THREE BETWEEN THE SHEETS
ECSTASY (1984) - BLACK VENUS (1983) - MELODY OF PASSION (1985)
Indulge your ‘80s fantasies with two softcore classics produced by Harry Alan Towers (99 Women, Franco’s Count Dracula): In Black Venus, former Miss Bahamas Josephine Jacqueline Jones (Love Circles) leads a sumptuous orgy of Victorian lust co-starring Florence Guérin (Faceless), Karin Schubert (Black Emanuelle), Helga Liné (Black Candles) and Profumo Affair temptress Mandy Rice-Davies. Drive-in goddess Tiffany Bolling (The Candy Snatchers) stars in Ecstasy – also known as Love Scenes – as a Hollywood actress caught between reel passion and her own erotic hungers that include Britt Ekland, Julie Newmar, Monique Gabrielle and Jack Carter. As a Bonus, Austrian centerfold Sonja Martin (Red Heat, Emmanuelle IV) stars in Melody of Passion from director Hubert Frank (Vanessa), with all three features scanned in 2K from their original negatives.
ECSTASY (1984)
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 90 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Bud Towsend
Cast: Franc Luz, Tiffany Bolling, Julie Newmar, Jack Carter, Britt Ekland, Daniel Pilon
In the Playboy Channel produced Ecstasy (1984) (aka Love Scenes) up and coming director Peter Binnes (Franc Luz, Ghost Town) has just won a critics choice award, and looking to cash-on this windfall her tries to get a new erotic thriller, penned by Belinda (Julie Newmar, Catwoman from the 60's Batman TV series!), into production, but his cigar-chompin' producer Sidney (Jack Carter, Alligator) says that no studio wants to finance an erotic film without some star power. Luckily Peter's wife Val (Tiffany Bolling, Kingdom of the Spiders) is a renowned actress, but she's never done nudity in film before. After some prompting from her hubby, as well as some reinforcement from a photographer friend Annie (Britt Ekland, The Wicker Man) she agrees to do the film, but with reservations.
Problems soon arise when the leading man in the erotic thriller, Rick (Daniel Pilon, Scanners III - The Takeover), who well-known for being a hand-on lothario ends up unexpectedly igniting Val's libido, and she embarssingly climaxes while film is rolling during their first filmed hook-up. This very real moment of passion exacerbates Val's mundane faked-orgasm sex life with her director-husband. Conflicted by her attraction to her co-star Val worries that her married life is on the rocks, but the self-obsessed Peter is too consumed with making his film to worry too much about his wife's concerns. This is a fun lightweight bit of softcore erotica that is heavy on the daytime soap opera drama vibes, but does feature some titillating softcore nudity, and it's capably directed by Bus Townsend (Nightmare In Wax). The film is less tawdry that I would have liked, and is lousy with sax-heavy score, but plenty entertaining, and getting an eyefull of drive-in goddess Tiffany Bolling (Candy Snatchers, Bonnie's Kids) nude is always a pleasure, and both Ekland and Newmar seem to be having a blast in their non-nude roles,
Special Features:
- Trailer (50 sec)
BLACK VENUS (1983)
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 95 Minutes
Audio: English, French, German DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Director: Claude Mulot
Cast: José Antonio Ceinos, Josephine Jacqueline Jones, Florence Guérin, Emiliano Redondo
Another Playboy Channel produced slice of erotica, Black Venus (1984) directed by Claude Mulot (The Blood Rose), is a Victorian era set erotic film that begins with penniless sculptor Armand (José Antonio Ceinos, Leonor) meeting the gorgeouse Venus (Josephine Jacqueline Jones, Christina). Entranced by her beauty she becomes his muse and lover, and he sets about sculpting a statue of her likeness. With no source of income from his artwork Venus begins working as a model at a fashion house, but the attention she draws and the money she makes proves to be a blow to his ego, he drowns his sorrows in drinks, and Venus ends up leaving him, embarking on sexual adventures with a horny wealthy couple, but growing tired of being exploited by others, she teams-up with Louise (Florence Guérin, Faceless) to work at a brothel, until Armand, no longer tortured, returns to reclaim his muse.
Black Venus has some solid period set production value, conjuring the Victorian era convincingly for a low-budget film, it's attractively lensed, and is well-acted, not to mention chock full of nudity and actual erotic scenes that are a turn on. This one also has a bookend scenes of an older gent (Emiliano Redondo, The People Who Own The Dark), who is turned on by being a voyeur, touring a brothel down a secret hallway that allows him to peep through two-way mirrors to witness the sexy cosplay shenanigans happening inside themed rooms where people indulge in fantasies involving pirates, slaves, and kings.
Special Features:
- Trailer
MELODY OF PASSION (1985)
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 91 Minutes
Audio: English or German DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Director: Hubert Frank
Cast: Sonja Martin, Montse Bayo, Marina Oroza, Klaus Münster, Martin Garrido
The final titillating softcore delight is Hubert Frank's Melody of Passion (aka La chica que cayó del Cielo) German gal Betty (Sonja Martin, Emmanuelle IV) is notified that she has inherited a family castle in Spain. Arriving there she finds the castle and learns from the lawyer handling the estate, Don Cervantes, that it might be haunted and more trouble than it's worth, and insists that she should sell it to him sight unseen. Now this guy has reasons for wanting the castle, in that he is partnered with a madame and they are running a profitable high-class brothel within it's stone walls!
This is certainly the most offbeat of the bunch this Austrian-Spanish co-production throws a little bit of everything into the mix. We get the expected softcore delights, plentiful nudity, some nice atmosphere, plus a robbery, high-speed car chase, Gothic horror elements and quite a bit more. The tone is uneven to say the least but the unexpected camp-factor and exploitation entertainment quotients are through the roof, making this wild slice of Euro-rotica the best of the bunch in my estimation.
Audio/Video: All three films make their North American Blu-ray debuts from Severin Films on region-Free Blu-ray presented in 1080p HD widescreen. Both Black Venus and Melody of Passion are framed in 1.66:1 while Ecstasy gets 1.85:1. These are advertised as being scanned in 2K from the original negatives, and they look pretty terrific. Film grain is unmolested and organic, colors and skin tones look natural throughout. Audi comes by way of uncompressed DTS-HD MA Mono with optional English subtitles. Ecstasy gets uncompressed English while Melody of Passions has both German and English audio options, with Black Venus sporting English, German, and French audio options. All the tracks are clean and free of issues, a bit limited in range, but clean and well-balanced. Extras are anemic, we only get trailers for Black Venus and Ecstasy, so that is a disappointing, I would have loved commentary tracks on these, but the HD upgrades are appreciated and blow away the previous DVD editions. The three disc release arrives in a black keepcase with a single sides sleeve of artwork, inside a flipper tray houses the three films on separate discs with separate artworks.
If you're looking to indulge in some vintage ‘80s softcore fantasies Severin has you covered with this titillating triple-threat collection. The extras are slim but the A/V is wonderful, and the erotic delights are plentiful. The three films are handsomely produced for what they are and look fantastic in HD. The films range from horny melodrama, to sleazy Victorian debauchery, and bonkers 80's raunchiness - it's a wonderful assortment of vintage erotica that all lovers of softcore should have on their shelf.
