Collector, The (Wicked) Review

Reviewed by astroknight  on  6/21/2005

The Little Details

Running Time: 103 min.

Production Date: 6 / 6 / 2004

Director: Brad Armstrong

Cast: Aria, Jessica Drake, Lezley Zen, Luci Thai, Nautica Thorn, Olivia O’Lovely, Shy Love, Brad Armstrong, Cheyne Collins, Chris Cannon, Thomas Gunn, John West, Randy Spears, Talon, Voodoo, and Mike Horner in a borderline non-sex role

The Short Story

Initial Expectations: I’ve heard some great things about this one. I’m going into this one with some very high expectations.

Initial Reaction: It’s beautiful and has some very nice touches, but as it goes on it falls into familiarity.

Who Should Watch It : Anybody wanting lots of style and a light plot

Who Should Avoid It: Anybody wanting a fair amount of plot

The Technical Stuff

Audio /Video Quality: The audio is very well done. It’s clear and very well balanced, without even a hint of a background noise. The video quality leaves a bit to be desired. The Collector was shot on film, which means that there’s a fair amount of grain. Yes, it’s enough to interfere sometimes, but it is very well lit. It also nicely mixes color and black and white footage in an artistic and beautiful way. The biggest problem with the video for me was that the movie was presented in the non-anamorphic widescreen format. I’m thrilled that so many companies are exploring the widescreen format, but while Wicked’s competition moves forward with the format giving it the anamorphic transfer it deserves, Wicked seems to insist on sticking with the non-anamorphic format. This is one of the little things that left me feeling that Wicked was sliding downhill over the last year rather than leading the charge in DVDs like they had a few years before.

Music: The music is excellent. It starts out with a classical feel that fits the movie perfectly, and moves on with more modern music as the movie advances that’s just as good. It sometimes gets a hair too loud, but is well done enough that I really couldn’t complain too much about the balance.

Menus: The main menu is nicely animated and gives a great first impression. Unfortunately, the chapter menu is very generic, and just lets you choose a scene based on a small clip of each scene and a scene number.

The Feature

Four years ago Mike Horner hired Jessica Drake to help him with his collections. Unlike most collectors, Mike would collect almost anything at first, such as stamps, books, or cars, with his vast fortune. Through his collections, Mike would try to learn all he could. Eventually, his eye turns to sexual experiences with the help of his able bodied assistant, changing their relationship forever.

Scene 1 - Jessica Drake and Mike Horner

After Jessica breaks a seventeen thousand dollar vanity mirror, Mike feels the need to take a little control. He has Jessica lift up her skirt, turn around, and give her the brush he had her use on her hair that matched the mirror. Mike has Jessica bend over the chair and spanks her with the brush, which immediately turns her on. She opens up her dress and starts masturbating as Mike watches. After Jessica strips off her panties, Mike offers her the brush to use in her play. She slides it across her body, sucks the end, and fucks each of her holes with it. Finally, Mike takes the brush back and leaves Jessica by herself.

This is an extremely well done scene. I love how Brad Armstrong fit this scene into the movie, as well as how it slowly developed from the spanking to the anal masturbation. Jessica does a great job building it up and gets into it very well. This is a hot and extremely well done scene.

Scene 2 - Jessica Drake and Shy Love

As Mike watches, Jessica gets it on with cute brunette Shy. They start out with a soft kiss before Shy starts exploring Jessica’s open jeweled top. Jessica returns her affections before letting Shy go down on her with her tongue and fingers as she lies back for her. Shy bends over so Jessica can eat her in return, and even lets Jessica lick her ass a little before rolling over and letting Jessica fuck her with a silver vibe. Naturally Jessica opens herself up to a little toy action as well, and bends over for Shy to fuck her with a black vibe. Finally, things fade out as Mike leaves the room.

This is a nicely done scene. There’s some nice chemistry between the girls, but more than anything the scene comes off as a thing of beauty. I was struck by Armstrong’s artistic eye more than anything, and was drawn into the beauty of the scene as much as the sex acts. This is another passionate and gorgeous scene.

Scene 3 - Aria, Nautica Thorn, and Randy Spears

After dressing in some sexy classic lingerie, Jessica joins Mike on the couch as brunettes Aria and Nautica, who are dressed in similar outfits, take on Randy, in a classic black and silver striped robe and grey underwear, on the couch. The girls start out teaming up orally on Randy’s cock and balls before Aria hops up to ride Randy cowgirl style while Nautica takes the occasional suck and stroke on Randy’s cock while watching. Randy lets Nautica have a turn in doggie next, and then moves on to fuck her reverse cowgirl style. Aria finishes Randy off with a little missionary involving each of her holes before sharing Randy’s nut butter between her face and Nautica’s.

