Thursday, December 21, 2017

SCOUNDRELS (1982) ** ½


Ron Jeremy is an unhappily married shrink whose wife cheats on him with his best friend.  He’s having an affair with his secretary, who also happens to be balling his best friend.  His daughter is a nympho too and she soon takes to selling herself to satiate her desires.

It might not sound like it from that plot description, but director Cecil (Platinum Paradise) Howard didn’t set out to make a typical XXX movie.  He fills the movie with a lot of surrealistic touches and gives some sequences a dreamlike feel.  I can’t say it’s successful or anything as the scenes of the family in white face paint confessing their sins to an omnipotent being (okay, some guy waving a flashlight) get repetitive after a while.  

There are a handful of solid sex scenes here and Howard does a nice job of giving each one a distinct style.  Unfortunately, the best scenes are mostly weighted towards the beginning of the film.  I can’t rightly know if you’ll be turned on by them though.  I mean the horrifying sight of Ron Jeremy dressed like a mime is enough to kill any chance of arousal.  

Without Howard’s stylish touches, Scoundrels would’ve been instantly forgettable.  Even with them, it still isn’t all that great.  If anything, it’s a reminder of a time when directors could sneak a little artiness into a porno, just as long as he had enough sex in there to satisfy the paying customers.

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