the movie is pretty amusing and well-paced enough to hold our attention even when no one is having sex. The story isn't deep but it is sufficient and the production values are adequate. The film also benefits from a pretty keen eighties synth score - always a plus. The fact that it looks to have been shot on film is a plus as well.
The Huntress:
The third and final film on the disc is 1987's The Huntress, directed by Richard Mailer (who got his start in the business in the early seventies and continued to work in the adult industry into the early 2000's, passing away in 2008). Presented by Intropies Video, this one was shot on tape. Here, over the span of seventy-three-minutes, we meet Jennifer Thompson (Sheena Horne), better known as The Huntress, the personal secretary for Pamela Powers, better known as The Huntress - a woman who has 'dedicated herself and her sizable fortune' to bringing two people together.
The Huntress' latest gig brings her to Tokyo. But before we get to that, we see Billy Dee get down with Nikki Knight after wooing her with stories about the children that he sponsors. She tells him he's a man with a lot of love to offer, and he agrees. The restaurant closes and they read her fortune, because Japanese restaurants always have fortune cookies, right? Anyway, with no one around they decide to have sex in the restaurant. It turns out that The Huntress was responsible for making this happen! Jennifer and Pamela talk about Jennifer's spinster status on the flight back to the good old U.S. of A., and Jennifer borrows a magazine from a fellow passenger (Mike Horner), who is more interested in Pamela than in Jennifer. SAD FACE! Jennifer gets upset and goes to the bathroom to cry. The pilot (Shanna McCullough) decides, hey, I can just set the plane on autopilot and go down on this chick if I want, and that's exactly what she does - cue the lesbian sex scene where the ladies join The Mile High Club!
Back in California, The Huntress has a new case, which involves setting up two people (Joey Silvera and Gail Force) who are applying for a job at a law firm. Her plan works - the two meet at the bar where they are taken to meet 'Mr. Hunter' by a driver who leaves them alone in the car to go get a smoke. This, of course, gives them time to fuck, which they do. Her next mission is to pose as Doctor Hunt and get Jeff Wagner (Richard Pacheco) and Ellen Parker (Annette Haven) to hook up. She's brought them in to talk about job related stress at the insistence of their employers, but neither subject is familiar with this program. Anyway, these gullible goofballs figure, hey, it's a big company, we maybe just didn't hear of it, and so they go along. After a bit of chit chat and questioning on the part of the doctor, these two are left alone where they have sex on the crappy carpeted floor.
In the final scene, Jennifer is alone in the office when the 'foolish man from the airplane' (Horner) comes up to her hoping for a second chance. It turns out that he loves her and he will never forgive himself if he lets her get away! He offers to 'make love to you like no other man has made love to you before' and she tells him to prove it. He drops his pants and does just that. Could this have been the work of The Huntress all along?
This movie is fucking stupid. The sex is decent and the cast all handle the material well enough (that said, the material is bad) but it is based on a really, really goofy concept. The film's original score, a synth-heavy selection of music credited to Ear-Otica, is goofy and uninspired, not all that interesting or original. The cast is good enough - the scene with McCullough and Horne is really well done even if there's no way in Hell they'd be able to do what they do in an airplane bathroom in the real world. Production values aren't that exciting, the office in the penultimate scene looks like it was lifted from a high school play, but the picture is paced well enough and at seventy-three-minutes doesn't overstay its welcome. The scene with Haven and Pacheco is a winner.
A Coming Of Angels Triple Feature - DVD Review:
The first film was taken from a roughed up print and it shows plenty of damage and color fading. Still, the transfer is watchable enough. The second feature may have been shot on film but it was definitely transferred from a tape, it's quite soft and lacking in detail. The third feature was shot on video and it shows, there are a few tape rolls in the first few minutes but after that the presentation is stable enough. All three films are offered up in 1.33.1 fullframe which would appear to be the proper aspect ratio for each and every one of these films.
The only audio option for the three feature attractions are English language Dolby Digital Mono tracks. There's hiss here and there and some jumps and spikes in the balance of the levels but for the most part the dialogue comes through okay. No subtitles or anything, these are very much 'no frills' audio tracks but if you can get past the hiss they're sufficient. Not great, but sufficient.
Aside from static menus offering feature selection, there are no extra features whatsoever on the disc outside of a Retro Starlets trailer that's just a promo for a few other Alpha Blue Archives DVD releases.
A Coming Of Angels Triple Feature - The Final Word:
Alpha Blue Archive's DVD release of A Coming Of Angels Triple Feature offers up three vehicles for the lovely and talented Annette Haven that should please her fan base. The first movie is a bit of a classic, the second a worthy follow up and the third an entertaining enough time waster. The presentations are nothing to write home about but the movies are fun.
