Aphrodisiac

Now this was a pleasant surprise. I hadn't heard much "buzz" about Hustler's Aphrodisiac, and that box cover - while featuring the busty and beautiful contract girl, Memphis Monroe - isn't exactly something that catches the eye, but the movie turns out to be an Indiana Jones like romp with a lot of humor and some good sex scenes.

While Memphis gets the box cover, the real star of Aphrodisiac is Evan Stone, who plays adventurer Dakota Smith, who we meet at the beginning of the movie in a cantina. Evan has been there all night, being charmed by the singing skills of Daisy Marie, and the two get it on right there in the cantina in Aphrodisiac's opening sex scene.

After Evan has popped onto Daisy's tongue, they are joined in the cantina by Frank Bukkwyd and Lee Stone, who are playing evil treasure hunters Gustov Heinrich and his henchman Nicolas, respectively. Frank wants to enlist Evan in his quest to find the legendary "Aphrodisiac," which Evan will later explain might be a liquid, a power or an actual person (hint, hint!). Evan doesn't want to, but after Frank threatens Daisy, he agrees to join their quest.

While camping out in the desert, Lee is awakened to discover Missy Monroe and Jasmine Byrne near the camp and wanting to make out with him. Lee takes on both women in multiple positions and finishes up by jerking onto Jasmine's ass after pumping her doggy style. The girls disappear, but Evan believes Lee's story...feeling they are closer than ever to finding the legendary Aphrodisiac.

The next day, the three hunters come across a white tent sitting in the middle of nowhere (Aphrodisiac has a lot of things going for it, but a big budget isn't one of them!). One by one they enter, with Frank being the last one to go in. Inside the tent there is nothing but a mirror...but it proves to be a portal to Aphrodisiac's temple, which we soon discover is in fact a real person - played by Memphis Monroe.

Inside the temple, Evan claims he's through with Frank and Lee, and a scuffle ensues. Evan blacks out, but wakes up in the arms of Memphis, who proceeds to make out with him. This is one of the first times (if not the first time) that I've seen Memphis in action, and she's an above-average performer. Evan gets to penetrate her in the reverse cowgirl, doggy, and missionary positions, before jerking a load onto her face.

While Evan's having fun, Frank and Lee have been chained up and to watch Eva Angelina making out with Naomi. I really liked this girl/girl pairing, especially since the girls got to do each other with strap-ons - something you don't see nearly enough of in couples-themed porn. They also share a black double-ended dildo towards the end of their segment.

At this point in the movie, we learn the secret of Aphrodisiac (Memphis' character): every time she has sex with a man, she adds months to her life, while taking that same amount of time away from the person she is fucking. So have sex with her a few dozen times, and you're taking years off of your life. A hundred times and...well, you get the picture. Evan helps free Frank and Lee, but leaves them behind, not knowing that they'll be dumb enough to return to the "real world" with Memphis in tow.

Evan winds up back at the cantina, and a pair of swingers played by Sandra Romain and Steve Holmes ask him to join them back in their hotel room for a threesome. Although it has little to do with the plot, the three-way is actually the wildest sex scene in the movie, with Sandra getting anal and being double penetrated in a pair of positions, and taking two cumshots in her mouth at the end, which she swallows down.

Much like Carl Denham in King Kong, Frank's character gets on television (Hustler TV, naturally!) and shows the world what he has found in Memphis. The final scene has Memphis making out with Tommy Gunn in front of the television cameras, in a coupling that ends with Tommy depositing his load onto Memphis' pussy. The movie ends with Evan rescuing Memphis and returning her home, promising to come back one day when he has found a cure that will prevent her from taking years off the lives of the men she is with. The last line from Memphis, however, tells us the sad truth...there is no cure.

Sadly, even though the movie has been shot with hi-def cameras, the video transfer here isn't anamorphic and widescreen TV owners (and standard TV owners as well) will be to watch the movie in the letterbox format. Still, because it was shot with hi-def equipment, the overall quality of the video is quite shartp. Audio was presented in 2.0 Dolby.

All the bonus features are located on a second disc that comes with this release, and includes a behind the scenes making of; interviews with the cast and director; a slide show; and trailers for other Hustler releases.

I enjoyed Aphrodisiac quite a bit. It isn't well-written enough to garner a perfect film score from me (nor is the production budget quite up to par), but I must admit that I had a pretty fun time watching it. It's definitely worth a rental, and perhaps a purchase depending on the final look and specs of the DVD when it is released.

This is another quality feature from the Hustler/Jerome Tanner stable; an adventure yarn with nore than a nod to Indiana Jones. As the review says, it's not exactly big budget, but this can be a good thing, because I think that often the big budget adult features tend to forget what they're supposed to be all about (hot sex, that is) and get carried away with all the special effects, etc, at the expense of exciting and erotic sex scenes. There's no such problem in this movie; Jerome Tanner once again shows that he knows how to direct sex scenes to maximum effect.

The beautiful Memphis Monroe is the star attraction; she looks stunning in her regal get up, and has two excellent sex scenes, plus a bit of acting which she has a good go at. For those who like something a bit harder, there's an excellent DP scene featuring sexy European star Sandra Romain. There really is something for everyone (almost) in this movie.

The story is simple, but keeps moving along, with some nice corny twists in true Hollywood fashion, and the sets, although not lavish, are perfectly OK for the good hot sex action. A big thumbs up for this one!