Bare Stage Review

Reviewed by astroknight  on  5/3/2005

The Little Details

Running Time: 121 min.

Production Date: 5 / 20 / 2004

Director: David Stanley

Cast: Savannah Samson, Dominica Leoni, Lezley Zen, Nicole Sheridan, Wendy Divine, Dale DaBone, Eric Masterson, Evan Stone, Peter Shaft, Randy Spears, Vincent Vega, Voodoo, and Tony Tedeschi and plenty of others in non-sex roles

The Short Story

Initial Expectations: All I’ve seen from David Stanley is Pretty Girl, but it impressed me enough that I couldn’t help but run out and check this one out as well. I’m going into this one with pretty high expectations.

Initial Reaction: With releases like this David Stanley is quickly finding his way onto my list of favorite directors!

Who Should Watch It : Anybody wanting a fun and artistic plot with their sex

Who Should Avoid It: Anybody who wants straightforward porn or top notch technical aspects

The Technical Stuff

Audio /Video Quality: The technical aspects are okay. The audio is clear and nicely balanced, with a few purposeful background noises thrown in that add to things. The video is a bit more problematic. It has a bit of grain, which is fine since it looks like it was shot on film and it isn’t so heavy that it interferes with things. It’s also nicely lit, has some nice depth at times, and has a few extras thrown in that work for making it a bit more artistic. The problems come in around the edges. There’s heavy colored lines that pop in as well as black and white bars. They definitely stand out and appear to be there due to a mistake rather than the artistic look like so much of the rest of the movie because they’re there for one angle in a scene and gone in the next.

Music: The music is extremely well done. It’s nicely balanced with the rest of the audio and changes for each scene. It definitely helps out the sex scenes, as well as the movie as a whole.

Disc Complaints: There’s over five minutes of phone sex and sex product crap commercials at the start of the DVD that you can’t skip past. You can scan past them, but that still means you’re watching them. This always pisses me off, and I’m deducting a half point from the overall score because of it.

Menus: The menus are okay. The main menu includes a little animation and givse a fun feeling. The chapter menu lets you choose a scene based on a small clip of each scene and a name for the scene.

The Feature

David Stanley takes a little different turn with Bare Stage, and sets it up as a play being shown in a small town rather than as a movie. When Savanna’s boyfriend Evan dies fighting Nazis in Germany, she heads to Hollywood to try to be a big star. Savanna may just be a small town Texas girl, but it was his last wish and he was her one true love. She finds Hollywood to be a lot different than the movies, and learns that stardom might not be as easy as she thought.

Scene 1 - Savanna Samson and Evan Stone

Before her boyfriend Evan ships out to Germany, smokin’ hot blonde Savanna gives him a sendoff to remember. They kiss passionately on a bed covered with satin sheets below two angels playing harps, with Evan wearing the hat and pants from his khaki Army uniform while Savanna wears some sexy, virginal white and baby blue lingerie with stockings and her hair in pigtails. She lets him eat her pussy before mouthing his massive meat, and then slides on a rubber the angels toss down to them. Savanna climbs up to bounce on Evan’s cock cowgirl style before lying back so he can fuck her missionary style and spoon her pussy. Finally, Savanna lets Evan spray his seed over her chest before she sucks out the last little bit.

This is a great scene. I love the style of it, the little jokes thrown in with the angels and the audience, and the flow of the scene. Savanna and Evan put in some nice energy and have great chemistry. It’s passionate and emotional, and fits the idea of the scene amazingly well. This is a great start for the movie.

Scene 2 - Dominca Leoni, Peter Shaft, and Vincent Vega

Evan has local “friendly girl” Dominica pay a visit to a couple of the young guys in his platoon to keep spirits up. She gives Peter and Vincent a little tease before bending down to suck Vincent’s cock. When she goes over to start sucking Peter’s cock, Vincent moves behind her to strip her down, give her a little oral warmup, and of course, fuck her. She also bounces on Peter’s peter reverse cowgirl style before letting each of them tap her ass doggie style. Finally, Vincent pops on her tit while Peter shows his talent at standing there and watching.

