Craving, The (Wicked) Review

Reviewed by astroknight  on  1/5/2008

The Little Details

Running Time: 79 min.

Production Date: 6 / 6 / 2007

Director: Brad Armstrong

Cast: Brooke Haven, Chelsie Rae, jessica drake, Kayla Carrera, Kimberly Kole, Mikayla, Chris Cannon, Joey Ray, Justin Magnum, Marcus London, Randy Spears, Tommy Gunn, and Tyler Knight

The Short Story

Initial Expectations: Brad Armstrong's movies can be a bit hit or miss for me, but jessica drake really seems to have been on a roll the last year or so. Wicked also put a lot of effort into the presentation of the box, which gave me a great first impression, so I'm going into this one with some high expectations.

Initial Reaction: It's more than a familiar movie, but it's never looked as good as it does here.

Who Should Watch It : Anybody wanting both heat and high production values

Who Should Avoid It: Anybody wanting a movie that feels brand new to them

The Technical Stuff

Audio /Video Quality: The technical aspects are okay. The audio is clear and well balanced, and I didn't notice a single background noise. The video is presented in anamorphic widescreen, with the movie obviously being shot on film. As usual with the adult industry, film is a catch 22 with some nice depth being offset by a lot of grain. The lighting varies pretty well in the movie, but there are some dark areas which bring the grain out even more.

Music: The music is extremely well done and shows a lot of care. It varies in both style and balance throughout the movie, and helps out the entire movie very well.

Menus: The main menu has a great style and some nice animation to give a great first impression. Sadly the chapter menu becomes pretty generic and just lets you choose a scene based on a small clip of each scene and a scene number rather than giving something the viewer might want, like the names of the performers in the scenes.

The Feature

Stories have been passed down from generation to generation for different purposes. Some are meant to simple entertain, some are meant to educate, and some are there just to arouse those being told (as well the storyteller, in some instances). Storyteller jessica presents several tales such as might be told by a hornier Brother's Grimm that haven't been watered down by the sands of time.

Scene 1 – jessica drake and Justin Magnum

Only the kiss of true love could wake Sleeping Beauty, leaving jessica to lay there in peaceful slumber until Prince Justin makes his way to the palace to wake her. Their kiss doesn't end with just a simple peck, and their hands start to wander as they kiss. Justin moves down to tongue and finger jessica's pussy before she sucks his cock in return. He rubs her clit while fucking her missionary style, and then lets her ride him reverse cowgirl style. Justin and jessica also spoon before she gets down to take a nice facial finish.

This is a great scene to start the movie. jessica, as usual, looks fantastic and turns out a nicely energetic and vocal fuck complete with some nice chemistry with Justin. Brad Armstrong's art direction is amazing and helps the scene look every bit as good as one could hope it to, which makes the scene all the more impressive visually while never being so over the top that it interfered with the sex. Brad Armstrong's artistic movies can be a bit hit or miss for me, and jessica and Justin's scene was just what I hoped it would be rather than what I feared it might be.

Scene 2 – Brooke Haven, jessica drake, Kayla Carrera, Kimberly Kole, and Randy Spears

The rats weren't the real infestation in the town that Pied Piper Randy Spears was called to, it was the whores that infested the streets. As he passes them playing his pipe, jessica, Brooke, Kayla, and Kimberly can't help but follow him out of town. The girls finally pry his pipe away and get him to lay back so they can strip him down as they play with each other a bit and team up to suck him with jessica nicely leading the charge and Brooke quickly hopping up to ride Randy's tongue. Brooke moves down to ride Randy reverse cowgirl style with Kayla offering a little oral help while Kimberly works jessica over with her tongue and fingers. Randy moves over to pile drive jessica's pussy with Kimberly offering a little oral help as Kayla tongues and fingers Brooke. Kimberly takes her turn working on Brooke as Randy fucks her doggie style and jessica and Kayla sixty-nine and work each other over with metallic vibes. Finally Kayla gets her turn with Randy spooning her as jessica offers a little oral help as Brooke and Kimberly play with each other. Finally Randy pops in jessica and Kayla's mouths, who swap it down to Kimberly and Brooke, respectively, before the two girls share kisses.

This is a fun scene. I'll admit that I really struggled with any town thinking of jessica drake or Brooke Haven as undesirable and wanting to get rid of them, but I guess that's some of the suspension of disbelief that goes with movies. There's a very nice feeling that goes throughout the scene, and I really like how the girls worked in pairs to take on each other and Randy while Randy got one turn with each girl. The artistic style is great and helped the scene out once again by giving it a very classy feeling that paired great with the slight nastiness of the group. This is another very well done and hot scene.

Scene 3 – Chelsie Rae and Tyler Knight

As Little Red Riding Hood (Chelsie) makes her way through the dark woods to Grandma's house, she feels the darkness of the wolf following her. The wolf transforms into wolfman Tyler by the light of the moon, and at Grandma's house lets her admire his large features before he kisses his way around her and helps her strip down. He has her sit back to tongue her twat before letting her suck his cock in return. Tyler fucks her pussy missionary style before letting her bounce her shitpussy on his cock reverse cowgirl style. Finally Chelsie gets down and sucks Tyler to a dribbly pop around her mouth.

