Crazed (Wicked) Review

Studio
Wicked

Director
Jonathan Morgan

Starring
Serenity, Shawna Edwards, Jacklyn Lick, Missy, Johnni Black, Spice, Jonathan Morgan, Mike Horner, Mickey G., Colt Steele, Steve Hatcher, and Michael J. Cox

Running Time
1:21

DVD Format
Single Sided, Single Layer

Aspect Ratio
1.33:1 (full frame)

Special Features
Animated and full motion video menu, full motion video chapter selection, audio commentary by Jonathan Morgan and Serenity, narrated star biographies with full motion video, 34-picture photo gallery, and trailers for Flashpoint, Conquest, Satyr, and Crazed

Typical Watchers
Serenity fans, those who like porn with darker or more twisted plots

Typical Haters
Extreme raincoaters, couples looking for "romantic" porn

Themes
Pussy-to-mouth, girl-girl, "fisting," toys, costumes, group sex, anal, oral cumshots

Condoms
Yes, used for all MF intercourse

If You Liked This DVD, You Should Enjoy
The Gate

Video Captures
Click for larger size

The First Word: Good acting + good story + good direction + good budget + good studio + good extras equals a very good DVD.

What's It About?:  Serenity stars as Jane Winters, a mental patient facing a certain lobotomy for her erratic actions. On the verge of complete insanity, she scrawls the words, "NO SLEEP" on the walls of her padded cell and even across her face. Interviewed by a doctor on the review board, she begins to explain her descent into madness. We discover that she once led a normal life, however, the passion had gone out of her marriage. Her husband, Steven (Mickey G.), only wanted sex, but not the romance that Jane was craving. She confides to Kim (Jacklyn Lick), her best friend, that she's having trouble sleeping because of her martial problems. Kim gives her a small ceramic statue of a "sleep god" that is supposed to bring good dreams.

Later that night, she falls asleep and awakes to find herself on a bed in a candle-filled room. Her husband, bearing a gift of a single rose, appears and they make love. When she wakes in the morning, the rose is sitting on her nightstand next to the little statue. Things take an ominous turn the next night when Jane falls asleep and awakes not in a romantic setting but a dungeon instead. There, she meets a sinister figure, The Sandman (perfectly played by Mike Horner), who claims that the rose was his gift to her. Confused, Jane insists that Steven had given the rose to her after their encounter the night before. But The Sandman shows her that it was really him, not her husband, who had made love to her that night. It turns out that The Sandman wants Jane to be his companion in the underworld. He begins to manipulate her by saying that her Steven is having an affair with some beautiful young woman. "But you can experience what Steven is doing," he tells her, conjuring up a blonde plaything (Missy). While The Sandman watches, Jane and the woman engage in a light S&M fantasy.

The next morning, Jane wakes to find Kim next to her bed. She's there to check up on Jane and also to bring her a present. Knowing that Jane's sex life needs a spark, Kim brings over two guys, and they have a foursome. Afterward, Jane panics when she realizes that Kim really isn't Kim at all, but rather The Sandman in disguise. She has a nervous breakdown, and refuses to sleep in fear that The Sandman will return. She then attacks the interviewing doctor and is taken, struggling, to the operating room for a lobotomy. In the end, The Sandman gets his way, although perhaps not in the way that Jane had feared.

What I liked:  This is one of those rare porn movies where I actually was more interested in the story than who was fucking whom. In addition to being a good actor and director, Jonathan Morgan has proven that he's a competent writer as well. Together, Serenity and Mike Horner take the screenplay and bring it to life with their credible acting performances. Serenity shows quite a bit of acting range with her portrayal of Jane Winters as both the innocent wife and as the insane mental patient. Veteran actor Mike Ranger has built his career on playing a wide variety of characters well, and his role as The Sandman is no exception. Not your run-of-the-mill porno plot, the story not only drives the movie but provides a credible excuse for the depravity and sex.