This is an above average scene. Dominca does a good job taking on the guys, but the camera doesn’t seem the best at capturing it. It’s also hurt by Peter not being able to pop, even though Vincent does put out a good load. This seems like a pretty stereotypical couples anal scene.

Scene 3 - Nicole Sheridan and Voodoo

Hollywood director Voodoo gets it on with his real life wife Nicole, here the blonde wife of a powerful mobster whom Voodoo owes money. She drops down to suck his cock and balls, and takes almost all of his cock into her throat. Voodoo goes right to fucking her as she stands in front of him against the piano rather than eating her pussy, and lets Nicole have a little control by fucking him reverse cowgirl style as well. Finally, Nicole strokes Voodoo onto her tits and face.

This is a pretty good scene. Voodoo and Nicole have great chemistry and look like they’re having a lot of fun. They put in some nice energy, but the scene feels a bit short and the corny lines they both spout off interfered with the scene a bit for me. They both turn out great performances, but the sex isn’t as good as the performances.

Scene 4 - Wendy Divine and Randy Spears

Randy picks up “French” hooker Wendy, a good looking blonde with a great body who should be getting a lot more attention than she is, and takes her to a cheap hotel room next. He worships her feet as her clothes disappear before letting her suck his cock as he takes off his clothes. Wendy lets Randy fuck her missionary style first before climbing up to ride him cowgirl style. Randy picks her up and rolls her back to her back so she can stroke his cock with her stocking-clad feet until he pops on them.

This is a pretty hot scene. Randy and Wendy have nice chemistry, and both do a fantastic job both sexually and with their overall performance. I love the foot play at the end of the scene, and once again, the overall feel of the scene.

Scene 5 - Lezley Zen and Eric Masterson

When Eric comes through her area looking for actresses to put in his new movie, dark haired Lezley takes him to a deserted part of the alley to show him how well she can act. She drops down to suck his cock, and gives him some nice eyes while she works him over. Lezley gives Eric plenty of stroking, and also appears to take all of his cock into her mouth. With her skills, it doesn’t take too long before his one-eyed snake throws up all over in front of her.

Not surprisingly, this is a pretty hot oral scene. Once again I love the style, and the low lighting works great for making it a bit more erotic while not sacrificing the heat of the scene. Lezley puts some nice effort into sucking cock, and although Eric pretty much just stands there, he does put out a decent pop at the end. I don’t normally care much for oral scenes, but this one worked pretty well for me.

Scene 6 - Lezley Zen and Savanna Samson

When Savanna gets nervous about the kiss in her movie, she talks Lezley into helping her practice for it. After a quick peck without any tongue, Savanna throws herself at Lezley in a passionate kiss. Lezley has her lie back and kisses her from her feet up to her pussy before coming up to kiss her again. Of course she can’t resist a quick stopover at Savanna’s great nipples, and as soon as Lezley’s done kissing her, Savanna can’t resist going after Lezley’s. She worships Lezley’s feet and legs before going after Lezley’s pussy with her tongue and fingers. The girls get in a little sixty-nine time before grinding their pussies against each other. Finally, the scene fades out.

This is a hot little scene. With these two ladies, I couldn’t help but have high hopes for it, and they definitely didn’t let me down. There’s nice chemistry as well as nice energy, and the girls move things along nicely. They definitely show that toys aren’t always needed in an all girl scene, and although the ending isn’t the best, it’s a heck of a lot better than in most all girl scenes. This is another very nice scene.

Scene 7 - Savanna Samson and Dale DaBone

After a little quick talk, Savanna tempts Dale with her great tits and then drops down to start mouthing his manhood. She lets him go directly to fucking her missionary style before climbing up to bounce on his bone cowgirl style. She even lets Dale spoon her ass before he sprays a heaping helping of nutty goodness onto her pussy.

This is a pretty good scene, and it looks fantastic in glorious black and white. Dale and Savanna have great chemistry and put some very nice energy in. Savanna makes the anal look like a thing of beauty, and Dale gives a very good pop at the end. This is a very good final scene.

Bare Stage is a great piece of adult movie making from David Stanley. It’s definitely on the artistic side of things, but Stanley has a lot of fun with it by setting things up around a play format. There’s all the cheap props and cheesy locations like one would expect in a small time play production, and the cast does a great job with varying ranges of overacting. Voodoo, Nicole Sheridan, and Tony Tedeschi easily do the best jobs overdoing their roles, while Savanna Samson, Lezley Zen, and Eric Masterson do a fantastic job in their roles. Lezley Zen was nominated for her role in Bare Stage for the XRCO Awards, and it’s easy to see how she got the nomination. She plays a great range here as an actress, and does a very good job in her blowjob and lesbian scene as well. Savanna does just as good of a job as the small town bumpkin who’s lost in the big city, and does a very nice job in her sex scenes as well. Stanley continues the artistic play feeling into the sex scenes, which yielded mixed results for me. Some of the time it worked really well, and sometimes the scenes came up a little short. Regardless, Bare Stage came off as a very well done and artistic adult movie, and even though I had a few minor problems with the sex I can’t help but highly recommend it.

The Extra Stuff

As usual with Vivid’s major releases, multiple angles are included along with the option to watch the movie with or without the icon. You might as well choose to watch it without the icon, since as usual the angles aren’t true multiple angles. The positions room lets you watch specific sex acts, such as pussy eating, doggie, or cumshots. Trailers are included for Cinema Obscura, Dark Side of Briana, Hold Still, and Love ‘Em or Leave ‘Em. The movie photo gallery lasts about a minute with roughly twelve seconds per good looking full screen photo. There’s also a gallery for Savanna Samson lasting about two minutes with roughly twelve seconds per good looking full screen photo. There’s also a behind the scenes featurette, bonus scenes, and crappy commercials.

The behind the scenes featurette lasts about sixteen minutes. It starts out with about six minutes of bloopers, which is mostly the cast forgetting their lines. It moves on to a more standard behind the scenes, and as usual with Eric Masterson, Voodoo, Evan Stone, and Randy Spears there’s some nice humor. It moves around to capture Savanna in the makeup chair before flying around the set and showing what’s happening to music. It looks like there’s a few interviews, but you don’t hear them because of the interview. There is a quick interview with David Stanley about his role in the movie before moving on with a few pretty girl photos (thankfully not with David Stanley) and some of the scenes being shot. It’s a pretty good behind the scenes, and worth checking out if you enjoyed the movie.

Bonus Scene 1 - Savanna Samson and Steven St. Croix

The first bonus scene comes from The Fetish Underground. Savanna starts out in a barn with Steven wearing some sexy black lingerie and fishnet stockings. She drops down to suck Steven’s shaft, taking him into her throat with ease, before moving over to a wagon for him to fuck her from behind. They keep up the doggie action around the stable until Savanna teases Steven with her ass. He fucks her ass missionary style and then sprays his seed all over her ass.

This is a pretty hot scene. Savanna looks fantastic and does a great job with the anal. I love her teases through the scene, and it seems to work well for Steven as well. My only complaint about the scene is that it only really has a couple positions, and that makes the scene drag a bit. This is a pretty hot scene that had the potential to be even hotter with another position or two.

Bonus Scene 2 - Savanna Samson and Mario Rossi

The second bonus scene comes from Savanna Takes Control. Savanna and Mario play around on a baby blue bed in a white environment with Savanna kissing her way around his chest and down to his cock. She lets him lie back and play with her while she sucks him and then hoists her ass in the air so he can tongue and finger both her ass and her pussy. Savanna lets Mario fuck her pussy missionary style before lying on her side as Mario slides his cock in to her ass. She rolls around to ride him cowgirl style as he fucks her ass before finishing him off missionary style. Finally, Savanna takes Mario’s milk of manesia from her stomach all the way up to her neck.

This is a nice scene. It has an artistic feel, but the feel draws the eye towards the sex rather than away from it. Savanna and Mario have great chemistry, and Savanna looks like she’s having a fantastic time and wouldn’t be anywhere else even if she had the chance. She does a great job with her vocals and puts some very nice energy in as well. This is a very hot scene.

Bonus Scene 3 - Savanna Samson and Tony Tedeschi

The next bonus scene comes from Scene Study. After teasing a guy that looks like Eric Estrada, Savanna moves over to suck Tony’s cock while Evan Stone watches. Tony eats her pussy as well as her ass in return before fucking her missionary style. Savanna turn over so Tony can fuck her doggie style and then rides him in both cowgirls. They return to missionary and both play with themselves before Tony stuccos Savanna’s stomach.

This is a pretty good scene. Tony has always been ugly and sleazy looking, but now he’s added old to the list as well. At least he has a big cock, which is what Savanna seems to be into here. There’s some nice chemistry, banter, and energy to the scene, but the minimalist look of the set and the camera work didn’t do a lot for me. This is a pretty good scene with a different style that I think will really work for some people and really won’t for many others.

Bonus Scene 4 - Nicole Sheridan, Mario Rossi, and Voodoo

The fourth bonus scene comes from Another Woman’s Eyes. Nurse Nicole gets t on with doctors Mario and Voodoo in the OR on one of the tables. Nicole uses the stethoscope to check out the growth in Mario’s pants before sitting back so they can worship her shoes and eat her holes through her white pantyhose. Of course they rip them open to get at Nicole’s goodies, and after showing Nicole their appreciation for her pussy they come up so she can suck and stroke them in reciprocation. Mario moves down to eat Nicole’s pussy a little more before she has him fuck it missionary style. After Voodoo takes a turn fucking Nicole missionary style, the guys double team her in cowgirl. Finally, Mario pops on Nicole’s ass and Voodoo pops on her pussy.

This is an okay scene. There’s pretty good chemistry between Nicole and the guys, but the scene seems to go on forever! It’s over twenty minutes but barely has three sex positions in it! The tease and foreplay are drawn out, but they feel drawn out as well. I was bored with this scene despite Niocle and the guys looking like they were enjoying themselves.

Bonus Scene 5 - Lezley Zen and Julian

The final bonus scene comes from Loveless, and starts with Julian eating Lezley’s pussy. He sits back and lets her suck his cock, and even helps her with the pace by grabbing her hair and guiding her head up and down onto his cock. Lezley lets Julian pound her pussy from behind before rolling over to get in a little missionary work. Lezley wraps her arms around Julian and fucks him cowgirl style while kissing him before letting him lie back for a traditional cowgirl ride. Finally, she strokes Julian’s cock with both her hands until it explodes in and around her mouth.

This is a pretty hot scene. There’s no denying the chemistry between Lezley and Julian, as I think in their ten minute fuckfest here they might have completely worn out the bed with how hard they were fucking. Lezley is completely intense here, and shows that a girl doesn’t have to fit every cock from a college football team in her ass at the same time to turn out a hot and intense scene. The camera work seemed a little limited, but here that’s a pretty minor complaint.

The Down -n- Dirty Sex Stuff

Themes: Straight, group, anal, feet, and lesbian

Raincoat Factor: Medium

Condom Usage: 100%

The Bottom Line:

Currently, many of Vivid’s DVDs can be found online for between about $15 and $28, with most stores appearing to offer them in the $20 range. This one’s a keeper. The technical aspects leave a bit to be desired and there’s not much for extras about the movie, but the movie itself is very well done. It’s artistic, fun, and has some good sex, and makes this a DVD worth checking out.

Note to Vivid: Two things would have greatly helped this DVD. First, a little more attention to the video quality. I don’t mind the grain, but the bars at the top definitely interfered with things. Second, lose the mandatory commercials at the start of your DVDs. To have them there is fine, but don’t force people to watch them whether it’s at the normal speed or as they have to scan through them. Movies like this are good enough that people should want to watch them again and again. I know that this is one that I’d want to watch again, but was constantly put off by having to go through the damn commercials for shit that I don’t care about every time I put in the DVD. These two things cost you any entire point on your overall rating!

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me .

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