This is a pretty hot scene. Chelsie does a very nice job taking it in the ass, but with how made up Tyler is it's hard to get too much chemistry out of the scene. The art direction is very easy on the eyes, but this time it does interfere with the action slightly.

Scene 4 – Mikayla and Tommy Gunn

Rapunzel (Mikayla) is rescued from her tower by prince Tommy, who of course climbs up her hair to rescue her. She greets him with a kiss before they make love by the fire with Tommy giving her tits plenty of oral attention before moving down to lick her pussy. Mikayla gives his cock plenty of sucking in return before riding it reverse cowgirl style and letting him spoon her. Tommy also takes Mikayla from behind before giving her a decent pop on her tongue, chin, and tits.

This is a pretty good scene. Mikayla and Tommy go at it nicely, but nothing about this scene was as strong as in the others. There were quite a few shadows which intruded on the scene and the camera often got a bit close. The art direction also seemed much simpler rather than being the sky high quality that permeated the rest of The Craving. This isn't a bad scene, but it is the weakest in the movie.

Scene 5 – jessica drake and Chris Cannon; jessica drake and Joey Ray; jessica drake and Marcus London

After Princess jessica takes a risk kissing a stray frog she finds it transformed into Chris. She lets him know how he can repay her before they start kissing passionately and she sits back in a wagon for him to tongue her pussy. jessica drops down to suck Chris's cock in return, and works him to a nice pop in her mouth that she spits back on his cock as she finishes him up.

They head on their way, and down the path jessica meets another frog which is turned into knight Joey. She drops down to suck him as he sits on a stump and mixes in a few slaps and bits for his cock as she sucks him. jessica even throats Joey a little, and finishes him up with a very nice pop in her mouth that she lets flow back over her chin before heading on.

As jessica continues down the path she meets a third frog by a well. She tries putting him off, and when she kisses him nothing happens while an amused Marcus watches from nearby. After a quick chat he finds himself on the receiving end of not just a kiss from jessica on his lips, but one of her special mouth hugs for his cock. Soon after he too pops on her mouth with jessica receiving it with the same grace as she did with the other guys.

This is a very fun final scene. The art direction is simpler here, but with the locations and the shortness of the segments the simpler art direction works just fine. jessica, as usual, looks great and does a great job sucking cock. She also adds a little humor into the scene with some of her little looks and comments that had me enjoying the entire scene rather than zoning through it like I do with most blowjob scenes. This is a simple scene, but it's sense of fun and jessica's enthusiasm made it a very enjoyable one.

Odds are if you've watched adult moves for long you've seen a movie like The Craving before. That said, odds also are that it's never looked as good as it does here. Brad Armstrong's art direction rarely fails here, and combined with some nice chemistry in the scenes The Craving makes the journey into familiar territory one where you can't help but look forward to every bump in the road. jessica drake leads the cast and does a very nice job in her three scenes, and although those three scenes were my favorite in the movie I'd have a very hard time picking which was my favorite due to the variety in them. Mikayla's scene was the weakest due to it feeling a little more generic, while Chelsie's scene was held back by Tyler's costume holding back the chemistry and the scene being a touch dark. That said, both of the scenes were still nicely above average and were likable it's just they couldn't come close to keeping up with the other three scenes. The Craving does a great job telling familiar tales with hot sex and killer art direction, and made me look forward to every new scene even though I knew I'd seen something like them before.

The Extra Stuff

Trailers are included for Coming Home, Operation: Desert Stormy, The Craving, Black Widow, Melt, Delilah, and Just Between Us. Star stats are included for the entire female cast with the exception of Chelsie Rae, and include a few photos of each star, a little personal information, and a Wicked filmography. In addition to the main production photo gallery, which lasts a little over five and a half minutes, star galleries are included for the entire female cast lasting between about two and two and a half minutes. In each case you get about seven seconds per decent looking snapshot. There's also bonus scenes, a behind the scenes featurette, comments from director Brad Armstrong, and the usual Wicked extras.

All Access – The Fantasy World of The Craving lasts a little over a half hour and is presented in the full frame and non-anamorphic formats featuring camera work by Mark Stone and Jax. The lovely jessica drake starts things out talking about playing Sleeping Beauty and getting fixed for the role before chatting with Mark about not having worked with Justin and hoping he can eat good box. There's also a few words with Brad Armstrong sharing a little Sleeping Beauty folklore before they shoot the scene. Tyler Knight chats with Jax next before they make him up and Mark Stone has a little fun with him. Chelsie is next, who chats with Mark about loving double vag and just an all around nasty little slut before they shoot the scene and head home for the night. Mikayla and Tommy start things out when they return with all things Rapunzel and a little musing from Tommy on what swashbucklers do, Brad talking about the dead guys, and they shoot the scene. The Pied Piper is next, which starts with plenty of eye candy and a few still photos before Mark chats with Kayla and they shoot the scene. Brad suits up to take on jessica in the Cinderella scene that was cut because most everything that could go wrong, did. After calling it a night again, jessica returns for some frog kissing and a few comments from Brad and the Princes. This is a nicely done behind the scenes featurette. It nicely captures something from each of the scenes, and works in plenty of personality and a bit of humor as well. There's also a bit of action and plenty of eye candy to balance it all out. This is one of the better behind the scenes featurettes I've seen from Wicked in a while.

