More reviews - Black Box Laure
Current mood: chipper
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

First, a so-so review of Black Emmanuelle's Box from Pop Syndicate. Basically, "you'll like it if you like this kinda stuff." But we like seeing our names in print, so it's offered here for your perusal.

Better, here's one from Andre Salas, at Filmmaker Magazine, who gives us this Laure review:

"LAURE 

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New reviews for Laure, Mansion
Current mood: bemused
Category: bemused Movies, TV, Celebrities

Movieline Online sent along this review for Laure. Say they: "The sex scenes rarely move beyond unclothed heavy petting, paced with a deliberate feminine sense of eroticism that really works.  Laure is soft-sell soft-core, unlike the ugly hurriedness of D'Amato or the clumsy fumblings of Franco.  And it's all the better for it."

And here's a review from Ed Demko over at Bloodtype for Mansion of the Living Dead that's just darned entertaining. Franco fans can be so apologetic for their love of the man. Or maybe "defensive" is the word. Did he like Mansion? He says he did. Judge for yourself.

Here's another one from Jay Reel with our friends from Deadpit. A review of The Sexual Story of O. He kinda dug it. He recommends it for "Franco completists only" however. He does say this: "One thing I'll say about the movie (originally released in 1984), and that it's pretty to look at. I'm not just talking about the female nudity, and there's plenty of that, but there's a lush style to the whole movie that's impressive considering the films budget ("Two cents" according to director Jess Franco in the interview included on the DVD)."

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New reviews of past releases
Current mood: giddy
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Today in the ol' inbox, we discovered new reviews for two of our older releases. That's the fun of the internet - you never know what you're going to get: ad for a penis enlarger? An offer from a deposed Nigerian diplomat to share a large war-profit fortune? A favorable review of Mansion of the Living Dead?

Well, in the last case, yes. (Actually, in all cases, yes, but I'm only posting the latter - the other two I'm keeping for myself. Do you know how many penis enlargers you can buy with a Nigerian war-profit fortune?)

So, for your reading pleasure, here's the Bloodtype Online's review of Mansion of the Living Dead.

To round out this blog, here's B-Scared's review of Gwendoline. As to be expected, he loved it. But, seriously, who doesn't? Terrorists, that's who! (Another email confirmed that anything not loved by a single American equals terrorism, so love truly is the answer!) Read the Gwendoline review. It's lovely.

Currently watching : Laure Release date: 12 June, 2007

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LAURE reviews and more!
Category: Life

Laure has been chosen as one of iF Magazine's top picks for June 12 (an honor in any month!). Read about our standing with other notable titles HERE.

"Uncle Scoopy" (aka "Johnny Web", which I also suspect is a pseudonym), reveals the true secrets behind Laure (as we revealed on the disk's special features). Read all about it in his insightful article.

Another fine review turned in by our good friend Michael Den Boer at 10K Bullets - this time for... wait for it... Laure. Read it here.

Meanwhile, over at Film Fanaddict, we reviewer Martin Boucher admits to popping his Franco Erotica cherry with The Sexual Story of O.

More coming soon!

Currently watching : The Sexual Story of O Release date: 08 May, 2007

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News and reviews: LAURE from "the real Emmanuelle"!
Category: Life

Some recently-released news about our new release, Laure, as well as upcoming release, Vanessa:

'LAURE' STARRING ANNIE BELLE AND EMMANUELLE ARSAN RELEASE ON JUNE 12th

Her tantalizing memoir shocked the world. Its infamous film adaptation
changed X-rated cinema forever. Now for the first time, Emmanuelle Arsan -
the real EMMANUELLE - brings her own lush vision of total sexual abandon to
the screen as writer, director and co-star of this rarely seen erotic
classic. The succulent Annie Belle (of HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK and BLACK EMMANUELLE, WHITE EMMANUELLE fame) stars as Laure, a free-spirited young woman whose bold philosophy of pleasure enflames the passions of every man and woman she encounters in the steamy city of Manila. But when she's invited to join a deep jungle expedition with a hunky filmmaker (Al Cliver of ZOMBIE and THE BEYOND) and a beautiful anthropologist (Arsan), Laura discovers that no sexual hunger can ever be truly forbidden. Can one woman's insatiable lust create a new dimension of love, or will her complete carnal surrender to a strange native tribe lead to the most shocking act of all?

