Sex Spell

With his faithful creative team of writer/cameraman Philip O'toole and composer/designer Saint, Nicholas Steele fashioned many brilliant Couples Romances for Adam & Eve at the turn of this century, and "Sex Spell" has a dark tone that holds up well.

These movies stand apart from time, as they don't share the traditional wordy and highly plotted structure of classic 1970s theatrical porn, nor the mindless all-sex gonzo approach of recent decades. Instead, buttressed by Saint's hypnotic original musical scores, a dreamy, fantasy mood is developed for stylish sex scenes to unfold.

Bolivia Samsonite stars and narrates in voice-over an episodic tale about a magical fetish statue, held by curio shop owner Lexington Steele, that promises to bring out the truth to its owner, at his or her peril. Lex is particularly effective here in creating a mood of dread as he warns each protagonist about the dangers of this gift.

Film is structured around Bolivia in her gazebo writing out the stories she relates to the viewer, which eventually intertwine to deliver a surprise ironic ending. First one concerns a 19th Century British officer stationed in Africa (played by Joey Ray in pith helmet) who in the aftermath of some massacre finds himself pursued in the jungle at night, only to have a hot threesome with two body-painted native girls (Nikki Fairchild and Lola).

A mysterious stranger covered in cloak and hood is the first customer at Lex's shop, and the fetish statue, a woman groping a huge stone phallus, is presented to Bolivia's mean husband Mark Davis. We learn that she yearns to be free of him to lead her own life, and the threat of her murdering him to escape is introduced in her voice-over.

Other segments include Dale DaBone boning superstar Briana Banks (the Adam & Eve contract player who is the marquee draw for this movie) in a hayloft and Bolivia having lesbian sex with Briana in the gazebo. In a fantasy scene Davis ends up in the pith helmet in Africa, getting to have sex with stunning Euro blonde Lita Chase, almost a dead ringer for Briana (face and body). Another customer is played by sexy Euro babe Alexandra Nice, who gets humped by Lex with anal sex, also a specialty of Briana here.

Heavy on unusual percussion, Saint's score holds the film together, and the pantomime acting in several scenes is excellent, dialog kept to a minimum (anticipating the trend in Adult Cinema of late). Luxurious production values and costumes are a great plus.

If this director isn't really inspired, at least he is a solid one: this movie has quite a charm because it looks vintage with period costumes (Victorian) and happens in a sort of Lucasfilm Ranch, with barn and gazebo. Brianna looks totally stunning and she really exudes her blonde German sex appeal! She has a lesbian scene in the gazebo, very average while her boy-girl action in the barn counts among her best scene: it reminds me a bit of the same scene in Immortal Desire but more grounded. Anyway, Brianna shows all of skills and if this movie has nearly 20 years now, Briana's hotness here equals and surpasses a lot of actual productions!

I was introduced to this title when I ended up recording the wrong channel on satellite TV. Needless to say, I didn't immediately tape over it. We're talking about pornography here, and the biased response the moment you hear this is, "Well I know why you watched it." But speaking from a strictly cinematographic analysis, it's really no different from any other run-of-the-mill adult film. This one has the obligatory 'attempted plot', an overarching story about all these different people seduced by some mysterious sexually charging curse on a sculpture. There are a lot of repetitive sweeping camera shots, which doesn't really work for this type of film. And in most of the 'hot and heavy' scenes, the frame-rate is slowed down to give everything a softer, more sexy feel. Frankly, this didn't really work. It just served to reinforce my opinion that these movies are far longer then they truly need to be. Star power even seems to be a helper in adult films. I'm not about to pretend to be a porn connoisseur; I however am becoming fairly familiar with a number of faces in this industry, and I can say that if you, as an adult film fan, are more piqued in interest by actresses who are well endowed, Briana Banks is one of the better. They're not natural, of course, but they're not exorbitant. Anyhow, to me this was just another patchwork porn, pretty tame considering what's out there.