This is another very well done scene. It’s a more straightforward porn scene than its predecessors, but still keeps an artistic look. There’s great chemistry between Aria, Nautica, and Randy, and neither of the girls ever feels left out of the scene. This is a nicely done scene.

Scene 4 - Jessica Drake and Cheyne Collins

Jessica takes on Cheyne while Mike works and watches, and starts out in Cheyne’s lap kissing him wearing glasses, a white button down shirt, suspenders, a tie, and a black skirt. She slides down to suck his cock before throwing herself forward on the desk to let Cheyne eat warm up her holes from behind. Jessica lets Cheyne fuck her missionary style before impaling herself on his cock for a reverse cowgirl ride. Finally, Cheyne pops on Mike’s favorite passage in one of his rare books before Jessica licks some of it up.

This is another nicely done scene. It’s a shorter scene, but Jessica gets nicely vocal and energetic in it. She and Cheyne have very nice chemistry, and I love the ending of the scene. This is a pretty hot scene.

Scene 5 - Luci Thai and Tommy Gunn

Oriental Luci starts out the next scene wearing a kimono and showing off a Samurai sword before Jessica has Tommy, wearing black pants and a red martial arts style belt, join her. They kiss before Luci slides Tommy’s pants down and warms him up orally. She lies back for him to fuck her missionary style before bouncing on his bone in reverse cowgirl. Finally, Luci gets down to let Tommy nut on her face.

This is another fairly standard porno scene. The scene moves along at a decent pace, and Tommy and Luci have decent chemistry together. There’s nothing really outstanding here sexually, but Armstrong does a very good job of making it look very pretty.

Scene 6 - Jessica Drake, Chris Cannon, Cheyne Collins, and Voodoo

Chris, Cheyne, and Voodoo wear Mike’s African fertility masks as Jessica goes down on them and lightning flashes outside the room. She works her way around them, sucking and stroking until Chris and Cheyne pop on her face. Finally, Voodoo pops on one of the masks as Jessica holds it in front of him before she licks it and plays with it.

This is an okay scene. It’s fairly short and the camera focuses nicely on Jessica. She looks like she’s having a good time, but more than anything it seems like it’s just there to mix things up while looking gorgeous.

Scene 7 - Jessica Drake, Lezley Zen, and Brad Armstrong

While chauffeur Brad polishes one of Mike’s classic cars, Lezley waits in the passenger seat wearing a white dress with black polka dots. He leads Lezley out of the car and gives her to Jessica, who’s wearing a black dress with white polka dots. The girls play with each other lightly as Mike watches from the window above them before letting Brad join in on their play. They team up on Lezley first and then join in to tongue and finger Jessica’s goodies with Brad taking charge in both situations. Of course they have to team up on Brad too, and as soon as he’s ready Jessica lets him spear her snatch from behind as she leans over the hood of the car. Lezley takes a reverse cowgirl ride before donning a strap-on and teaming up with Brad to give Jessica a cowgirl style double penetration. Lezley takes a trip to the nasty side as well, letting Jessica fuck her pussy with a clear dildo while Brad fucks it at the same time. The girls play with each other in sixty-nine while Brad makes his way back and forth between their pussies and mouths. Finally, Brad pops between the girls’ mouths, and lets them give each other a good kiss before fading out.

This is a very hot scene. There’s great chemistry between the girls and Brad, and nobody ever feels left out of the scene. I love how the girls get nice and nasty in the scene, as well as how well balanced it is between the two girls. This is easily one of the best scenes in the movie.

Scene 8 - Olivia O’Lovely, John West, and Talon

Finally, Olivia, wearing a white dress, takes on John and Talon, who are wearing black speedos, swimming caps, and goggles. She lets them admire her tits before dropping down to suck and stroke both of them. Olivia lets John have the first fuck missionary style before bouncing on Talon’s tool reverse cowgirl style. Olivia lets the guys poke her ass missionary style next and finishes things up taking a nice facial.

This is a pretty good final scene. Olivia takes on the guys nicely, and puts some nice energy into the scene. Armstrong uses a lot of distance shots here, and between the distance shots and the swim gear it helped to cover up Talon’s usual feel that he’s playing for the wrong team. There’s some heat here, but there wasn’t anything about this scene that really stood out to me.