Extras: never before released interviews with stars Annie Belle and Al Cliver and Producer Ovidio Assonitis.

OTHER NEWS:

Severin Films recently acquired Hubert Frank's outstandingly unchaste
VANESSA which will hit the shelves this August. VANESSA is our most
requested title for future release so we are proud to present the global
premier of the Olivia (BLOODY MOON) Pascal starrer in its correct aspect
ratio with a new transfer from the original negative. New interviews with
Director Hubert Frank and DP Franz Lederle have been shot in Germany and
Lederle has supplied us with his revealing Super 8 home movies from the set
of the film.

In addition legendary Italian smut master Mario Bianchi sat down for his
first video interview for a DVD exposing all the juice about the making of
his sexy satanic sleaze-fest SATAN'S BABY DOLL (due out this fall).

As for MALABIMBA - THE MALICIOUS WHORE (also this fall), the hands down most shameful, morally wrong Severin offering yet, we have an on-camera
confessional with sinful Sister Sofia herself, Mariangela Giordano.

We're also diligently working on the second volume of Black Emanuelle's Box
which will feature D'Amato's rarest entry EMANUELLE & THE WHITE SLAVE TRADE, BLACK EMMANUELLE/WHITE EMMANUELLE aka VELLUTO NERO (the "Alien Vs. Predator" of erotica starring both Laura Gemser AND Annie Belle) and BLACK EMANUELLE No. 2, Bitto Albertini's rarely seen follow-up to his classic EMANUELLE NERA. A second soundtrack compilation featuring the Nico Fidenco scores from EMANUELLE IN AMERICA, EMANUELLE & THE LAST CANNIBALS and EMANUELLE & THE WHITE SLAVE TRADE will also be included along with a whole host of exciting new extras.

FOR MORE INFO VISIT www.severin-films.com

As for reviews, here's one from Bloodtype Online for The Sexual Story of O.

And, to kick off the Laure excitment, a review from William Simmons at SGM:

LAURE

William P. Simmons


The name Emmanuelle has long been synonymous with salacious living, sexual freedom, and artfully conceived smut.  A phenomena bigger than life, the series began life as Io, Emmanuelle (1969), starring Erika Blanc.  The series really took off with the 1975 version starring Sylvia Kristel, provoking moral outrage by fully embracing its X-rated catalogue of free love, infidelity, and soft-core sex. Several more sequels with Kristel followed, including the notable skin-slapping Black Emanuelle (2) (Joys of a Woman).  In true cannibalistic fashion, European spin-offs were being made as well, most notably (and exploitatively)
in Italy.  And while Kristel gave up her part after a few roles, realizing that she was becoming too old for Emmanuelle's exploits, the character as a title and
representative of sexual liberation continued to thrive in such guises as the 'Black Emanuelle' films.  These scandalous incarnations starred Luara Gemser, whose first involvement with the series saw her playing a journalist in Emanuelle Nera (Black Emanuelle), directed by Albert Thomas. D'Amato.  Her presence would soon grace the screen in such flesh feasts as Emanuelle in Bankok, Emanuelle in America, and Emanuelle Around the World.  Under Joe D'Amato's hand, the evolving series would leave its soft-porn origins and become something meaner, something filthier.  Embracing rape, incest, lesbianism, and bestiality, D'amato's Emanuelle character has less to do with the theme of free love and sexual liberation and more to do with degeneration and degradation.  Laure, long thought to have been crafted by the woman whose real-life exploits and open marriage inspired the first Emmanule film, retains the innocent sexuality and experimentation of the original film although it deals with a whole new cast of characters and story-line.  Emmanuelle Arson -- the real Emmanuelle, displays true creative energy and insight into the human mind -- perhaps the sexiest organ of the human body, creating a fleshy world of surrender and control that explores the dangerously obsessive worship of Aphrodite.  She does this with her presence, mirroring the just as sultry magnificence of Annie Belle.  Yet the director and of this lush and intellectually dense day-dream of carnality was
Emmanuelle's husband.  Louis Rollet Andriane, a diplomat who needed to conceal his amorous life style, wrote both the original book Emmanuelle and the script for Laure, serving as director.  He did a commendable job, as we may now see thanks to Severin's deluxe treatment of this unappreciated classic of abandon. 

