Orgasmo nero (1980)
** (out of 4)
Paul (Richard Harrison) is doing research on a Caribbean island when his wife Helen (Nieves Navarro) comes to visit. The wife is sexually unsatisfied and she strikes up a friendship with the native girl Haini (Lucia Ramirez) and soon they start a sexual relationship. The wife ends up taking the native back to her home where all sorts of trouble begins to happen.
ORGASMO NERO was just one of many films that director Joe D'Amato made during this period, which mixed sex and horror. The most famous (or notorious) examples of this were PORNO HOLOCAUST and EROTIC NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD but this film doesn't reach the same level as those two. If you're looking for horror elements then it's best you watch one of the previous mentioned films because ORGASMO NERO is more of a drama mixed with sex. The film is available in a 97-minute "soft" version as well as a hardcore version, which features Ramirez doing real sex scenes with Mark Shannon.
I watched the soft version (the hardcore scenes were an extra) and for the most part I found the film to be entertaining. I was really shocked at how caught up I got into the story because it's certainly nothing special. I mean, we've seen this type of love triangle several times before and after this. We've seen movies where women are sexually unsatisfied so they go searching for better sex. I think the reason the random story keeps your attention here is that D'Amato actually does a very good job at making it erotic. I've seen countless films from the director and I've usually attacked him for not making the films erotic but that's not the case here. There are several lesbian scenes that have a lot of steam to them and the same is true for a sequence where the husband has had enough and decides to break in on the wife and native.
I also liked the three leads, although none of them give an Oscar-worthy performance. I thought Ramirez was extremely good as the native who brings out all of this sexuality. She really doesn't have too much to say but I thought she was good at just playing quiet and sexual. Obviously she's mainly here for eye candy and she's certainly that. I thought Navarro was very good as well and especially at coming across as a bored wife. Needless to say, she was still looking extremely hot at this time and she oozes sexuality. Harrison somewhat sleepwalks through the role but I guess you could argue this makes the wives sexual frustration more believable.
The cinematography is good as you'd expect and there's also a nice music score to bring out the sex scenes. ORGASMO NERO still suffers from a problem that a lot of D'Amato's work does and that's the fact that it runs a bit too long and there are a couple stretches that get a tad bit boring. Still, fans of the director will still want to check this out since it's certainly a lot better than many of his films.
