Movie Review: Erotic Adventures of Candy/Candy Goes to Hollywood (Blu-ray)

It seems that all types of adult entertainment (be it soft or hardcore erotica) have put on display some memorable mammaries…or in very simple terms, boobies. The natural jug is something special though. Don’t get me wrong there have been some fine pairs of fake boobs in adult cinema but, to me, nothing beats a good soft, squishy, hypnotizing natural rack that hangs off a gal’s torso. Christy Canyon, Seka, and Ushi Digard are some true favorites that no doubt “bare” that top-notch bosom. I had never seen the lovely Carol Conners until I took gander at Vinegar Syndrome’s latest XXX double-bill, Gail Palmer’s Erotic Adventures of Candy and Candy Goes to Hollywood until recently and I must say that this Golden Age babe is right up there with those other lovely top-heavy honeys.

Movie Review: Carnal Haven (1976) and Her Last Fling (1977)

Directed by Carlos Tobalina (as Troy Benny and Bruce Van Buren, respectively)

Movie Review by Greg Goodsell

It's the Seventies – in San Francisco – and porno workhorse Carlos Tobalina has gathered the usual gang of idiots in order to make skin flicks! Tobalina is so proud in his part of this sexual revolution for profit that he hid behind not one, but two pseudonyms to rush these features to the Adults Only movie houses. Suddenly, the prospect of an evening of washing dishes and dusting bookshelves seems more enticing …

Under his nom de porn Troy Benny, Tobalina gives us Carnal Haven. In a lengthy introduction told in title cards, Benny/Tobalina says his negligible flesh feature will change our lives for the better! How, we don't know. We are introduced to some married couples in the Baghdad by the Bay, doing what married couples do best, i.e. kvetching about money. “Blacks tend to have larger families. Does this mean they are happier?” asks the voice-over narration. We are then introduced to sex therapists who tend to the couples' mounting sexual frustration with group orgies. “Shell,” the actress playing the female therapist does a fairly good job laying down a good pseudo-scientific line of patter on sexual positions, in spite of her filthy, disheveled hair. Ken Scudder, who played the lovable doofus hitchhiker in Curt McDowell's Thundercrack! (1975) doesn't quite cut it as the male half of the therapeutic duo. The film's raison d'arte is indifferently filmed orgy scenes, which gobble up (pun intended) the majority of the film's running time.

Movie Review: Mai Linn vs. Serena and Oriental Hawaii (both 1982)

Directed by Carlos Tobalina (under the name of Troy Benny)

Movie review by Greg Goodsell

Vinegar Syndrome strikes yet again with a double-shot of early 1980s hardcore porn. The very prolific Carlos Tobalina, here working under the pseudonym of Troy Benny ground these two out in 1982, the year when the skin trade left 35mm film altogether for the far less expensive shot-on-video route. Never fear: Carlos treats these celluloid epics as indifferently as anything shot on a family camcorder. Out-of-focus shots, improvised dialogue, ragged pans and zooms that would make Jesus Franco envious – ol’ Carlos just knew instinctively that the lonely guys at the grindhouse would settle for anything ol’ thing with pussies and dicks.

Mai Linn vs. Serena is simplicity in itself. The suave and more than slightly creepy Tobalina stars as himself to offer favorite nudie cuties Mai Linn and Serena with a most unusual wager. He will award either one of the girls the lead role in his next skin epic on the provision they perform the most unusual sex act they can imagine. Offering the winner $25,000 – probably the entire budget for this film, Mai Linn and Serena get busy. Tobalina isn’t around to witness the gals getting down and dirty, so we assume he’ll just have to go on their hearsay.