A plot that hinges on the emotional and physical quest for both dominance and subservience to the sexual instinct that tears its way so passionately through
the succulent characters, Laure is a surprisingly serious, morally thoughtful examination of free will and erotic choice.  Seductive Annie Belle (BLACK
EMMANUELLE, WHITE EMMANUELLE) plays the titular role of Laure, an emotionally and sexually adventurous young lady with raging hormones and legs that just can't stay closed.  Her free-spirit and sexually radiant figure matches the bold moral philosophy of pleasure with which the subtext of the film truly
concerns itself with.  At the Manila Institute for research, scientists and tourists wax poetic about the 'Mara tribe,' who have an odd annual festival of rebirth.  During this rite, some of the tribe forget who they are and begin life anew.  Laure, daughter of the institute's director, captivates photographer Nicola, and soon after they indulge their kinks for voyeurism and sexual freedom, they team up with Gualtier, an anthropologist, and his lover, Myrte. Mating with just about every attractive man and woman she meets in the sultry city of Manila, Laure is happy to join the jungle expedition.  Awkward beefcake Al Cliver plays a filmmaker with his customary deadpan aplomb, and neither the anthropologist or  his lover are safe from Laure's amorous attentions.  Taboos are broken as Laure discovers more cultural norms to break in her determination to experience the ultimate pleasure.  The sweaty action soon leads Laure to a native tribe where she engages in " the most shocking act of all," participating in the Mara tribe's rites.

Similar in theme to the Emmanuelle films, the approach differences from other films of its ilk, distinguishing it.  Arson's husband's story is both realistic and sensationalistic, merging believable characters with pulp-like scenarios in an exotic jungle atmosphere that adds dramatic spectacle to the sex. However, whereas the Emmanuelle films often used a skimpy situational device to simply hurry Gemser, et all, to the next skin scene, the internal drives and back story presented here are more convincing.  While the instinct for sex remains the motivating force behind Laure's character, and Arson's persona further smolders the flames, a more organic, honest feeling sense of fate makes its presence known.  Arson's documented lifestyle as a free-loving globe-trotting
explorer of carnality in no small way helps make the film stand out.  Her contributions as co-star -- and some say writer -- inject the film with sexual allure, energy, and a throbbing sense of intimacy hard to beat.  A fleshy embodiment of lust, sexual anxiety, and jungle adventure, Laure outclasses many of its cinematic cousins.  

Proving yet again why it is indeed 'the Criterian of Smut,' Severin Films treats Laure like the Citizen Cane of softcore.  Re-mastered picture and sound give
this somewhat battered film a much needed face-lift.  The 1:77:1 print (anamorphic) is an impressive orgy of sights and sounds, with flesh tones naturalistic and succulent.  The female flesh on display is luscious, and no significant grain or scratches disturb the fantasy evoked by sensual performances.  Audio is no dud either, captured in clean Dolby Digital Mono,
which preserves the original score with additional clarity.  No muffling or background sound of note disturbs this wonderful listening experience. 

Extras can't help but be a disappointment after the wealth of material that Severin has included on such recent releases as Black Emmauneulle's Box, but as a stand-alone DVD this carefully assembled supplementary footage is both informative and enjoyable.  The most provocative extra is  'Emmanuelle Revealed,' an interview with producer Ovidio Assonitis, wherein he sheds some light on the woman's personality and work method, dishing dirt in a respectful manner.  Along the way we learn that Linda Lovelace was initially hired for the role.  A bad attitude and drug problems led to her being replaced by the smoldering Anne Belle.  Assonitis comes clear about the role that Andriane played in the writing of the Emmanuelle book and this script, as well as his personal fetishes, intellectualism, and complicated manner of being.  The
second featurette is called "Laure: A Love Story," and examines the on-and-off again lust affair between Al Cliver and Annie Belle throughout various movies and years.  Fascinating stuff delivered with aplomb.  