The Collector is a very stylish and nice looking porno. The scenes all have a nice theme to them, great artistic direction, and most importantly, some hot sex. I was impressed with the movie right off the bat, and I think there might have been a drop or two of drool fall from my mouth just at the sheer beauty of it all, the classiness and uniqueness of the movie, and the job Jessica did sexually. It started out feeling very unique and extremely classy. Most importantly, Brad was able to blend the sex into the theme of the movie about a collector and his assistant. Unfortunately, as the movie went on, The Collector slid down to being a fairly typical porno for me. I think a lot of this had to do with the music turning to fairly familiar porno style music (even if it was well done porno music), which took a lot of the class that had the movie raised up away from it. At the same time, the sex gets nastier. To me, this should have made the movie better, as the cast does a great job with it, but instead I was left feeling like I was watching something I’d seen several times before. Although the progression in the movie didn’t work for me, at the same time I can see it working for many people for the same reasons that I didn’t care for it. The Collector is a beautifully shot and artistic movie that seems to forget what it was halfway through the movie.

The Extra Stuff

Trailers are included for The Collector, Space Nuts, Fluf and Fold, Road Trixxx, Killer Sex & Suicide Blondes, and Eye of the Beholder. Star stats are included for Jessica Drake, Aria, and Lezley Zen. There’s also several photo galleries, featurettes, and the usual Wicked promotional materials and extras.

The photo gallery for the feature lasts over four and a half minutes. There’s also star galleries for each of the girls, almost all of which last about two and a half minutes. The only exception is Shy Love, who’s gallery lasts just under two minutes. In each case, you get about seven seconds per great looking snapshot or full screen photo. There’s also a Girls of The Collector featurette. It lasts about six minutes and shows the girls posing for their photos. It also nicely identifies each new girl as she takes the screen. There’s some nice photo extras here.

The box cover shoot featurette lasts about a minute and a half. Unlike most of the box cover shoot featurettes in the past, this one lets you have a little audio as well as the music. You get to see Jessica getting ready for the shoot as well as posing for her shots and having a bit of fun. It’s a short featurette taht’s worth checking out just because Jessica looks so freaking hot!

The interview with Jessica Drake lasts about six and a half minutes. She talks about her lingerie in the movie and the overall subject of the movie. She also talks about the sex in the movie and her new sexual experiences in the movie. Jessica also talks about sex, how she works, and her “job” in general. It’s a very nice little interview and feels very natural. It’s an interview that anybody who enjoyed Jessica Drake or who’s a fan needs to check out.

The behind the scenes featurette lasts over forty minutes, and as usual with Wicked features Mark Stone on camera. Brad starts things out in pre-production, talking about where the idea for the movie came from as well as his plans for the movie. He gets a little help from Jessica Drake in testing out some of the outfits, which seems like a great idea because I don’t really need to see Brad trying out dresses and corsets, and talks about the scenes and the outfits to go with it. It moves on to the set and nicely travels from scene to scene as they make the movie. There’s a fair amount of the scenes and photos being shot, and even more of the cast when the main camera isn’t rolling. You get plenty of personality from the performers and several nice little interviews. This is a nicely done behind the scenes featurette that definitely adds to the overall DVD.

Bonus Scene - Jessica Drake and Steven St. Croix

The bonus scene comes from Sex Trials. Jessica and Steven start out groping each other on a bed before Steven’s pants magically disappear and Jessica slides down to suck his schlong with some great eyes and a little giggle or two. When she’s done, Steven kisses and licks his way down her back to work on her ass and pussy with his tongue and fingers. He lets Jessica climb up to ride him cowgirl style and makes sure to grab her great ass as she rides him, and then fucks her from behind as they stand by the bed. They finish things up with a bit of missionary work before Steven pulls out and sprays his seed all over Jessica’s stomach. As soon as the main blast is done, Jessica leans in to suck out the last few drops.

This is a pretty good scene. Jessica and Steven have nice chemistry, and as always Jessica puts in some nice energy and gives a very friendly performance. The camera work does a nice job blending angles, and I think my biggest problem in the scene was not seeing some of the clothes getting stripped off and the condom appearing magically. It’s a pretty standard couples scene, but it does show some good care.

The Down -n- Dirty Sex Stuff

Themes: Straight, spanking, masturbation, anal, lesbian, voyeurism, rimming (male > female and female > female), toys, group, interracial, oral, DP (toy), and DPP (toy)

Raincoat Factor: Very high

Condom Usage: 100%, and is handled so well that there are many times when you have to look deliberately to tell

The Bottom Line:

Currently, many of Wicked’s DVDs can be found online for between $15 and $30 with many stores offering them for around $21. This one’s worth the money. The sex is pretty good, but varies throughout the movie. The technical aspects are nicely done for being shot on film, and Wicked put some very nice effort into the extras. This is a nicely put together DVD.

Note to Wicked Pictures: If you’re going to use the widescreen format, please give it the attention it deserves rather than going with the non-anamorphic blue light special.

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

Other reviews by Astroknight