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October 25, 2013

Movie Review: Sexcula (1974, DVD)

Review By: Rob Sibley

"She'll suck more then your blood!" reads the tagline in this little seen Canadian produced porn flick. Let me state up front I'm a sucker for these genre mash-up vintage porno's. The cover promises a lot, does it live up to it? Yeah... it kind of does. But the actual back story to the making of the film is much more interesting.

See this film has always been a sort of myth, not because of it's over the top sexual content (It's tame for retro porn). But it was a rare little title that nobody ever really saw. Sure they knew the name but few ever saw the flick.

The film was financed by a very slick producers basically took advantage of a little tax loophole were after investing in a picture they'd get back anywhere from 40-100% of their investment.


  
So once the film was finished the "investors" had already made the money back and didn't bother distributing the film. Lucky for sleaze fans though a print was saved and stashed away. Now thanks to Impulse Pictures/Synapse we have a chance to take a look at this Canadian retro horror/porno.

The plot is as follows... Debbie Collins a very attractive gal who does as the packaging indicates looks a lot like the legendary Marilyn Chambers plays duel roles. One role is as the blood/semen thirsty vamp and the other is the bride to be who's very horny. We also have a gorilla and some kind of sex-bot... yep a sex-bot and a gorilla in a Canadian produced vampire porno. It sounds like the making of a cult classic, something that Jess Franco would make. But the thing is if Franco made this... it would have been a better film. The film was made for a quick buck but it's still got a bit of charm to it.

Now if you expect really a plot what-so-ever forget about it. The film features around  15 sex scenes! Now that's a lot of sex to cram into a film with a short 87 minute running time. The sex scenes are of the hardcore variety and definitely are meant to be passionate and playful. All of them are pretty damn hot and well done. Debbie Collin's only has this one film to her name which is a surprise. She actually gives a pretty good performance and she handles herself more then well during the sex scenes. She could have easily of had a career in regular or adult film.

Now the tone of the film is pretty much straight up camp. Just because it's called "Sexcula" don't expect much blood sucking... plenty of other sucking but not much blood. Really the film is more of a porn version of Frankenstein then it is of Dracula. Most of the film is set in the vamps lab.

The whole film from the bad acting, to the free spirit nature, and few somewhat dance numbers and trippy lighting make it feel like a Porno take on The Rocky Horror Picture Show. One bit has the lead dancing around with a dude in an ape suit, drenched in red light, then they go at it and screw for a few minutes. It's absurd but it works for the film.

Just like the wedding sequence where the bride desides to give the groom head in front of the preist. Oddly the preist looks like a hybird of John Waters and Boris Karloff and the groom looks like Gerard Depardieu's younger twin.

With the sixteen or however many sex scenes (I lost accurate count after the 13th) you have a lot to choose from. Ape on girl sex, Church sex, Lesbian sex, gals prancing around a field naked, mad scientist lab sex and an orgy that goes on for about 15 minutes. Alright I'm starting to sound like Cheech's character in From Dusk Till Dawn when he gives The Pussy speech. But you get my point.

Also what's really interesting is the director John Holbrook. He only directed this one film but he's had and continues to have a huge career as a second unit director. He's been the second unit director on everything from First Blood (Yes, the original classic) to Scary Movie 3, War (The Statham flick), The Art of War 2, Kill Switch and last but not least Air Bud 3! So yeah, this dude can pretty much direct anyone whether it be Wesley Snipes, Jason Statham, Sly or a dog in a basketball jersey.


The DVD from Impulse Pictures/Synapse is not to bad at all. It's presented in what I assume is it's original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. It looks as good as you could expect it to look. My only complaint during the darker sequences it's tough to tell what's going on. I couldn't tell if she was screwing a dude in ape suit or a shadow at one point. But maybe that was for the best.

The audio is a 2.0 mono track which sounds nicely vintage and clean for the most part.

Extra's include the films theatrical trailer... which is curious since the film only played once. Then we get some informative linear notes from "Porn Archaeologist" Dimitrious Otis. Alright can I get that gig? 

Anyhow, is the film worth your time? Well if you dig cult films and vintage porno's then the answer is YES. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.


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