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Just
one of a slew of rip-offs and pseudo-sequels to the original
Emmanuelle starring Sylvia Kristel
(1974), Emanuelle In America*
marked yet another collaboration between Indonesian sex goddess
Laura Gemser and Italian director "Joe D'Amato" (real
name: Aristide Massacessi). In its uncut form the film is a
fairly innocuous (not to mention plotless) 'hard R' sex flick
—
that is, until the insertion of some hardcore porn scenes and
a sudden left turn into graphic gore territory. Then there's
the participation of Pedro the horse...
Gemser's Emanuelle is a nudie photographer/investigative
journalist (???) based in New York City. When wearing her reporter
hat she travels the world in search of exclusive stories, each
of which invariably has a substantial sexual component. That
she's willing to strip and hop in the sack at a moment's notice
in pursuit of a scoop serves her well. During the course of
the movie Emanuelle infiltrates a tycoon's private harem, becomes
involved in the kinky pastimes of Venetian aristocrats, tours
a posh island resort catering to the sex fantasies of rich women,
and uncovers an illicit snuff film trade between an unnamed
South American country and debauched politicos in Washington
DC. She gets naked a lot and boinks just about everybody, male
or female. Such dedication! Good thing her boyfriend doesn't
really mind.
Of course her job as a journalist is merely an excuse to get
Emanuelle into kinky situations and out of her clothes (along
with most of the other female characters). Horndogs can't go
wrong with this flick, as there's nudity galore and most of
the ladies on display are attractive. Connoisseurs of the prurient
will doubtless have no problem with the inclusion of 3 minutes
of hardcore porn action — mostly fellatio, but also a bit of
penetration — that suddenly rears its head (pun intended) about
halfway into the picture. (Gemser herself never participates
in any of the X-rated scenes, merely 'observing' via the magic
of editing.) But just what the appeal of the infamous horse
stroking scene is supposed to be I can't begin to fathom. Is
this supposed to be a turn on? If so, I can happily report that
equine masturbation does absolutely nothing for me. D'Amato
certainly isn't making any kind of artistic statement here...
For no real reason whatever, we get to watch a naked woman coo
lovingly to Pedro the horse while she manually stimulates him.
Besides disgust, the only reaction I could imagine any normal
person having to this sequence would be thinking, "Jeez!
Horses sure have big dicks!" (Provided the viewer never
lived on or visited a farm or ranch, that is.)
Blow jobs, squirting man-juice and equestrian
antics aside, where the movie takes a decidedly bizarre turn
is in its inclusion of gore via the snuff film subplot. While
snooping around the pleasure island Emanuelle sees a woman and
her rented stud watching a disturbing film of apparently real
torture and murder. Determined to learn its source, our heroine
tracks a lead to a Washington politician whose taste in cinema
leans towards the taboo. She seduces the pol to learn where
the snuff film originated. After screening some of the footage
together he drugs Emanuelle and takes her on a plane trip to
somewhere in South America. At a military base the pair get
to watch a snuff film being made —
woman are stripped, horribly tortured and then brutally killed
while a camera rolls. Still in a drug-induced haze, the next
thing Emanuelle recalls is waking up back in the United States.
Was it all just some nightmarish dream? Apparently not. Photos
taken with her miniature spy camera prove the experience was
real. Unfortunately her editor decides the story is too incendiary
to publish. The photo evidence is filed away and the matter
dropped. (Does she work for Fox News or something?) The wicked
politician suffers no ill consequences. Oh well! Thus the whole
snuff angle amounts to a big fat zero plot-wise, just another
pointless episode in Emanuelle's globetrotting. So why is it
there? Brief as it is the snuff footage is quite disturbing
and realistic-looking, certainly not for the squeamish. (Women
are beaten, gang-raped and forced to drink acid, breasts are
hacked off, etc.) If D'Amato was attempting to blend the sex
and horror genres then his gambit fails —
the gore is arbitrarily tacked on for absolutely no other reason
than to shock.
Actually,
a lot of the movie seems arbitrary; this, after all,
is to be expected with sex flicks. Script quality is always
low on the priority list. The goal is to get the ladies out
of their clothes and into steamy situations as quickly and regularly
as possible. This D'Amato readily achieves. One of the better
exploitation film directors, he ensures everything looks as
enticing as possible and makes good use of location filming.
(The title is something of a mystery, though; from Venice to
the Caribbean to Latin America and finally to Africa, Ms. Gemser
spends less than half the running time in the good ol' U.S.A.)
Were it not for the hardcore porn inserts, Pedro's schlong
and the gory snuff sequences the film would play exactly like
one of those lame, goofily dubbed European sexploitation flicks
they used to run on Cinemax back in the late '80s-early '90s.
(The coffee table/wet bar combo made to look like a giant pack
of Marlboros was pretty cool.)
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With
their usual attention to quality the folks at Blue Underground
serve up this steaming sleaze goulash on a silver platter. A/V
specs are exemplary, with a beautiful looking widescreen transfer
and a solid mono audio track. Optional Italian and French language
tracks are also selectable, with the qualitative edge going to
the Italian one among all three. (Alas, there are no subtitles
options.)
BU
accentuates the DVD's main course with a selection of notable
side dishes. First, there's a video interview with director Joe
D'Amato, culled from a Italian documentary about his work made
prior to his death. He discusses his approach to erotic cinema,
his long professional and personal camaraderie with leading lady
Gemser, and tells a hilarious story about a male actor's on-camera
erectile dysfunction. An audio interview with the reclusive Laura
Gemser, taped in 1996, will be of significant interest to her
legion of fans. She talks candidly about working in sex films
— basically
it was a job that paid well and allowed her to travel extensively
—
and praises D'Amato, with whom she developed a strong friendship.
This Q &
A session runs 11 minutes and is accompanied by a montage gallery
of poster art/promotional stills from many of her Emanuelle films
along with a number of cheesecake shots.
Completing
the roster of extras are talent bios of D'Amato and Gemser and
a terrific step-through essay, The Unofficial Emmanuelle Phenomenon
by David Flint, which puts the film and the entire Em(m)anuelle
craze into perspective. 6/18/03 |
