Joy (1983) + Joy & Joan (1985/Severin DVDs)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C/D     Films: C+

 

 

Despite the influx of VHS and Beta, spurred on by XXX product before the studios all jumped on board, sex product has been so successful and profitable on the big screen that Producer Benjamin Simon was determined to launch a new kind of sexually obsessed character in the Emmanuel mode and the result led to a smaller, shorter series about Joy.  It may have been home video only by the 1990s, but two theatrical films resulted in the 1980s and Severin has issued both on DVD.

 

Genre director Sergio Bergonzelli directed the first film in 1983 with Claudia Udy as the title character involved in sexual, erotic situations that are either wild fantasies, wild exploitation or so unreal that they could only happen in a film from the 1970s in the wake of the success of Deep Throat and Behind The Green Door.  This first film has so many odd moments that it is worth seeing once, but is not that great and shows how played out the XXX cycle was to begin with.  Joy (whose father has been missing for years) is a model looking for an older man and she finds him, but all are too dysfunctional, so there’s always sex.

 

Two years later, Jacques Saurel took over the directing chores (guess Bergonzelli was too artsy to continue following up his supposedly perfect work?) on Joy & Joan, as Joy (now played by Brigitte Lahaie who later played the hooker in Henry & June, reviewed elsewhere on this site) adds lesbianism to her experiences.  She meets Joan (Isabelle Solar) even though she has found her across the world in Indochina, et al.  If only they had Internet dating then.

 

The film is no better or worse than the last one, unintentionally funny in its bad acting, dated sex and overall approach.  The result was the series ended its original run here and became silly TV fodder.  Only locations make the second film more watchable than it would be otherwise, as you could have the nudity and sex anywhere.

 

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on each film comes from prints that are not bad, but show their age and have some detail issues, though color is not bad in either case.  Richard Ciupka (Atlantic City) was co-Director of Photography in the first film and it is not badly shot, nor is its sequel, but neither is so distinct or brilliant that you get any serious demo shots in either case.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono in both cases show their age and the budget limits on both films, but they sound fine for what they are and are subtitled.  There are no extras on the sequel, but an interview with Udy is on the first film’s DVD.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo