Arousal (Titan Media) Review

Reviewed by Alan Benson  on  1/2/2000

AROUSAL, 82 mins.
Titan/45 Degrees/Atomic (Distributors)
Directors: Bruce Cam & Robert Kirsh

Report Card: B+ ??

How do you review an award-winning softcore porn title which consists mostly of re-used footage?

In this case, all of Arousal's couples scenes were shot for Titan's gorgeous hardcore Island Guardian and Desert Train, so first I'd recommend those DVDs over this one--for most of us who are actually interested in sexual activity...

Titan calls Arousal "a fine art coffee-table book come to life"--and that's a pretty good description. Cam & Kirsch know how to find stunning scenery--human and otherwise--and film it well. Taken on its own merits this DVD is beautiful, well-made and, yes, arousing as hell--if the sight of gorgeous studs passionately kissing and rubbing against each other for 82 minutes sounds worth a purchase or a rental. (Don't confuse this softcore with the kind usually referred to as "cable porn"--which includes real or simulated sex edited non-explicitly. In this case, erotic foreplay is as far as it goes...)

The scenes? 1) Hot Trenton Comeaux and even-hotter Brad Micheals get romantic on a secluded beach, 2) five studs play nerf football in the nude amid warm tropical rain, 3) Brad and Adriano Marquez get passionate in a hammock, on the sand and in the water, 4) Marcello Reeves and friend kiss, climb rocks and fool around by a waterfall, 5) Xavier DePaula walks around nude in the desert, then shows off his ass as he grinds briefly in the sand, 6) Adriano and Marcello share some hot foreplay in a secluded river spot surrounded by boulders, 7) the beautiful Talvin DeMachio, in wet underwear, washes himself under a large man-made waterfall, and 8) Brad rubs papaya and watermelon all over Adriano before licking it off, in extra footage from scene three...

All of the guys--and the scenes themselves--are more than sexy enough to get folks off, even without cumshots or much hard-on footage. The focus is on bodies, on faces and romantic passion. There's no dialog or live sound here, just sweet pictures, lots of slow-motion and lovely music. And it works. In fact, for a silent film, you may feel like you've gotten to know these men surprisingly well. If Cam & Kirsch have one major talent--besides filming beautiful locations--it is their ability to let their models' real personalities shine through as they fool around and interact in an unscripted way. The touch-football game alone offers more authentic eroticism than a lot of fuck-scenes.

But it also leaves you panting for more--especially since most of these scenes are available with hardcore footage, too. My overall reaction to Arousal? Sure, it made me hot. But even more, it made me hot to get my hands on Island Guardian as soon as possible...

Check out Arousal at DVD Explorer