Jennifer Ate

"Jennifer Ate" was made in 1993, the year after the Hollywood film "Jennifer 8", starring Uma Thurman, was released. I confess to being a fan of the Hollywood rip-off title, but I'm glad that the title is all that was ripped off here. I mean, what are the odds the porn industry could have pulled off a film about a blind lesbian?

In fact, Jennifer Ate is only sort of about anything (other than all-girl sex). There's some kind of storyline involving a bunch of girls' quest to figure out which adult actress should be the "star" of their fan club, but that's somewhat less than an excuse for the sex. This is basically a compilation film in which all the girls know each other. Nevertheless, the conceit works for half of the film. After that, the energy gives out, and it would have helped to have a slightly more elaborate narrative to rein in the excesses of the last half.

The action gets started with Melanie Moore and Paula Price in a bedroom porn set. A cowboy hat and a strap-on dildo get them role playing, with Melanie playing the part of Peter North. The segment is shot from a masculine point of view (that is, with a great deal of emphasis on the dildo itself) - so much so, in fact, that Paula gives the thing a royal blowjob before the fucking starts. It works, though, because both girls exhibit a great deal of energy and enthusiasm, which sets the table for the next two scenes.

Kiss and Alex Jordan have the next scene, set in a bar. Kiss is well-named: before hopping up on the bar and spreading her legs, she gets the sex rolling with a lot of above-average kissing. She and Alex look good together in their brightly colored dresses and they appear to be having a good time.

The same sense of fun continues into the third scene, as well. Poor Serenity is convinced that the answer to their fan club dilemma resides on the other side: she convinces Alexis Devell and P.J. Sparxx to give her Ouija board a try. Of course, the other girls think it's a lark and pretend to contact the real-life inspiration for the title character in The Story of O, whom they name Oviana. Evidently there isn't any sex on the other side and Oviana agrees to help provided the girls put on sexy leather outfits and let her experience lovemaking, through them, one more time. The resultant sex is perhaps the best in the film, with a number of positions, no toys, and a great straight-on shot of Serenity grinding her pussy in P.J.'s face to end the scene.

This is the point at which the film comes to an almost complete stop, thanks to an incomprehensible stage performance from Jeanna Fine and Paula Price. The two girls are on yet another porn set, find yet another set of goodies (costumes, this time), and once again decide to make the best of their situation. Their best, however, is pretty awful in this case.

The trouble is that the scene comes across as something from another film. It's a performance piece, with the inherent recognition of the camera. The girls dance, pose, and ultimately Paula jumps into a large bowl filled with water while Jeanna prances about her. The scene is also heavily edited, which, again, sets it apart from everything that has come previously.

The movie never recovers. It's back to the same old same old with Porsche Lynn and Melanie Moore in another bedroom, and even the use of a double-penetration dildo can't save the scene. (This scene might have played better had it come before the train wreck.) And the orgy scene that concludes the movie is, like most orgy scenes, heavily edited and too short to provide a great deal of entertainment or generate much excitement. What luck that there's a happy ending: the other girls vote Serenity the star of their fan club.

After suffering through the last half of the film, it's easy to forget that "Jennifer Ate" is not a bad movie, it's half a bad movie. I prefer to forget the second half, instead. With its energy and enthusiasm, "Jennifer Ate" (part one) is worth a look.

The bonus features, on the other hand, generally aren't, and this is perhaps due to the age of the film. With the exception of the always-welcome biographies section, this DVD offers only a bunch of trailers and two photo slide shows, which not only contain small or poor quality images, but also give the viewer no control over the speed at which they pass.

The only good reason for picking up Jennifer Ate is the fact that this is the movie that introduced Serenity (credited here as "Serenity Wilde") to porn viewers everywhere. Other than that, Jennifer Ate is a fairly bland all-girl sex film, but it does remind me of how natural looking some of the women in adult film used to be, before they loaded up on breast implants, tattoos and piercings.

The film opens with Melanie Moore and the extremely sexy-looking Paula Price making out with each other on a bed. Melanie dons a strap-on and pins Paula down, fucking her in the missionary position. This first scene was actually my favorite in the film, as both girls seem to really enjoy being with each other, and the fact that watching Paula in any kind of action (even the lesbian kind) is a real turn-on.

Serenity shows up with an Ouija board and tries to conjure up some long-buried babes. The two women in the room, Alex Jordan and Kiss, decide they are going to have some fun with Serenity and manage to scare her out of the room. Once she is gone, the two girls hop up on a nearby bar and really start going at each other.

Serenity tries her Ouija board with two other women, this time Alexis DeVell and P.J. Sparxx. The two girls convince Serenity that a spirit wants them all to don some hot leather outfits, and once they have all changed, they take advantage of her and get involved in a three-way. I really thought seeing P.J. eat out Serenity (and vice versa) would make for great adult viewing, but everyone involved just seemed to be going through the motions in this sequence, with no real heat between the actresses.

Paula Price is back for the next scene, this one with Jeanna Fine, in which the two women perform what I am assuming is something that they did for their stage performances. Both women dance around a bit, and Paula gets into a large bowl filled with water and soaps herself up.

One of the Lynn girls shows up for the next to last scene...no, not Amber or Ginger (damn!), but Porsche (just for those new to adult...none of the three women are in any way related). She teams up with Melanie Moore in a coupling that uses not only toys, but anal beads as well. This reminded me that anal beads were used a lot in past adult films (especially in lesbian scenes), but hardly ever show up for use in newer titles. Are anal beads not sexy enough for modern-day raincoaters? Is America suffering from an "anal bead gap"? Oh, now I remember...we're just coming up with more creative things to stick up women's asses these days...just ask Bridgette Kerkove!

As you would probably expect, the title ends with a large orgy between almost all of the women in the title (although I didn't see Paula Price or Kiss). The part of this segment that should appeal the most to viewers is when P.J. Sparxx uses a strap-on to plow Porshe, both doggy style and then in the cowgirl position (shortly before the end of the scene).

The video is surprisingly only average on this Wicked title, and the audio is even worse. The voices are clear...but only if you crank up your speakers to about triple of the normal setting you would use to watch an adult DVD. The features are also on the slim side, although there are slide shows, audio biographies and trailers...and even a bonus slide show if you are able to find the hidden Easter Egg on the disc.

Even though I knew going in that this was an older all-girl title, I was expecting the movie to at least have something to do with the mainstream movie Jennifer 8 (I don't know what I was expecting...perhaps blind lesbians?!). Unfortunately, a clever title is on a below-average film...so unless you are a collector of Serenity's movies, it's probably safe not to sink your teeth into Jennifer Ate.