Ed Wood's 8mm Porn Loops Review

Distributor: CineFear Video Edition Details: Manufacture on Demand DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Classic, Vignette, All Sex, 8mm Loops, Compilation Run Time: 118 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 2016 Director: Edward D. Wood, Jr. Written by: Edward D. Wood, Jr. Cast: John Holmes, Linda McDowell, Keith Erickson, Cyndee Summers, Barbara Barton, Cindy Camelot, Margie Lanier Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD-MOD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

Edward D. Wood, Jr., is widely known for his low budget often poorly made mainstream films that won him a Golden Turkey Award for Worst Director of All Time in 1980. There was even a mainstream biographical film made about his life with Johnny Depp portraying Wood. What isn't as well-known about the eccentric writer and director is that toward the end of his life he turned to writing sex novels and stories and making sexploitation and hardcore adult films.

In addition to the hardcore films such as Necromania and The Young Marrieds that Wood made under various pseudonyms, Wood also listed 716 “short picture subjects” on his résumé — likely better known as adult 8mm film loops. Wood wasn't known for embellishing his résumé but his involvement in all the “short picture subjects” isn't clear, so exactly how many loops he directed will likely never be known — especially since loops were usually anonymously released. Is it possible that Wood actually directed 716 adult film loops, yes — but the world will never know for sure.

However, some of the loops that he made have been figured out and Ed Wood's 8mm Porn Loops brings us 12 of these loops. The 12 loops contained on this compilation were all released by Swedish Erotica between 1973 and 1974 and were likely written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr.

Eight-millimeter loops were shot on 16mm film and then sold to home consumers on 8mm film reels in segments of usually about 50 feet. Loops were silent so usually, they were just depictions of sex scenes often with little to no set-up. Some adult loops have even started with the action already in progress.

Fans of 8mm porn loops will notice right off that the loops contained in this collection are, by far, different than many of the loops that were released around the same time. The loops on this collection, on average, contain more non-sexual footage that attempts to set-up the scene more than one usually would find — sometimes including footage that was shot at different locations than the sex scene itself which is incredibly rare in the adult film loop industry at the time.

The loops all contain dialog as well, which is believed to have also been written by Wood. The dialog presented in the loops is all shown as subtitles on the bottom of the screen. As these are adult film loops, don't expect to find the work of Shakespeare in the dialog, often the sex dialog feels rather repetitive from one loop to another. Then again, it was probably never expected that these loops would be presented as a compilation 43 to 44 years after their original release.

While Wood may never have been the most competent filmmaker, he was a filmmaker who cared about his work. No one will ever look upon the work of Wood as they do Radley Metzger or Gerard Damiano, however, this reviewer will take his work over those such as Bob Kirk or Zachary Strong any day. In the newly developing adult film industry, a bad mainstream director becomes a decent adult film director.

For viewers who are familiar with Wood's adult film work, Wood being the auteur of some of these works will be immediately obvious. The most obvious being “The Virgin Next Door — Part 1” and “The Virgin Next Door — Part 2” due to his reuse of a unique part of the set for Necromania in this one.

The loops that are included in Ed Wood's 8mm Porn Loops, as previously mentioned, are all from Swedish Erotica. The loops themselves, in order of presentation on the release, are “The Virgin Next Door — Part 1” (SE 0001) — also released as the Expo Film title “Hung Like A Horse” (EF 58) with part two — and “The Virgin Next Door — Part 2” (SE 0002) both starring John Holmes and Linda McDowell. “School Girl” (SE 0003), “Western Lust” (SE 0004), starring Cindy Camelot, “Love-Mates” (SE 0005), “Wet and Wild” (SE 0006), and “Girl on a Bike” (SE 0008), starring Margie Lanier.

“Lusty Neighbor” (SE 0009) — also released as the Pussycat title “Lusty Neighbor” (PC 417) — starring Keith Erickson and Cyndee Summers. “Hollywood Starlet” (SE 0010) starring John Holmes and “Devil Cult” (SE 0014) not starring John Holmes. Last, but not least, are “Behind the Ate Ball — Part 1” (SE 0015) — also released as the Expo Film title “Big Surprise” (EF 51) with part two — and “Behind the Ate Ball — Part 2” (SE 0016) both starring John Holmes and Barbara Barton.

As any fan of 8mm adult film loops knows, a collection such as this one will contain good loops and bad loops, it is just the nature of the beast. If you are a fan of adult loops you will find plenty of loops to enjoy in this collection. If you aren't so much of a fan of 8mm adult film loops or are a fan of Wood's plotted feature films, you may not find this collection to be so exciting.

CineFear Video has done an acceptable job with their manufacture on demand release of Ed Wood's 8mm Porn Loops. Ed Wood's 8mm Porn Loops is currently only available through the CineFear Video website. The original loops were shot on 16mm film and CineFear Video originally used 8mm prints for their transfer. Some of the loops appear to have been transferred onto video before their digital master. The loops are presented in their original academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 in 480i.

As can be expected from this kind of release with various source materials, the quality of each loop varies from one to another. The expected grain, print damage, and artifacts are present on the release. It looks like some of the prints were on Eastmancolor film stock as they are almost completely red. The colors vary from good to poor and it doesn't look like any sort of color correction was implemented. Some of the loops contain glitches in the video, some have some jumps, and in a few the image looks overly soft. Many of the loops look overly dark, or murky, overall.

It appears that when the film loops were transferred they weren't always framed right. There are some where the subtitles are truncated by falling off the sides or the bottom of the screen. There are other instances where the subtitles are essentially obliterated so much hangs off the screen. There is one loop that also contains a large amount of black space at the top and bottom of the screen that appears to have incorrectly framed from the academy aspect ratio into widescreen during the transfer.

Another issue with the release is that there isn't a way to select a specific loop from the menu and the chapters don't line up with the beginning of loops.

Ed Wood's 8mm Porn Loops is presented with a 2.0 Stereo audio track. The audio is just various music which, considering that loops were silent, is just as good as any other audio track. If the viewer doesn't like the music, they can always turn down the volume.

CineFear Video hasn't included any extras on the release.

Edward D. Wood, Jr.'s involvement in the adult film industry has always fascinated this reviewer. CineFear Video's Ed Wood's 8mm Porn Loops collects 12 Swedish Erotica 8mm adult film loops that are believed to have been written and directed by Wood and presents them for viewers who are looking to see some of Wood's short subject adult work. Fans of 8mm adult film loops should find this to be an enjoyable compilation of loops whereas viewers who prefer feature-style adult movies or general fans of Wood's mainstream output are less likely to find this to be a worthy addition to their collection. CineFear Video has done an acceptable job with their DVD-MOD release of Ed Wood's 8mm Porn Loops with some framing and other video issues.

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