Wednesday, January 21, 2015

PRETTY PEACHES (1978)


PRETTY PEACHES (1978) 
Label: Vinegar Syndrome
Region Code: region Free
Duration: 2 Minutes
Rating: XXX
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: English Dolby Digital Mono 
Director: Alex deRenzy
Cast: Desiree Costeau, John Leslie, Joey Silvera, Juliet Anderson

Alex DeRenzy's x-rated comedy PRETTY PEACHES stars then newcomer Desiree Costeau as the titular character Peaches. At the start of the film she's driving the wedding of her father to the sexy black nymphet Lilly (Flower) in Nevada. She stops off at a podunk gas station where she sends the locals into a horny frenzy with her super-short shorts, the attendant is so damn aroused by the short-haired cutie that he sniffs the seat she was sitting in just hoping for a whiff of her supreme naughty bits. 

Peaches arrives late to the ceremony but just in time to see the vows and after downing a few shots the drunken Peaches  gets behind the wheel of her Jeep before driving off the road and into the scrub brush and falling to the ground unconscious where she is found by Kid (Joey Silvera) and Terry (Ken Scudder), two of them men from earlier at the gas station. In a pervy attempt to assist the woman in distress they decide to loosen her clothing before Kid has sex with her unconscious body. 

When she comes to a few moments later questioning just what happened to her we discover that a bump on her noggin has caused amnesia, now confused and unable to remember who she is or even her name, the pair of low lifes take her to a doctor whom oddly practices his chosen profession in a public restroom. In an effort to he her regain her memory the freaky doc performs an enema that ends up being quite a water show leaving the doc unconscious on the floor. That's the magic of this film, somehow it manages to make something so completely filthy into something fun, somehow it works. Seems an off choice to start your porn-comedy with rape and an enema yet somehow I am entertained by it all. 


Kid and Terry are willing to let are willing to let Peaches stay at their place with the one caveat that she must find a job, and what job would is better suited for the curvy Peaches than a dancer. Somehow the dance audition turns into a impromptu live sex show with an army of dildo-donning carpet munchers using and abusing the poor naive Peaches who is chained to a table and left in a fit of tears, again, something that could have been very dark again played for laughs, a lot of it has to do with peaches reactions to these situations, she's played for laughs as a bit of a wide-eyed bimbo. 

Not surprisingly as the film pays out the attractive and naive Peaches finds herself involved in still more sexual misadventures while trying to recover her lost memories, leading to the oiled-up orgy at the end with a surprise twist of incest! 

Pretty Peaches covers some dark subject matter including the distasteful areas of rape, enemas and incest, all of which could have potentially dragged it down, but, through the performances of Costeau and the playful touch of director deRenzy it manages to create just the right mix of adult mischievousness with just the right amount of tongue in cheek humor.

Coming from the golden age of porn the film does set-up a fun storyline of Peaches trying to recover her memories but doesn't carry it through all that well - this is pretty silly stuff - but the incest tinged finale made me laugh quite a bit. The cast is great, particularly Desiree Costeau as Peaches who plays it for cute laughs with a mixture of pouty faced sexuality and bubbly personality, it certainly doesn't hurt that she has a wonderful body with perky breasts and gorgeous curves from the head to toe. Additionally we have the character of the new step mom played by Flower with some great comedic delivery and playful sex scenes. 

The DVD from Vinegar Syndrome features a new 2K restoration from 35mm archival element and sports a natural layer of fine film grain and with it some very nice fine detail. Skin tones are natural looking and the color reproduction and black levels are solid. Vinegar Syndrome offered the film as a limited edition Blu-ray back in October, The picture quality is fantastic, this is yet another sterling presentation from Vinegar Syndrome.

The English language Dolby Digital Mono audio sounds great for what it is, offering a nice balance of dialogue, score and the sweet sounds of fornication. Due to the limitations of the source material there are changes in the audio quality from scene to scene but overall there are no issues to speak of. 

The disc includes a handful of special features including the only known video interview with director Alex deRenzy recorded sometime before his death in 2001, for twenty minutes the director fondly looks back on his early career and sharing stories of making a few films including briefly mentioning Pretty Peaches. 

There's also an eleven-minute interview with film historian Ted Mcilvenna who shares stories of his friend Alex deRenzy offering some fun insights and analysis of his films. Lastly there are a selection of deRenzy trailers for Baby Face II, Pretty Peaches II and Femmes de Sade. 

Special Features:- Dual-Layer DVD-9 | Region Free | 16:9 Anamorphic | MONO
- Restored in 2k from 35mm archival elements
- Archival interview with Alex deRenzy (19 Minutes)
- Interview with film historian Ted Mcilvenna (11 Minutes)
- Baby Face II Trailer (4 Minutes) 

- Pretty Peaches II Trailer (4 Minutes) 
Femmes De Sade Trailer 94 Minutes) 

Verdict: A solid disc from Vinegar Syndrome from start to finish and quite a fun watch. Pretty Peaches was my first encounter with deRenzy and I am looking forward to watching more from the late director of humor-tinged-smut.