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New reviews for the end of May

With anticipation mounting over the release of Laure (from Emmanuelle Arsan – the real Emmanuelle), here are a couple of reviews of past releases to tide you all over:

First, a tongue-in-cheek (no pun intended) review of Once Upon a Girl from Bloodtype Online.

Next, a very positive review of Perversion Story from EInsiders.

One for The Sexual Story of O from DVD Talk.

And speaking of O, here's a cheeky listing from EInsiders:

THE INCONFESSABLE ORGIES OF EMMANUELLE (Severin Films. $29.95): With a title like that, do you really need a description? All I will add is that this 1982 effort was directed by none other than the infamous Eurosleaze auteur Jess Franco–that should be enough to attract the right people to this DVD while keeping the others away. If that isn't enough Franco-directed smut to satisfy you this week, the good folks at Severin (who are really becoming players on the grindhouse DVD front) are also releasing his oddly title 1984 knock-off "The Sexual Story of O"–after all, the original "Story of O" was hardly about knitting as far as I recall.

And here's an O review that will make you swear off the internet, joke or not, courtesy of DVD Verdict.

Here's a love letter to all things Franco over at the Videowatchblog.

Finally, Francophile Robert Montell gives us reviews of Sexual Story of O here and Inconfessible Orgies of Emmanuelle here.

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More reviews for E and O and more!
Current mood: chipper
Category: Life

Here's a new Perversion Story review from the Coffee, Coffee and More Coffee blog. (Hey, the guy likes coffee.)

And once again, we made it into "The Week in Sleaze" over at the Sleazegrinder. Yay us! "Meanwhile, there's '80s smut from Jess Franco to be had from Severin Films. The Sexual Story of O (which has nothing to do with the Just Jaeckin film or book) stars Alicia Principe as an innocent young girl who is seduced and then sold as a sex slave by her perverted neighbors, while The Inconfessable Orgies of Emanuelle (whatta title!) has the incorrigible title character (an in-name-only relation to the Sylvia Kristel and Laura Gemser characters) indulging in sex games with her husband and a marquis. Both are plot-free sex fests with beautiful photography and women who look good without their clothes, so unless you're looking for top-drawer Franco like Venus in Furs, you'll be mighty happy with these discs. And ole Uncle Jess even contributes interviews about the films on both discs."

Now here's a slew of reviews from Peter Sobczynski:

Perversion Story

Black Emannuelle

Inconfessable Orgies/Sexual Story of O

Mansion of the Living Dead/Macumba Sexual

And here are two hit-or-miss reviews for Inconfessible Orgies and Sexual Story of O from Movieline Online. He may not have loved the movies, but the reviews are hysterical. Plus, he says that Severin has "nothing to be ashamed of", so we'll take that as a mandate and blanket permission from here on out.

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Black Emanuelle and Perversion Story reviews
Category: Life

Here's a lengthy review of Black Emanuelle's Box from Eccentric Cinema.

And a fun one from Horrorview.

And another from Robert Monell discovered on a Feedster blog.

And, for a change of pace, Louis Fowler sent us this review for Perversion Story, which ran in the Rocky Mountain Chronical:

PERVERSION STORY
(UNA SULL'ALTRA)
Starring Marisa Mell, Jean Sorel, Elsa Martinelli
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Severin Films

Most cult-movie fans hear the name Lucio Fulci and immediately think of his gore-filled Italo-splatter films of early '80s, like Zombi II and The Beyond.  While he's known for those horrific, nightmarish interludes, he also had a long, rather illustrious career before them, making a few cheap sex comedies and spy films here or there, but mostly honing his future horror chops on the giallo circuit, directing Hitchcockian murder mysteries, like this one from 1969. (To be fair, there is little to no perversion in this film. U.S. producers often translated foreign titles into sexy, salacious ones to get asses into theater seats. It usually worked.)

George, a successful doctor and all-around philanderer, is an arrogant prick, which doesn't help his case when his asthma-suffering wife is found murdered. George becomes the prime suspect, but along the way, with the help of his haute-couture photographing girlfriend, he meets a stripper who looks exactly like his dead wife.

