Escorts Review

Running Time: approx. 78 min.

Production Date: 12 / 13 / 1999

Director: Michael Raven

Cast: Katja Kean, Devinn Lane, Sydnee Steele, Cassidey (listed here as Paisley Adams), Dayton Raines, Gia, Shay Sweet, Mark Davis, Chris Cannon, Eric Price, Earl Slate, Pat Myne, and Mike Horner

Initial Expectations: Michael Raven is one of my favorite directors, so I always look forward to his movies with high expectations.

Initial Reaction: Just put the DVD back on the shelf and nobody has to get hurt.

Who Should Watch It : Fans of features such as Secrets and Whispers, anybody looking for a lot of sex with a minimum of plot, and anybody who enjoys well done art direction

Who Should Avoid It: Anybody looking for a lot of plot with their porn, who thinks an ideal porn set is a bed, or who wants to see how nasty a scene can get

Audio /Video Quality: Michael Raven normally shoots on film, which normally means the video is a bit grainy. I’m not sure if he used film or not, but if so, Sin City did a great job with it since there’s very little grain. There’s a very few shadows, but they add to the one scene they’re in, enhancing the mood and reinforcing the location. Most of the scenes appear to have had quite a bit of natural light, as some of the colors are slightly bleached out. It doesn’t really detract from any of the scenes, but does help to give it some of its artistic feel. The audio, which the cover lists as Dolby 5.1, is also nicely done. It’s nicely balanced and has some nice depth to it.

Music: Michael Raven pays quite a bit of attention to the music in his features, which normally helps out the scenes and overall movie quite a bit. This time, the score is done by The XXX Groove Masters, who provide Escorts with some nicely music that has a techno feel and a beat that stays there but doesn’t take over the music. It’s nicely balanced with the rest of the audio and adds quite a bit to the overall feature.

Disc Complaints: As usual with Sin City’s earlier DVDs, you’re subjected to several phone sex trailers and a commercial for their web site that you can’t skip. This is one of my biggest pet peeves and always starts the movie off a step down. There’s also no time stamp, which is something I think Sin City has added since this DVD was originally released. It’s also done with two titles splitting the chapters in the middle of the feature. As was typical with this style, when you try and scan backwards, you can’t scan past the start of the chapter. Unlike many others using this style, you can skip to the previous chapter. Both of my complaints here are only for their earlier DVDs, such as this one, as they’ve stopped the mandatory commercials and have added a time code by the time of this review. To me this shows that Sin City cares about the consumer and does want to do what they can to improve their products. Since they’re willing to learn, I’m not holding these things against them in grading this DVD.

Menus: The main menu is pretty simple, but has some great animation to fit the style of the feature. The chapter menu lists the chapters by a scene number and a small clip of the scene. It’s a pretty average way to offer a chapter menu, but since this is an older DVD, I won’t complain that it doesn’t list the star’s name in each scene.

The Feature: It’s one of the oldest subjects in the world, no matter what you call it. Prostitution. Escorts. Call Girls. It’s probably the reason it’s been done by so many of the great directors of adult films, such as Andrew Blake with Secrets and Nic Andrews with Whispers. Now Michael Raven, one of the most stylish directors to come out of the 1990s, takes on the subject. As usual, there isn’t any real plot, but he uses the subject to vary scenes and use a variety of excellent talent, led by the madam, Katja Kean.

Mike Horner starts things out in the back of a limo with Cassidey as Katja Kean watches with a camera. It’s a scene that’s almost become a cliche in any movie dealing with prostitution, whether it be an adult or mainstream movie. It’s almost a relief to see it being done right away so that things can move on. Mike reminds Cassidey that he now owns her (at least for the moment) and that she will answer him with “Yes Sir” when he tells her to do something. He spanks her and has her tell him that she wants him to fuck her mouth. She gives his cock and balls some nice tongue and hand action before laying back for him to warm up her bald pussy with his tongue and fingers. She continues to lay back so Mike can fuck her, later on turning around and letting Mike fuck her from behind and climbing on top to ride him. She finishes it by taking a facial that she doesn’t look too happy about at first, but ends up looking at him with a smile. It’s a very hot scene to start things off with. I’ve only seen Cassidey once before, and she didn’t impress me at all. I now see why so many people were impressed with her and share their mourning that she signed with Vivid. She does a great job here, doing all the right moves, but she still kept a bit of a distance in her eyes that seems very fitting for an escort.

Katja Kean takes a personal interest in the next client, namely Mark Davis. They go upstairs, where Mark helps Katja out of her clothes while giving her body a little attention at the same time. He licks and fingers her pussy from behind in addition to giving her ass a little tongue action. She thanks him properly by wrapping her mouth around his cock and giving some great eye contact before letting Mark fuck her from behind. They move on to a little cowgirl and missionary before Mark gives Katja a nice facial that she takes with a lot more enthusiasm than Cassidey did in the previous scene. She even gives Mark a nice little smile at the end. It’s another very good scene that has plenty of small differences from the previous scene. There’s a lot of natural light here, but Raven keeps it under control so it doesn’t completely bleach out the colors. It’s also a lot more driving than the previous scene, with Katja showing some great sexual hunger.

