...this viewer has made no secret of the fact that he absolutely loves the golden age of XXX-rated movies, which was prevalent in and around the '70's and early '80's. There was often a novel story idea, as well as moments of amusement, comedy and bizarre surrealism, interlaced with the voyeuristically lurid and explicitly lingering sex scenes. The actors and actresses in the films, varied in their ability to entice...from bodaciously 'va-va-voom' to alluringly filthy and nasty. And that music...usually ranging from a cool and rhythmic jazz, to...oh, that stereotypically hokey 'waka-waka-ding-dang' riff, which many of the films from that particular era, were known for. Placing that observation on the back burner, for a moment, this viewer later nurtured a curiosity about certain obscure and hard-to-find, sexually explicit films, which were also playing in and around the grindhouse/drive-in circuit, at the time...the trailers of which almost always bore the same enticing line of "...because of possibly impressionable persons in the audience, we can't show you certain scenes of this movie, here in the trailer; however be assured that when this film appears in this theater, it will be presented uncut...a film, specifically geared for today's more progressively promiscuous audience..." (...the late Mike Vraney's 'Something Weird Video's quite entertaining 'Dusk 'til Dawn Drive-In Trash-o-rama' movie trailer collection series, was notorious for splicing in trailers for such films, amidst the genre and exploitation film trailers). Once again, taking it's cue from what 'Something Weird Video' had once done best, Vinegar Syndrome has once again unleashed a selection of films...the headlining "Oral Generation" feature film, and an eclectically assorted & paraded set of short films...which, in this case, herein...delectably, and sometimes mind-scramblingly...assumes the best of both worlds, as mentioned previously...
...and saints be praised, the fine folks over at V/S have heard the rally cry of this ardent and devoted viewer of their stuff...specifically, their claimant 'drive-in' style film offerings...as things immediately kick into gear, drive-in style, just as soon as the machine picks up and reads the disc. Heck, no need to press 'play'...just sit back and enjoy the whole show...
...after an enticing trailer of the feature film, things get sort of knee-slappingly amusing, with the first short film, "Clinical Sex". In this sexually explicit chorkler, a smocked and heavily side-burned physician, with a large build (...most will swear up and down that this guy looks like some kind of bargain basement Andrew Dice Clay), projects a hilariously serious deadpan narration (...very much reminded this viewer of the 'Wonderful World of Sex' segment, in the riotous 1977 comedy, "Kentucky Fried Movie"), about how he 'helps' his female patients get over their sexual difficulties, by himself explicitly taking the term of 'up close and personal', to clearly his own satisfying extremes, all the while narrating his attempt to 'help' them. After a final little pick-me-up triste with his nurse assistant, the episode culminates with one of those chuckling 'waa-waa-waaaaaaaa' moments, reminiscent of the good old days of seventies TV's "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In"...
...the next feature, "Any Way You Like It", might be considered a sexually explicit exercise in self-conditioning, story-wise. A '70's hip-dressed gal, conferring with yet another physician, tells a story of when she peeked in on a grungy looking dude, pleasuring a random young woman with some kind of vibrating device, which looks more akin to something used in the kitchen, than in some kind of sexual act. Put off by the sight, and yet, still finding herself drawn to see more, she relates that out of compulsion, she covertly looks in on two other instances, where the same guy is pleasuring other gals in a similar fashion as the first. At the end of the session, the physician...assuming a cure for the troubled woman...pulls out a similar vibrating device, uses it on her, discards the device in favor of a mechanically unassisted triste with the gal (...though, the doctor's nurse assistant does pick up the device, and uses it on herself, as she watches to two others go at it), and the whole affair is capped once again by a final and resigning sitcom-like moment of humor...
...after all of this, so far, do you want a crazed moment, the end result of which might make you assume the twisted 'what the...' facial visage of Bloom County's 'Bill the Cat'?? Then, the next segment..."Naked Sexes"...may well be right up your alley. Cutting back and forth between three or four naked blonde gals, laughing themselves silly on the bed, with all manner of skin and body parts, jiggling all about, in the midst of the uncontrolled laughter...and three or four almost-naked muscle men (...they're wearing thongs)...one with a conspicuously exaggerated barber-shop-quartet-like mustache...posing and flexing themselves, sometimes in rather homoerotic fashion, and also laughing uncontrollably (...are all of them, in the same room, or what). With no dialogue to be found here, all of this is inexplicably happening, in the midst of an ongoing background soundtrack of wacky music and looped-over canned laughter (...like I said at the beginning..."Uh, what the...??")...
...threesomes are the flavor of the moment, in the fourth segment, "The Different Sex", as a sultry female narrator exudes the nuances and joys of sex, when three people are involved. After giving play-by-play commentary on a sweaty threesome between a rather husky looking gal...not necessarily fat, just large...and two goofy looking guys...one of who appears to be the same guy who played the 'Andrew Dice Clay'-looking doctor, in the previous short, "Clinical Sex", our blond-haired, knowledge-seeking narrator comes out, and gets things going, hot and heavy, with a couple of other gals...one of whom...uh, might not appear to be 'all there' in the cranium, by the weird faces she appears to make, while engaging her partners...
...amusingly enough, a fifth and unnamed segment, before engaging the main feature, appears to be the most erotically enticing and sexually exciting piece...and this one seems to whisk by, almost suggesting that it doesn't feel right with the preceding bunch, so it feels compelled to just sneak by, with a little tantalizing tease...
...the open credit sequence to the main feature, "The Oral Generation" was a nostalgic delight, as the background footage included splice-together nighttime footage of New York's notorious 42nd Street district of grindhouse theaters, with brightly lit marquees proudly...or perhaps shamelessly proclaiming exploitation titles, ranging from horror to chop socky to porn...right along side mainstream big-budgeted films. As the main feature itself unfolds, it is clear, as suggested by the title, that fellatio is the sexual activity of study...and it is seen in all manner of execution...in the shower, as an epilogue to lingerie-enticing foreplay, in an inner-racial relationship (...sheesh, is this guy...who, during this segment, only seems to come to life when footage of him, doing cheezy martial arts moves, directly at the camera, is periodically spliced into the sexual play...is he asleep, drugged or just plain dead, while being pleasured, here?), and in a one-on-one lesbian encounter...
...as randomly hodgepodge as these films seem, when viewed all together, the soundtrack, supplementing these pieces seems equally rampant; sixties progressive rock shifts over to cool jazz, which in turn, shifts over to sitar guitar string riffs, in a mish-mash which makes this whole ball of wax, not so much sexually alluring or enticing, but more towards a somewhat curious, albeit wacky sexual exploration. Once again, the auteurs over at Vinegar Syndrome have honed and sharpened these curiosities to an almost undeserving level...though, considering the way that these are presented here, some scratchy footage, splices and jump cuts might have actually worked better, here, giving the grungy sexual proceedings a much more authentic look and feel. However, beggars can't be choosers, and what is offered here...at least, for those who appreciate sleazy productions like these...is an absolute delight. Once again...Bravo, to Vinegar Syndrome, for this nostalgically sleazy trip.....
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