Cinderella's Nightmare lets Brad Armstrong talk with the camera for about three and a quarter minutes. Brad talks about how sometimes things never work out no matter how hard you try. Cinderella was supposed to open The Craving, but most everything that could go wrong did. Horse problems, jessica fainting, and camera problems plagued the scene, but there was enough to like about it that Wicked included it as a deleted scene in anamorphic widescreen.

Deleted Scene – jessica drake and Brad Armstrong

Cinderella (jessica) was well known for slipping away from men in the middle of the night, which is why her stepmother wouldn't let her go to the ball in the first place. As she runs through the woods and loses a slipper, she's almost trampled by Brad in his carriage. She thanks him for his kindness and joins him in his carriage to get better acquainted. Brad starts out tonguing jessica as she leans against the open carriage door, and even gives her a little fingering and rubs her pussy with his walking stick after she sucks it. Brad is rewarded with some knob gobbling before fucking jessica as she leans back against the door. She sucks him clean before letting Brad tap her ass reverse cowgirl style as he lays back in the carriage. He also spears jessica's shitpussy from behind before letting her have a nice facial finish.

There's no doubt that cutting this scene from the main movie was a good idea, and it was just as good of an idea to include it as a deleted scene. There's plenty to like here, and although there was a lot more than just the camera work going wrong with it if that alone would have worked I could have definitely seen including the scene. jessica and Brad have great chemistry and the art direction looks as great as ever. It's really too bad that so much went wrong with this scene because it could have been a great addition to the movie.

Bonus Scene 1 – Clara G., Felecia, jessica drake, and Katsumi

The second bonus scene comes from Brad Armstrong's FUCK and is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen (unlike the original movie). Victorian looking Clara, Felecia, and Katsumi, watch as a huge jessica makes miniature versions of them emerge from herself. She lets them play like children before working them like marionettes and then comes down to be with them at their side. They all kiss and help each other to strip down so Katsumi can eat Clara's cunt while jessica laps at Felecia's cunt. The girls all strip down and after a bit Clara works on Katsumi's holes with a dildo while jessica gets double stuffed with a pair from Felecia. They trade partners so Clara can fuck Felecia from behind with a glass dildo as jessica licks Katsumi's ass and continues to work on her pussy with her toy before sharing a double dildo with her. Clara lets her sphincter get spread with a toy as the girls line up to eat each other's ass with jessica also getting a toy in the ass. Finally the scene comes to an end feeling like there's still more to go.

This scene left me a bit bored. The costumes and set were extremely impressive and the idea is good, but the opening sequence was drawn out so far that I wondered if it was going to go the entire scene without showing as much as a nipple. When the sex finally arrived the artistic feel once again didn't do much for me and left me not caring at all about the action despite the girls getting in some very nice anal play. I just couldn't get into this scene.

Bonus Scene 2 - jessica drake and Chris Cannon

Blonde handmaiden jessica gets it on with servant Chris when they find a little time alone in a scene from Eternity, which is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen (unlike the original movie). They kiss passionately before jessica lies back for Chris to tongue her twat before letting him fuck her from behind. She turns around to suck him a bit as he fucks her, and finishes things up taking a pretty good facial.

This is a pretty good scene. jessica looks quite nice, and although the scene is short it flows nicely. There’s some nice chemistry between her and Chris, and it helps the scene to work for the few minutes it lasts. This is a pretty good scene.

The Down -n- Dirty Sex Stuff

Themes: Straight, group, lesbian, toys, cum swapping, interracial, anal, and oral

Raincoat Factor: Medium high

Condom Usage: 100%

The Bottom Line:

Currently, many of Wicked's DVDs can be found online for between about $15 and $25 with a few stores offering them at the low end. Although the movie is very familiar, it's well done enough here that it's worth checking out again. The sex is hot and everything about the movie is gorgeous. The movie was shot on film, which means the video lacks a bit, but for film it's treated right. The extras are also treated right and show some nice effort. This is an impressive and very enjoyable release.

Note to Wicked Pictures: Nice job here. Thank you for including the Cinderella scene, as although it's definitely not up to your standards for the main movie, with the introduction by Brad it's a great addition to the overall DVD. Also, with how much effort you're putting into making your movies anamorphic, it would be very nice to see your bonus scenes also included in anamorphic widescreen if the original release was.

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

Other reviews by Astroknight