The last 30 minutes get pretty pulse-pounding as George is sent to the gas chamber, waiting for the one piece of crucial evidence that can free him. Fulci really amps up the suspense in this flick, one of his best. A rare soundtrack of Riz Ortolani's swingin' score, included as a bonus disc, is one of the best bonus features I've come across in a DVD in quite a while.

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New reviews for new Francos
Current mood: ecstatic
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Severin Films is putting out two new uncut and remastered classics from the remarkable Jess Franco. They'll be available for mass consumption on May 1, but here are some tastes to whet your appetite:

From 10K Bullets, reviews for The Sexual Story of O and The Inconfessable Orgies of Emmanuelle

And from our buddy at SexGoreMutants:

THE SEXUAL STORY OF O

William P. Simmons

Jess Franco.  For those only familiar with the more popular of this director's achievements, this name summons images of fetishistic sadomasochist sex play,
repetitive zoom shots (often of heaving breasts and pubic hair), and female vampires humping bed-stands. For those who can appreciate the director's
unapologetic love for sensation, his emotional outbursts and love of atmosphere are wicked delights. As his penchant of celebrating effect at the cost of
narrative continuity or logic. Mention of this truly original filmmaker brings to mind worlds of flesh and fantasy that challenge traditional linear logic and
mainstream sensibility.  In The Sexual Story of O, the newest offering from underground champs Severin, Franco's esoteric philosophies and pornographic
preoccupations meet, flowering into a truly enticing and raunchy bedtime story of lust, betrayal, and doom.  

Perhaps no other director would seem such an ideal fit to this story of sexual enslavement, sadism, and desire.  The very subversive themes of the original
story calls to Franco's aesthetic history and approach, begging him to maul its storyline like hands punish and mold human flesh in the novel. In fact, this film is related to the novel in question only in title, tacked on by producers.  An examination of unrestrained lust, Franco's gorgeous and deadly narrative surmounts the cruelty and excess of the original novel, examining the sexual awakening of a different sort -- one that truly plummets the depths of desire and dread, pain and pleasure. Also dissected are the politics between the self and the soul, and the games played between lovers as each decides who gives and who takes, and to what extent.  The plot features Odile, a young nymphet (played by Alicia Princípe) who submits to more than she expected -- and
maybe more than she can survive -- when she is seduced into a deviant game of sexuality by her shameless, decadent neighbors. These 'games' and the  emotional echoes played upon in the film question her identity and we follow her transformation with deliciously wet and salacious imagery.  Such delights as afternoon threesomes lead to dens of physical and emotional degradation as eroticism descends into violence and truly disturbing (yet titillating sadism).  How much can Odile handle before both her and her female tempter/guide/Dom reach a point of no return? Co-starring Daniel Katz, this 80s feature is a triple threat of searing philosophy and carnality, and is perhaps most effective in its examination of our human inability to truly understand the desires or emotional depths of one another (or ourselves).  A love letter to Franco's continuous muse, the Marquis De Sade, this film is a beautifully decadent dream of corruption. 

The Story of O, written by Pauline Reage, was published in 1954 -- a repressive era that almost equals our own . . . Almost -- to scant critical acclaim and much public outrage.  Controversial and salacious, the book, its sexual intensity, and its thematic implications retains its ability to arouse and shock.  More importantly it retains its ability to encourage readers to question their own sexual identity and desires.  These elements were successfully translated to the screen in Story of O (Histoire d'O), wherein an alluring  young fashion photographer is brought to the Chateau Roissy by her more experienced lover Rene (Udo Kier).  Here she undergoes sexual transformation, suffering humiliation and erotic enticements that challenge her physical and emotional limitations.  Wishing to please Rene, she then allows herself to be handed over to Sir Stephen (Anthony Steel), whose demands make her wonder about her safety.  Just Jaeckin merged sensuality with suspense in his own version of the text.  Franco combines graphic, tantalizing sexual excess with a harsher, more scandalous poetic vibrancy.  This is Franco in a surprisingly poetic mood, directing his energies at celebrating the seedier elements of sado-masochism and S&M.  Most effective is Franco's suggestion that our inability to intimately 'know' our own desires or the emotional dimensions of others leads to both pleasure and pain --  an emotional theme mirrored by the sex acts themselves as Odile suffers/enjoys the erotic tortures of S&M.  When the act of sexual love and -games' lead to the troublesome and quite shocking finale, Franco suggests the unpredictability of love, and the danger of giving into another's desires.  Yet instead of condemning any of the players, Franco's satisfying amorality simply
depicts the consequences, suggesting perhaps that something in Odile was fated for these acts, and hungered for them in a masochistic manner.   

