PEEKARAMA BIG 2 UNIT SHOW!: SILK SATIN & SEX (1983)/TURN ON WITH KELLY NICHOLS (1984)
Director: Lawrence Talbot
Vinegar Syndrome

Vinegar Syndrome's latest Peekarama double feature pairs two obscure efforts from Lawrence Talbot (hmm…) that showcase some of the stars of early eighties adult films.

In SILK SATIN & SEX, Valerie (Jessie St. James, ORIENTAL HAWAII) invites the top picks among models applying to work for her lingerie company to give them tips on underwear sales as the key to landing a man as she demonstrates by recounting a vignette about how she met her husband (Bill Michaels) while working as a door-to-door salesgirl. It turns out that all of the girls are already married, and they in turn recount how they met their significant others. Fanny (Joanna Storm, MANEATERS) picked hers up while window shopping (David Sandler) and they each shared their love of the outdoors with a carnal romp in Central Park as an Anais Nin-reading woman (Tanya Lawson, HYPERSEXUALS) takes things into her own hands nearby. Tiffany Clark (CENTERFOLD FEVER) trades smoking for sex addiction with hypnotherapist Paul Thomas (FANTASYWORLD) while Mai Lin (SECRET DREAMS) gets trapped in a high-rise after hours and tries out the Aqua Club with distinguished Jose Duval (HOT SERVICE). Mai Lin's story gets Fanny so heated up that they slip away to the garden for a lesbian encounter while Denise (Vanessa Del Rio, CORRUPTION) relates how her one night stand with Texan Jerry Butler (TABOO 3) turned into a four-way and a marriage. Eighty minutes go by, with the girls' decision to "swap" stories and fluids with each other's husbands left to a "to be continued." Rather perfunctorily directed and photographed, the film relies heavily on what star presence it has, and the ladies do manage to carry it even if they have all been better elsewhere.

TURN ON WITH KELLY NICHOLS is a soft-focused, ethereally-scored variation on the "white-coater" educational sex film as Nichols (THE TOOLBOX MURDERS) sits in a wicker chair wearing only a fur and surrounded by candles promising to reveal to the viewer the secrets of successful sexual relations through a series of hardcore vignettes. Chelsea Blake (AMERICAN BABYLON) uses her vaginal juices as an aphrodisiac to arouse Jose Duval before dripping honey onto part of his anatomy to sweeten things up. Brooke Fields (AWAKENING OF SALLEY) and Dick Howard (HOT LICKS) engage in oily sensual massage augmented by a vibrator while Taija Rae (69TH VICE STREET) and Klaus Multia (URBAN HEAT) demonstrate oral stimulation and penetration. Sharon Kane (HOT LUNCH) illustrates the art of self-stimulation in the absence of a partner that gets Nichols sufficiently heated to have her own encounter with Multia. Blake and Duval come back for a demonstration of orgasms during periods (in a shot filmed through a deep red filter). Rather dull but strangely entrancing with the uninspired but striking use of soft focus, revolving camera movements (or maybe the beds themselves are turning), and a languorous synth score. Nichols looks great, but she is as somnambulistic as everyone and everything else in the picture.

Mastered from 35mm pre-print elements scanned in 2K, the progressive, anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen transfer of SILK SATIN & SEX and the fullscreen transfer of TURN ON… both look at times like 16mm blow-ups, with the latter looking even grainier and softer by design (the scene with Sharon Kane is the only bit that isn't soft-focused and reveals crisper detail). The Dolby Digital 1.0 tracks are in fair to good condition (more likely the limitations of the original recording and mixing). The sole extra is a trailer for the first film (2:54). (Eric Cotenas)

 

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