Amazingly, none of the sex scenes are "fast forward" material in my book. What the cast lacks for in looks and star power, it makes up for in enthusiasm and ambitiously acrobatic sex. However, the scene that stands out the most is the lesbian S&M scene between Serenity and Missy. Although neither are on my list of personal favorite girls, again, they are both really into the scene. Girl-girl isn't new to either of them; in fact, Serenity used to only do girl-girl scenes and Crazed is one of her earlier boy-girl features. But what is new for Serenity is the S&M theme of this scene, complete with appropriate costumes and light whipping. In addition to a very athletic "wheelbarrow" position, this scene is also notable for Serenity being fisted, kind of. Using sex toy that's a lifelike replica of a woman's hand and forearm, Missy "fists" Serenity. The effect is so startling and realistic that if you didn't see the end of the toy, you'd swear that there was a real person's hand. I think there's a lot of misconceptions as to what fisting is, but this scene shows what the act is really like. And who says porn can't be educational?

What I didn't like:  It's hard to pin down anything really wrong about this movie. Obviously I'd like Serenity a lot more if she didn't have implants. There are a couple of occasions when her boobs look like water balloons hanging by the narrow end: the weight ends up stretching the skin. Not that big of a deal though, especially since there are more natural than artificial women in this movie. Another thing that might be a turn-off is the relatively large number of tattoos and body piercings on the performers. Definitely not in the "freak show" range, but there are quite a few tongue studs and very noticeable tattoos.

DVD Extras:  This is a pretty well made DVD: it has a professional looking menu presentation, a good mix of extra features, and a very acceptable transfer. The main menu is top-notch for adult DVD standards...it blows the main menus of many other studios out of the water. Rather than just static menu art, or FMV in a small window, Wicked uses a full motion video background, with the menu choices and animation in the foreground. This may not sound like a big deal, but presentation is a big thing. It certainly turned my somewhat negative first impression of the disc around (the package cover is pretty unremarkable, the DVD keep case is an el cheapo one, and the disc itself has no screened artwork on it, only some sterile text letting you know that this disc is called "Craze" (sic) and copyrighted by Wicked Pictures). So the menu design told me that they did, in fact, spend some money on the inside, even if they didn't on the outside.

There are two notable extras that I'd like to mention: the audio commentary and the narrated bios. The commentary has everything you'd expect: a few jokes, a little trivia, and some insight into how the porno was made. But the most valuable aspect of the track is that we get to know Serenity a lot better. Unlike an interview, we get to hear her talk for over an hour in a relaxed environment, so you get a good feel for her character and philosophy. So whether you're a member of Serenity's fan club or have never heard of her, I think you'll enjoy the commentary. The only flaw in the commentary is that it wasn't mixed properly. The commentary and the main soundtrack are mixed at the same level, which presents a problem when Jonathan and Serenity are commenting during a dialogue scene in the movie, or worse, when both Serenitys are speaking at the same time! The narrated biographies off the main menu are unique, combining text stats, a photo, a video clip from the movie, and a female voiceover that tells us a little about the star. Yes, there's a lot of PR bullshit there, but it's a lot more entertaining to hear the BS than to have to read it. :)

A/V Quality:  The transfer is not the best I've seen in the adult world, but is quite good. It's not encoded at the highest bit rate, but considering that we're not talking about a dual layer disc, I'm pretty satisfied with the results. I am very impressed with accurate handling of blacks, solid colors, and smoke, all of which are usually problematic on DVD. In short, unless you are looking for flaws in the video transfer, you're not going to notice them. Acoustically, the mix is in Dolby 5.0, with no low frequency channel. The music is spread across all 5 speakers, while the principal sound is presented in the center channel. Unlike other adult titles I've reviewed recently, the dialogue is free from reverb and echo, even at higher volumes.

The Last Word:  With so many adult feature films that are completely stupid, that have practically no production values, and that show boring sex, it's films like these that keep me from abandoning the genre altogether. It also reminds me that there are only a few directors out there protecting us from the tidal, um, Wave, of mediocre movies. Even if you don't end up liking this movie, you'll have to admit that at least some studios are willing to produce something different than the typical porno.

- Saki (saki@my.adultdvdtalk.com)