Dark Garden

Unlike most porns, Dark Garden manages to effectively combine hot sex scenes with a good feature. While not quite as good as Ninn's truly fantastic Shock, this film noirish paranoid thriller is still great. The techno soundtrack rocks. The visuals are great from the opening credits on (the credits remind me of the credits in Seven). This is porn genius at work, far above any other porn I have ever seen. It is visually inventive, and the sex is inventive as well. You will find nothing formulaic here. There are eight sex scenes, all of them good. In my view, one of the great things about the film is the presence of Lea Martini, also in New Wave hookers 5, who is underbilled and underappreciated. She is the sexiest of the talent by far. The film opens at a murder scene with a guy in bed who is at his temples. Julian plays the detective (Detective White) in charge. Then we get a flashback as the w see he murder victim put a new film on his super 8 camera and project it. Vicca comes in and puts hat look like electrodes on his temples and then appears to leave him to watch the film (a black and white with Nikita in it). But we see Vicca undressed partly and furiously masturbating. She then has sex with the murder victim (while he was still alive). It's all kind of incoherent, but it works like a sexual fantasy. The period detail is really striking. This is as good as any Hollywood mainstream film. Both the décor and outfits, especially the women's, are really cool.

After this scene, the guy crawls back on his bed, and dies and then we flash back to the murder scene. The victim, Jack Garfield, turns out to be the mayor's son, and the electrodes turn out to be a combination of digital plates under his skin and hallucinogenic attached to them externally. Detective White turns out to be dirty, and his partner (Juli Ashton) tries to help him out. The man behind this new hallucinogenic is played by Jamie Gillis who talks to his apparently retarded twin about the new digital age and how they'll own the world. There are so neat special effects here. Shots of the camera and shots of the sepia footage of Nikita are intercut. I don't think the film is being misogynistic here. In my view, it is rather foregrounding the technology behind porn, what film theorists call the "cinematic apparatus." So the film is very much a reflection on the way porn involves particular kinds of mal fantasies about women as sex machines. Remarkably, that reflection does not retract from the sex shown. It is unusually hot. If anything, the film demonstrate that porn like this can be a strong .

Next we see Nikita masturbating and Gillis editing footage of her. Nikita deservedly gets top billing. She goes on to do a totally hot D.P. while veteran Jamie Gillis photographs them with a digital camcorder. She is really sexy here, and the multiple angles are really an addition. She wears a hot black bustier and stockings and her hair up. I'd say this is the standout scene in the film.

Detective White turns out to be on the take, and is also "using." White proceeds to use some hallucinogens and then have sex with Juli Ashton, in another fine scene. She wears black garters and stockings as she takes on Julian. The next scene is in jail as a prisoner has sex with Lea Martini, and Julian watches. This is another fantastic scene. Her looks and smiles at the camera as she gives head while squatting are truly sexy! I think she is incredibly beautiful. White calls Gillis to get help, and there is some neat outside footage on LA. At night, with Julian and Nikita. There is a brief scene with Julian and Mia Smiles that is OK. More masturbation, with Lisa Smiles this time, and then a lesbian scene with her and Nikita that is very hot. Belle starts out cross-dressed and her hair done in a butch way. But when she shows her nice rack, there is no mistaking her gender. It turns out that White (Julian) has been hallucinating all of this sex. Just so much cyber-foreplay. So we get one final scene with Julian and Nikita, and again, her blowjob is really stellar. I love the way Ninn has the girls look at the camera and smile. After this scene, his fellow detectives find White dead, looking just like the murder victim they all found at the beginning. These cops can be bought too, and Gillis remains in power. But at the last moment, he gets shot.

This is a typically great VCA DVD, with a great transfer quality from video o DVD. Extras are above standard. Animated chapter stops, three reviews, director's commentary option, and a behind the scenes featurette. A cast list has animated stops that invite you to "jump to a hot scene" and there is a photo gallery. There is also an informative interview with Michael Ninn.

Michael Ninn has created quite a name for himself. From the spectacularly kinky Latex to the all girl series Diva, Ninn never fails to please today's fickle porn audience. Dark Garden is no exception. If anything Ninn improves on his previous works, taking adult features to all new highs. Ninn was interviewed for the DVD release of Dark Garden, and confirms his quest to make adult features look and sound as good as major mainstream releases. That's quite an endeavor, and is met by Ninn and crew on Dark Garden. This movie looks and sounds like anything out of mainstream Hollywood today. It really does need to be experienced to be believed. Even the acting is leaps and bounds above most other adult releases. The plot involves an evil genius' plot to rule the world using a powerful hallucinogenic that seems to take sex to a deadly intensity.

After a long tasteful intro, we find the body of Jack Garfield lying lifeless in an apartment bed. Detectives work hard to re-create the murder scene. But Vicca knows what happened on that ill-fated night?she fucked him to death. But we don't know that right now, all we know is the scene cuts to an invigorating masturbation by Vicca. The Russian goddess digs into her fresh dripping snatch so hard that her feet tremble and shake. Powerful stuff! Equally compelling, Julie Ashton works over the bad cop by treating him to her passion and lust?as heightened by the aforementioned . Ashton fucks the hell out of this guy, taking him in her sweet little ass before he shoots his steamy load on her tits. Nakita, not to be outdone by her Russian co-star Vicca, runs rampant through the cast taking a lurid double penetration, and some girl-girl love before it's all said and done. All?and I do mean all?of the fuck scenes were just as hot and nasty as lower budget flicks, but they had the class of a Ninn production. Incredible.

In his interview, Ninn tells how he wishes his movies received the respect of mainstream releases. He probably has come closer to anyone to achieving this lofty goal. It certainly helps to have the history and budget of VCA?a top dog in the industry, behind you. Superlative features, and the candid behind the scenes interviews complete the package; enhancing the value of this excellent movie. The soundtrack was simply mesmerizing. It sounded better than any I have heard thus far. Vivid colors and stylishly compelling edits pushed the movie along. There simply was not a weak link. Ninn fan or not, this is a must have for any collection.

As to the material: Editor's Choice, eight AVN Award Nominations, including wins for Best Video and Barry Wood for Best Videography. Point made, let's move on.

To the DVD: The "Director's Commentary" is actually a dialogue between Vicca and technical director D3, but the insights are quite good if not a first-person how-I-did-it monologue from director Michael Ninn. A 10-minute behind-the-scenes documentary. Second angles on sex scenes. An autopilot slide show with about 20 pictures with a music track, and three trailers for other Michael Ninn features. Image quality is good, perhaps not perfect, but a bit of distortion creeps into any film-look video and so what. This is not a reality-based gonzo, after all.

Michael Ninn is on obviously entranced with special effects and again brings them out in this tiresome replay of his other "spectaculars."

In watchiong this visually stunning film I got the distinct impression that this man views women anly as cock sucking and pounding fucking machines for men. I don't think any of the women showed a smile or any humor throughout the picture. I personally find this approach abhorent.

For a better view of some rough sex, check out Electric Sex also with great special effects but a more balanced appoach to women.

Oh my this movie is hot!!!! Vicca is one of my favorite porn stars and she doesn't disappoint. Nikita and Julie Ashton are very hot in this movie too. When I recieved this movie I got a hard just looking at the cover of this movie. The movie was very good. Out of 10, I gave it a 8.5 .