Gia, an attractive short haired brunette with a nicely trimmed pussy and small perky breasts, starts out playing with herself lightly as Earl Slate watches. When he finally moves over to her he runs his hands across her body and then whips out his cock for her to suck. She smiles at him, licks it with her tongue to tease him, and then takes into her mouth as far as she can while frequently giving him some great eyes. He wraps his tie around the back of her neck to pull her in and then keeps telling her to suck on his cock and gag on it. She pretty much ignores him, slowly licking and sucking his cock while keeping a playful air about her. Not surprisingly, Earl doesn’t do anything else to get Gia warmed up, as she crawls onto his cock for a ride next. He moves on to fuck her from behind, and uses his tie as if it were reins on a horse, occasionally giving Gia a “yah” as she moves the tie to slap her on the back. They finish it up spooning as the glass on the coffee table catches their reflection before Gia takes Earl’s man batter on her mouth. It’s a very hot scene that has great chemistry. I’m not sure that I’ve seen Gia before this, but I know I’m going to keep an eye open for her in the future. Although I didn’t really care for Earl’s treatment of Gia, it does fit in very well with the theme of the feature. Gia does a great job with her role, and appears extremely cute and playful despite Earl’s treatment.

Dayton Rains, an average looking dirty blonde, takes on two customers, Chris Cannon and Pat Myne, in the next scene after playing a game of pool. Dayton really starts out the scene right, smiling frequently and looking extremely playful as she seductively handles the stick. Chris starts out taking care of Dayton’s top half while Pat’s tongue and fingers take care of Dayton’s goodie box. Dayton starts sucking Chris’s cock as Pat spanks her, and then takes care of Pat’s cock as Chris fucks her form behind. Dayton moves through a few common positions while letting the guys take turns fucking her, and almost always takes a cock in her mouth as she’s being fucked. The only time she isn’t sucking cock while being fucked is towards the end when Pat chokes her as she rides Chris’s cock. She ends the scene by taking a nice facial that she leans into in order to get as much jiz as possible. I normally don’t care for this style of threesome, with two guys and only vaginal sex, but Dayton really does a great job here and makes it very likable, turning it into a very hot scene.

Sydnee Steele breaks out her riding crop and fetishwear for the next scene, as she dominates both Shay Sweet, who looks very schoolgirl-ish, and Eric Price. Sydnee has Shay suck Eric’s cock as she puts a collar on him as he holds her crop in his teeth. She slaps Eric’s cock with her crop as Shay sucks it and then has Eric lick both of Shay’s holes. Eric pumps Shay’s pussy from behind, as Sydnee stands back and watches with some amusement. Although Sydnee never gets in on the actual sex, she does help quite a bit, playing with Eric and Shay’s bits and pieces and holding Shay’s legs in the air as Eric fucks her missionary style. Sydnee finally helps Eric blow his baby batter on Shay’s great stomach by jerking his cock off and aiming it at Shay. Not surprisingly, it’s another very good scene, and Sydnee’s almost non-sex performance adds quite a bit to it.

Finally, Katja Kean pays a visit to Devinn Lane in another scene that appears to be a bit of an homage to Andrew Blake’s Secrets. Devinn starts out looking manly in a suit and tie without the jacket with her hands in her pockets before moving behind Katja to kiss her shoulder and neck and run her hands over Katja’s tight body. Devinn lets her tongue run across Katja’s body as well before Katja helps her strip down and runs her tongue and hands over Devinn’s amazing body, paying definite attention to Devinn’s pierced hood. Devinn returns the favor, letting her fingers and tongue do the walking across Katja’s pussy both from behind and with Katja sitting back. There’s some great chemistry and heat here, but unfortunately it suffers from the same problem as many other all girl scenes and ends a little abruptly. It’s still a hot scene, but another ten seconds could have made it even better.

Escorts is a great feature for anybody who’s interested in Michael Raven’s features. His style is evident throughout the feature, but the scenes don’t have some of the darkness that some of his later features have which has turned some people off. The scenes use the subject to include a wide variety of sex scenes, all of which have great heat to them. Unlike many features, the cast is very even in their talent as well, with no single scene really outshining the others. It makes Michael Raven’s Escorts a great feature and an extremely enjoyable one to watch.

Extras: Trailers are included for Eighteen & Awesome, Eighteen & Anxious, and the first four installments of the Just 18 series. The photo gallery contains about thirty four full screen photos. They have a slightly blurry and soft look that normally means they were taken from the film rather than separate photos as the film was being made. Finally, there’s the web site and phone sex commercials you couldn’t skip by before the main menu. If you choose to watch them again and then change your mind, you won’t be able to skip to the end of them there either.

Themes: Straight, masturbation, rimming (male > female), spanking, group, B&D, and lesbian

Raincoat Factor: Very high

Overall: Currently, Escorts can be found online for between $18 and $24 with most stores offering it for under $20. If you like stylish movies, this one is well worth your money. The scenes have great direction and a lot of heat. The transfer is very good, however the extras are very lacking and don’t really add anything.

Note to Sin City: I realize you’ve changed some of the things I complained about on your earlier DVDs (such as this). Thank you for listening and improving your product rather than claiming you know better than the people who buy your products like some other companies.

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

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