Dark Garden Review

Reviewed by Principal Skinner  on  4/30/2000

Directed by Michael Ninn, DARK GARDEN features an all-star line-up of VCA's hottest contract girls, and has already received much in the way of acclaim and attention. After seeing it twice already, I can honestly say that all the praise heaped on this stylishly-directed, hot little epic is well-deserved. However, I must point out that consistent with VCA's policy, condoms are used throughout, and I will admit up front that I have a prejudice against seeing them in adult films. Of course I understand the health and safety reasons for condom use, and certainly, I feel that safe sex is important. But for me, their presence ruins the fantasy of adult movie, and it warns me ahead of time that there will be no oral money shot at the end of any given encounter. Fortunately, some videos rise above the neutering effect condoms have [pun intended] and DARK GARDEN is one such film.

Director Ninn sets his story in a 1940s film noir setting, with Vicca playing the mysterious widow who seeks the hard-boiled detective for help. This tall, leggy and absolutely beautiful European import has become one of my favorite porn starlets of the modern era, yet I still wonder why she's not the superstar she deserves to be. She engages in a lengthy session of self-pleasure and then a full-on guy-girl scene while watching a film of Nikita (another former Eastern Bloc defector). This leads into a masturbation scene with Nikita at play, followed by a hot and heavy threesome where she is double penetrated. This is a great scene, and the monochromatic photography lends atmosphere to the proceedings.

The lovely and talented Juli Ashton then comes into the movie, and she never disappoints in any of her encounters. Her blowjobs are never less than enthusiastic, and she always looks beautiful, even with some guy's organ in her sexy mouth. She also performs anal sex with aplomb, and is the closest actress in this film to receive a facial. The white stuff never really hits her mouth, but it is as close as we can expect to get with VCA.

Blonde, pouty Lea Martini (yet another Euro actress!) makes a cameo appearance and offers her oral services in a short, but satisfying scene. Asian-American newcummer Mia Smiles has sex with some guy which is equally well-done, and the whole movie ends with Lisa Belle, dressed somewhat in drag, and Nikita having sweet, sweet love in an elevator. Their sex scene is one of the more satisfying in the movie, and Ninn films it beautifully. There is always a sense of beauty and composition, despite the hardcore explicitness, in his work which removes the "trashiness" for which porn is known. Like Andrew Blake and Cameron Grant, Michael Ninn is a master behind the camera, and what would otherwise be ho-hum sex scenes are greatly improved by his distinctive direction and use of VCA's best actresses (and I do mean "actresses" as opposed to mere performers).

The "behind the scenes" extra on this disc is almost as entertaining as the feature, and allows us to see more of our favorite VCA contract players at rest as well as at play. We also get the perfunctory slide show and VCA trailers, which are always nice to have, but nothing you would view more than once or twice. The picture image on this shot-on-film DVD is exceptional, and the sound matches the visuals in quality.

Like I stated before, the use of condoms throughout the movie is a distraction, but only reduces the sexual heat by a few degrees. Then again, with starlets like Vicca, Juli Ashton, and Nikita, how much valid complaining can a reviewer offer? I highly recommend DARK GARDEN for a hot, enjoyable movie-viewing experience.