Island Fever 3 + Pirates (HD-DVD + DVD Sets/Erotica)
Picture:
B-/C+ + C+/C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B- Features: C+
Is the
line between mainstream entertainment and erotic hardcore filmmaking blurring
or disappearing? Not quite, or there
would not be a multi-billion dollar XXX industry. However, as more HD productions arrive and
PCs further change the nature of the entire entertainment industry, the filmed
and taped sex business faces new challenges.
Besides the constant glut of often silly product, the free XXX product
on line, the trash sex that has spilled over into the mainstream and “amateur”
cycle competes with star performers; the industry is wondering what to do next.
While
downloads seem like a “rathole” as one famous Hollywood producer recently and
correctly implied, the XXX industry will need to take a new tact to survive or
be washed away by the commonplace.
Digital Playground is a company taking the initiative to try something
better and different. With more
attractive, comical and cleaner performers than most of the industry seems to
offer, the company has become the first to release their product in an HD
format. The result are HD-DVDs of Island Fever 3 and Pirates, which include regular DVD-Video versions and the latter of
which is a send-up of a famous hit trilogy confirming Conan O’Brien’s theory
that when a hit movie arrives, the XXX version gets produced immediately.
After VHS
and Beta killed the filmed era of the XXX industry, they went to analog NTSC
video for over 20 years, only rarely returning to filmed productions. In the last few years and to serve what few
XXX movie houses and outlets existed, they shot some productions in early HD
and could issue them in film prints or video projection. These are two of those productions.
Pirates goes through more trouble than
expected with very dated CG effects for a production only a few years old,
sets, costumes and even locations and a script that “sort of” has a
storyline. That they are a lame excuse
for sex scenes is beyond obvious, though this is not as wacky as you might
expect. Like much heterosexual-aimed
product going back to the 1970s, this features the usual “standard intercourse”
with lots of oral sex and thought-police lesbianism. That it skips other things is actually a
surprise, but they have the bodies to get away with it, though those who have
not seen such material in years will be surprised at the lack of body hair (an
AIDS-era development) and more implant and plastic surgery than would have ever
been tolerated in the 1970s.
Island Fever 3 is part of a series that is
actually much closer to the series of video programs for couples interested in
sex and massage Playboy Video has issued as these programs are just sets of sex
scenes set to music with no story, dialogue, sound effects or much
massage. Many of the same actors are in
this program, including women with names like Jesse Jane, Devon, Janine, Tera
Patrick and very downplayed males (not even on the covers as not to scare off
the male audience) with names like Tommy Gunn (no gangster is he) and Evan
Stone.
For this
latter title, they HD taped it all on location in Bora Bora and Tahiti, which
is a far cry from the dirty reputation of the cheap influx the industry usually
offers. This does not make it art and
may not be too erotic to some, but for the beyond obvious expectations of this
kind of material, enough “memorable moments” are here for those interested in
either title. We have seen so much
explicit material in indie and alternative filmmaking recently that looking at
such material arriving on HD made sense and we will continue to sample such HD
titles.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on both DVD versions is poorer than
usual, however, looking like there are limits in the downtrade equipment and a
strange moiré pattern like we have never seen before. We have seen many odd anomalies and
digititis, but this is a new one. As for
the HD-DVD versions, these were shot on early HD equipment and the “narrative” Pirates has more image issues die to
lighting problems and Video Red limits of the indoor shooting scenes. Island
Fever 3 is shot outdoors and is more of a no-brainer for better picture
reproduction, especially since all is in the daylight.
However,
the problem like the largest Hollywood HD productions of late is that daylight
still never looks like daylight since HD has the Video Red limit and you can
imagine with all the nudity how that can be an issue with flesh tones. Still, the VC-1 HD versions look a little
better than the standard DVD versions, but is still too soft and as these
companies upgrade to better HD cameras, this will be far more obvious. At least they future-proofed themselves with
HD shooting versus old analog tapes, which will likely be bonus footage for HD
productions of the future as HD becomes more popular. A comparison to Magnolia Picture’s Blu-ray of
Bikini Destination – Triple Fantasy
shows how behind this shoot is, looking far better even though it is more like
a swimsuit magazine than XXX material.
Nudity is nudity, though.
There are
also a few bad slow-motion moments that do not work and some hazing images when
people move, showing again that it is older HD.
Maybe they should do a few of these in 35mm or 16mm just to see what
happens.
Thought
both titles offer Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes, the multi-channel is not used that
well in either title and sounds like amateur film school work. Island
Fever 3 is simply the music, so you can’t go wrong there. By comparison, Bikini Destination offers DTS and if these were in DTS, the flaws
would be even more obvious.
Extras
include behind the scenes footage for both productions that are far more
entertaining than the features as a whole, with everyone having so much fun,
you can see why these productions turn out better than most and why this
company is more likely to survive its competitors. Both also offer stills, bios, trailers for
other DP product and audio commentaries on both features. They have to be heard to be believed,
including the first time in history the director (named Joone, who is behind
both) electronically disguised so only the company and FBI knows who he
is. Pirates
adds casting video, bloopers, a short made during the Island Fever 3 that inspired this project and a piece on the
digital effects.
For more
titles about sex and erotica, we recommend these titles:
BIKINI
DESTINATION – TRIPLE FANTASY (Blu-ray)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5044/Bikini+Destination+–+Triple+Fantasy+(Blu-ray)
DEBBIE
DOES DALLAS UNCOVERED
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3432/Debbie+Does+Dallas+Uncovered+(Documentary)
FLESH
GORDON
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/240/Flesh+Gordon
INSIDE
DEEP THROAT (NC-17 version)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2834/Inside+Deep+Throat+(NC-17/Documentary)
9 SONGS
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3230/9+Songs+-+Full+Uncut+Version
PORNOGRAPHY
– THE SECRET HISTORY OF CIVILISATION
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4813/Pornography+–+The+Secret+History+Of+Civilisation+(Documentary)
SEXUAL
INTELLIGENCE
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3431/Sexual+Intelligence+(Documentary/Kim+Cattrall)
- Nicholas Sheffo