The Sexual Story of O is presented by Severin in a 2.35/16x9 transfer.  The picture is sharp and clean without any noticeable flaws. Imagery is crisply defined, colors are bold, and the overall transfer superb. Audio in mono Spanish and English features a moody score, and removable subtitles.  

Just as in The Inconfessible Orgies of Emmanuelle, the only extra on this disc is "Franco's O,"  another rowdy interview with the outspoken director.  Get ready for a 14 minute blitzkrieg of politically incorrect (thank god!) anecdotes and feisty opinions as the director recalls the cast, his decision to use different actresses, and his general opinion about the film. 

And:

THE INCONFESSABLE ORGIES OF EMMANUELLE

William P. Simmons

While the critical establishment often lambastes him and the mainstream ignores him, devotees of exploitation and emotionally subversive cinema watch his erratic if influential career with interest.  While it may be stretching it to say that his is a career and style that evokes either love or hate, this generalization isn't far from the truth.  Rare is the viewer that walks away from screening one of his
highly personal films without strong reaction. Repulsion, frustration, incredulity, or obsession: many are the emotions that his work instills.  And while he is often accused of indulging in sensation for sensations sake, it should be remembered that his cinema is primarily devoted to emotion and spectacle, not realistic storytelling or narrative coherence. Franco focuses on sensationalism, be it sexual, violent, or rooted in terror. And while it cannot be denied that this devotion to the senses is responsible for derailing several of his films, just as many of his visually intensive physical and/or esoteric experiments succeed precisely because they barrage us with such outlandish excesses.  This is particularly true in his treatment of sexual freedom in The Inconfessable Orgies of Emmanuelle, a bold new release from Severin.  Rightfully called the 'Criterion' of smut, this company has already brought us such obscure pieces as Private Collections and Perversion Story. Now they wow us with this uneven if salacious work of fetishistic sexuality, uncut and uncensored for the first time in America.  

The history of Emmanuelle as a series is itself a noteworthy process of exploitation evolution. Beginning life as Io, Emmanuelle (1969), starring
Erika Blanc, the 1974 version of Emmanuelle, starring Sylvia Kristel, provoked moral shock and outrage by embracing its X rating and scandalous nature.
Directed by Just Jaeckin, the story revolved around a sexy young model encouraged by her photographer husband to indulge her desires. The evolving series would come to embrace such controversial acts as rape, incest, lesbianism, free love, orgies, and animal sex (thanks to Joe D' Amato, sleaze king).  These would star Luara Gemser, who first enacted the role in Black
Emmanuelle (1975), directed by Albert Thomas.  After several sequels with Kristel, the Italian Black Emanuelle films found dominance among exploitation
fans.  These offered raunchier sex and varying degrees of sadism, taking the franchise to grittier and more graphic depths.  Franco's version of the nymph's
erotic excesses is closer to D'Amato's vision than Jaeckin, and while lacking much of the formers violence, the Spanish director clearly enjoys treating the character as a sexual object to be used hard and with undeniable zeal. 

