Thriller adjacent
"Interesting set of features that are definitely erotic, but thriller adjacent."
Details
Sold Out / OOP
Shaun Costello was one of the most prolific erotic filmmakers of the 1970s and early 80s. Presented here are two of his later works which gleefully explore the seedy underbelly of New York City during its sleazy heyday.
AFTERNOON DELIGHTS:
A group of friends have gathered for their regular poker night, but instead of dealing stud they are presented with a new game from their host Eric Edwards. A game where they try to decide who has the nastiest story about an ex-wife. One of Costello's most memorable vignette films, AFTERNOON DELIGHTS stars Vanessa del Rio, Veronica Hart, Serena, Samantha Fox, Eric Edwards and many more.
SLAVE OF PLEASURE:
Private detective, Dan McCord (Roger Caine) has been hired by Richard Anselm (Shaun Costello) to find his beautiful wife, Eileen. As McCord digs into the case, he discovers that Eileen might have been kidnapped by white slavers. But as he uncovers more and more clues, suspicion soon starts to fall on Richard's mistress, Barbara (C.J. Laing)...
Directed by: Shaun Costello
Combined cast: Serena, Vanessa del Rio, Samantha Fox, Veronica Hart, Eric Edwards, Bobby Astyr, C.J. Laing, Jamie Gillis, Roger Caine
1978-1980 / 167 minutes (combined) / Color / 1.85:1 & 1.33:1
- Region free DVD
- Both films scanned and restored in 2k from 35mm archival elements
- Both films feature a commentary track with director, Shaun Costello
- Theatrical trailer for AFTERNOON DELIGHTS
Overall rating: 4.1538463 / 5 from 26 reviews.
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Summary topics
Review topics: ["work","feature","movie","restoration","cast","film","release","scenes","hat","addition","erotica","starpower"].
Review highlights
Reviews
Shaun Costello Double Feature Masterpiece!
"This double feature of Shaun Costello's films is a welcome addition to the restoration work being done on his films. Both are presented uncut, and feature commentary tracks with the man himself. this release features some of the biggest names in the adult film world, jamie Gillis, Serena, Eric Edwards, Vanessa Del Rio, Samantha Fox...the list goes on. With a vignette style film, and a noirish type detective film, Shaun Costello delivered the goods in both of these, as only he can."
Afternoon Pleasure
"Neither of these features could've been all that good, as I'd previously owned this and completely forgotten about it! I realised around ten minutes in... ah well, here's a brief review. So I'll begin with Afternoon Delights. Firstly, it has a very catchy theme tune! Secondly, Eric Edwards has a beard, which I can't remember seeing in another film. The movie revolves around a card game, whereby everyone writes down something their ex-wife did, but 'thought they got away with'. The first story is about a wife who gets excited watching some apes working on a construction site. They come into her apartment (uhuhuh) and give her a good going over. For some inexplicable reason one of them decides to keep his hat hard on... sorry, I mean his hat hard on! I've done it again! (If that doesn't make sense, you really need to watch 'I'm Alan Partridge'!). So anyway, one of them decides to keep his HARD HAT ON. Now I know the situation wasn't great back then and protection was important, but I think this is taking things a little too far. The second scene is a bit of dental r-a-p-e... as in a dentist and his assistant are the one taking advantage of the patient. It must be the easiest money Veronica Hart ever made, as she just gets to lay back and enjoy as she pretends to be put out by the gas. At the end of the scene she winks to the camera... so it's okay, it wasn't really anything bad, because she was awake and enjoyed every moment of it - phew! Scene three is even weirder, as there are what appears to be a large group of gay men (I think) who show no interest in each other, but instead choose to bang a woman dressed as a man, who is quite obviously a woman. Strangest of all, one of them looks like Brick Tamland from Anchorman! Very strange indeed... The fourth scene is actually quite good. It features Samantha Fox (I think) and if I'm right that it is her then please don't confuse her with the British Page 3 model from the 80s! Anyway, she's dressed like a Nazi (that's not the good bit) and is a dominatrix, but she's having a lot of fun with it all and that is no bad thing for the viewer. The fifth scene is another strange one. The girl who gets DP'd look like a boy, so if that's your thing then here's the movie for you. The guy on top fires his load all over the other guy underneath while he's still going at it - seems to be a recurring theme in Shaun Costello's films. I bet that guy underneath insisted he gets the rear end in future movies made with this director. Anyway, that's Afternoon Delights and I've just realised this isn't a brief review at all. Slave of Pleasure is the second feature and it has a somewhat twisted plot, but I won't go into all of that. The one thing I will say is that it has the usual stuff you'd expect from an SC movie, including DP. The sex scenes in both movies aren't particularly nicely filmed, but they look a lot worse in Slave of Pleasure - it's not a pretty sight and the DP scene reminded me more of the sort of thing we'd see in much later Eastern European porn. It features a few of the best known stars of the era (both films do actually) - Ron Jeremy and Jamie Gillis turn up in this one. Gillis is also in another Costello movie called Midnight Desires, along with Eric Edwards from Afternoon Delights. Two points - one is that I would guess Afternoon Delights is a sort of follow up of sorts to Midnight Desires, although I much preferred Midnight Desires. Second point is that Jamie Gillis puts on a comical French accent in this movie, which isn't really important, but I wanted to mention it all the same! So that's my review. I can't say I'd recommend it to anyone but completionists, but if you like Costello's work then perhaps you'll like this - personally, I didn't."
disappointing
"a porn portmanteau and a porn roughie. best scene is Veronica Hart at the dentist in Afternoon Delights"
Double Feature signed Shaun Costello
"Great work getting these on DVD. Great cast and sleazy fun. Highly recommended"
Another must own
"A pair of classic features almost lost to time. With a great restoration and fast shipping. With great packaging of two good flicks. Nice to see a release of classic erotica entertainment"
Two Shaun Costello thrillers
"An erotic game of nasty proportions, and a kidnapping gone awry."
Poker Porn and Slavish Noir
"Guys dressed up in tuxes playing poker and fantasizing about ex-wives playing at something else. Fantasies can be fun. Dan McCord (Roger Caine) is a private dick who tells us about his cases. The first involves Richard Anselm (Shaun Costello) and his wife Eileen (Roseanne Farrow) who has special tastes in store for Richard. But Richard has some plans of his own."
Afternoon Delights/Slave Of Pleasure
"I liked both films. Glad to have picked this up on the Valentines Day Sale."
Afternoon Delights/Slave of Pleasure
"How is it possible not to love the work of Shaun Costello?!...The guy had the 'magic eye' for composition... Couple that with an appearance by Ronnie Hart!... So many other gooduns, but.... Ms. Hart!!!!.... Good double as usual for these Peekerama DVDs'!!!!!"