Movie Review: Tropic of Desire (1979) and Fantasy World (1979)

Directed by Bob Chinn

Movie Review by Greg Goodsell

Vinegar Syndrome cleans up and presents a pair of vintage pornographic features by the legendary director Bob Chinn. Both Tropic of Desire and Fantasy World look especially great: bright and eye-poppingly colorful. But are the films really any good? We shall see …

Tropic of Desire is set in a Hawaiian brothel in the final days of World War II. Porno veteran Georgina Spelvin, who looks great – she usually played matronly figures beginning with The Devil in Miss Jones (1974), plays Frances the Madame. As expected, there's little to no plot. The brothel's favorite girl, Rita (Kitty Shayne) has lost her fiancé to battle, and she tearfully heads off to San Francisco to start life anew. Various serviceman stop by and are very disappointed that Rita has hit the road – but that doesn't stop them giving the other girls the ol' heave-ho. The high point of the film is a silent black-and-white stag film screened at an orgy where a guy loses his wristwatch in a most interesting way along with a girl indulges in some quick nicotine in an even MORE interesting way …

Movie Review: Purely Physical / Cat House Fever

Vinegar Syndrome seems to be digging more and more into their already massive library of adult films for 80's porn titles. Much of what's been released has been from the 70's so it's definite plus seeing titles from the era where porn on film soon became porn on video. Their double-bill of Purely Physical and Cat House Fever come from director Chris Warfield (aka Billy Thornberg, Garters and Lace, Sheer Panties) and are still thankfully on film.

First up, we get Purely Physical starring Laura Lazare (who also narrates) as Kathy, a young woman just starting a new job at a hotel that caters to people who just like to show up and bang. She likes fantasizing about the guests so it's a perfect fit for this horny young lass. There’s a nice variety of clientele: from virgins enjoying their first time, a chubby rich guy and his whore and even a business woman (Played by the legendary Aunt Peg) who likes to diddle her lady parts while peeking in a make-up mirror.

Movie Review: Deep Tango (1974) and The Young Secretaries (1974)

Directed by Zachary Strong and Richard Kanter, respectively

Movie Review by Greg Goodsell

Both Deep Throat (1972) and Last Tango in Paris (1972) entered the American consciousness at roughly the same time. Last Tango in Paris was a dead serious drama about one man's existential dilemma and starred Acting icon Marlon Brando and was directed by world-class filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci. Deep Throat was a cheerful skin flick shot in around a week, actors culled off the sidewalk and was directed by nudie cutie veteran Gerard Damiano. What was fresh in the public's mind was that both films starred curly-haired brunettes (Maria Schneider in Tango; Linda Lovelace in Throat), and since both were rated X, people lined around the block to see all the rampant sex and nudity. Tragically, the film that had the most lasting impact on American culture and cinema was … Deep Throat, a pity.

Vinegar Syndrome has culled two authentic pop cultural items for their latest flesh-colored double feature Blu-Ray with Deep Tango, a San Francisco-lensed hardcore feature that is a hilarious mash-up of Deep Throat and Last Tango in Paris, and The Young Secretaries, a Los Angeles soft-core tale of office politics.

Movie Review: Abduction of an American Playgirl and Winter Heat (1975,1976)

2013 has been a banner year for genre DVD and Blu-ray producers Vinegar Syndrome. With titles like The Telephone Book, Good Luck, Ms. Wyckoff and Night Train to Terror making outstanding debuts on the format, cult film fans have been able to view some of these rarely seen oddities in the comfort of their own home. Classic porn fans have also gravitated towards the company too as we've also been able to eat up numerous double-bills from their Drive-in themed collection. The brand new Peekarama line looks to be a pleasing addition to the growing library of vintage adult goodness from Vinegar Syndrome.

 This particular double feature have similar the similar themes of kidnapping and rape, but both couldn't be any more different tone. Our first half of the Peekarama double-bill is called Abduction of an American Playgirl. We begin this descent in goofy filth with couple of dopey kidnappers (Eric Edwards and Alan Marlow) pondering the kidnapping of a young woman (Darby Lloyd Rains, Naked Came a Stranger). Their goal is to have their way with her and dangle out for a ransom. The trio end up at dive hotel where they start their fun. What the boys get though is a woman, so insatiable, and draining, they become victims and get raped themselves.