French TV star Muriel Montossé (billed as Vicky Adams) makes her steamy, feline mark alongside the legendary status of Sylvia Kristel and Laura Gemser as the one and only Emmanuelle.  Exploring carnal joys in various 'unlikely' places (and positions!) this Franco feast of flesh, semen, and dream-like atmosphere features amongst its fetishistic highlights a 'live' lesbian exhibition that, along with Emmanuelle's other wild ways, makes her friends think that her sexual desires
are out of control.  As she becomes entangled with predatory lesbians, and her escapades increase in number and deviancy, pleasure soon leads to brutality in expected Franco style.   Also known as EMMANUELLE EXPOSED, this erotic assault may lack something of the director's customary violence but preserves his voyeuristic love of flesh and emotionally intensive atmosphere. While Franco reveals that the Emmanuelle title/relationship was tacked on his work as a commercial afterthought, with distributors attempting to cash in on the success of that series, the director is clearly suited for the material.  Parodying the 'narrated' structure and soft core fluff so often evoked in the Emmanuelle series, Franco reveals with class and sarcastic wit the 'fake' sentiment inherent
in so-called sophisticated erotica.  He also weaves a story that engages despite its rather unlikable characters.  But these characters are believable precisely because they are depicted without false sentiment and strained likeability, bringing them closer to people one would encounter in everyday life. 

The first thing apparent in this film is Franco's decision to use his characters as unapologetic sexual objects, objectifying them without remorse.  Better yet, he does this while making them enjoy their treatment.  This is woman wanting to be a sexual object even though she may not know it, and while this film -- and that statement -- is sure to evoke anger amongst politically correct critics who believe government regulation somehow possesses the power to repress ancient animalistic tendencies in human beings -- Franco's work understands that these tendencies are rooted far deeper than our current hypocritical niceties allow.  Tendencies, finally, that art allows us to indulge -- and in some cases exorcize -- by experiencing them vicariously, in the safety of storytelling.  That is precisely what is so engaging about this movie.  Franco encourages us to indulge in our animalistic desires to see women subdues, subverted, used, and in some cases, abused.  Yet he also shows woman as a vibrant, healthy, sexually hungry animal herself, giving as good as she gets through the ultimate power that she wields through her sexual mystique.  

The barrage of erotic and filthy images here are as powerful and erratic as a tidal wave of emotion.  While Franco is often dismissed as a fetishistic hack by those hypnotized by mainstream 'logic' and traditional narrative sequence, in The Inconfessable Orgies of Emanuelle he not only indulges in sex for the simple joy of it its physical pleasures but strives to explore with varying success its degrees of emotional and spiritual union-- albeit without ever losing its exploitative sheen.  A sure fire treasure for Franco fans who primarily know him for the noir
imagery of Dr. Orloff, the slapdash gore of Bloody Moon, or the pulp-crime shlock of Kiss Me Monster, this raunchy, erotically charged peep show reveals yet another side of Franco.

Orgies is featured for the first time on DVD in the Unites States, completely uncut and complete, and re-mastered from original vault materials.  One of the
many features that Franco completed in a less restrictive Spain, this tale of honeymooners torn apart by sexually deviant stalkers is featured in its original 2.35 aspect ratio, enhanced for anamorphic televisions.  Visual quality is very good, especially considering the rarity and age of the film.  Colors are sharp and bright, and the copious nudity and carnage captured in surprisingly clear imagery.  Audio is presented in both English and Spanish tracks.  The
English version is less cohesive, with dialogue that sounds fragmentary and background interference. The Spanish track is clean and concise, without muffling, and the English Subs well written.  

There is only one Extra feature for this film.  Thankfully it's a great one.  "The Inconfessable Orgies of Jess," is A 17 minute interview with the man himself, featuring the rowdy, opinionated director in all of his enthusiastic wit and fury.  Among the highlights are his verbal assaults against Just Jacekin and Sylvia Kristel and obvious love for his cast.  His unpredictability and occasionally absurd opinions are undeniably evocative. 

AND, for good measure, here are two reviews for a couple of our previous releases from B-Scared.com: Perversion Story and Immoral Women

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New Reviews - Black Emanuelle!
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

New review of Perversion Story from Turner Classic Movies, courtesy Lang Thompson.

And from 10K Bullets come this review for Black Emanuelle's Box:

"Severin Films Black Emanuelle box set is one of the most impressive collections of soft core erotica to find its way to a legit DVD release and this release is obviously a labor of love as they amount of restoration and extra content collected for this release for exceeded my expectations. Fans of sex goddess Laura Gemasr can now finally retire their worn out grey market versions of these films and replace them with Severin Films stunning box set."

and this one for Emanuelle Around the World (XXX European Version). 

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