House of Dreams (Caballero) Review

Running Time: 76 min.

Production Date: 1990

Director: Andrew Blake

Cast: Zara Whites, Jeanna Fine, Ashlyn Gere, Danielle Rodgers, Raven, Veronica Doll, Saber, Valerie Stone, Nikki Wilde (listed here as Honey Rose), Randy West, Randy Spears, Rocco Siffredi, and Sebastian

Initial Expectations: After watching Secrets by Andrew Blake, I’ve got very high hopes for House of Dreams . I’m not expecting much of an overall DVD or transfer, however.

Initial Reaction: It’s an amazing movie. It’s just too bad that Caballero gave it such a horrible DVD treatment. Whoever did this should get hung up by their privates from the nearest telephone pole.

Audio /Video Quality: The audio is pretty good although it is noticeably dubbed in a couple spots. The video is grainy but not too bad. It’s about what you expect from a shot on film feature.

Music: The music is very soft and stays in the background nicely. It’s one of the best music balances I’ve heard so far.

Disc Problems: There’s a kind of funky time code. It isn’t over the entire movie, but instead uses about ten to twenty minute blocks. When the chapter changes the picture pauses very noticeably. You also can’t scan backwards past the start of each chapter.

Review: Many think of House of Dreams as one of Andrew Blake’s best works and I have a hard time disagreeing with them. As with many of Mr. Blake’s other works, there’s virtually no dialogue and very little plot. What little plot there is follows Zara Whites as she splits in two, almost as if she’s releasing an astral form. One stays on the bed and masturbates while the other explores the house and the dreams that lie within (hence the name of the movie).

Zara is a great choice to lead the cast. She is extremely sultry while at the same time having both an innocent and a ravenous sexual side. As she makes her way between rooms and dreams, she always seems to have a sense of curiosity. It doesn’t matter if it’s a ball from a ball gag that leads her into a B&D scene with Jeanne Fine or a seashell which transports her to watch Saber, Nikki Wilde, and Sebastian have sex on the beach. Both the innocence and the sexuality fully appear when she interrupts Rocco worshiping Raven’s feet in a very hot fetish group scene.

Throughout the dreams, Mr. Blake makes full use of colors and lighting. In one case, it’s neon fingernails and other accents, as it is while Zara masturbates while watching Danielle and Randy Spears. In another it’s full lighting and stark white, such as the final scene between Zara and Ashley Lauren. The color and lighting are combined when Zara, Valerie Stone, and Veronica Doll have a threesome which is mostly lit by a light stick similar to a light saber. Other times it’s just extremely artistic, such as Zara finding a broken mirror and watching Ashlyn Gere and Randy West in the shard of the mirror. The scene frequently has black edges around the edge where the mirror would end. There’s so much imagination and care for detail in the scenes that it’s hard not to like it.

Perhaps the most interesting scene is when the two Zara’s merge back together. When the exploring Zara comes back to the bedroom to find her other self still masturbating she tries to help herself out. This scene is a real credit to Mr. Blake’s abilities as a director as it feels like there are actually two Zaras pleasuring each other on the bed.

I’ve never been much of a fan of women masturbating. I’m not against it, it just bores me after a while. A master can find the diamond in the lump of coal and Mr. Blake does exactly that. I found myself wanting the masturbation scenes to last longer and to spend more time with the masturbating Zara on the bed. The exploring Zara touches herself also, but it’s normally a very short scene that leads into the real scene.

My jaw drops whenever I think of the images in House of Dreams . There’s a reason why Mr. Blake is imitated so often. Almost every scene is artistic, beautiful, and highly erotic. Having gorgeous girls doesn’t hurt either.

There are very few things that might turn some people off. As I said earlier, there’s a lot of masturbation, which some people don’t like. There’s also a lot of lesbian scenes, which Mr. Blake has really focused on lately. Although the amount lesbian scenes might turn some off, there is enough variety with them that many who might normally be turned off might instead find themselves either slightly interested or not caring about them. Regardless, House of Dreams is a great movie.

Extras: The extras are barely worth mentioning. Rather than give trailers, Caballero simply lists the titles. There’s not even a single cover shot. They also list a phone sex number. They consider chapters an extra, but they don’t offer links to all of the scenes. The worst is the photo gallery. It’s automated, but perhaps the slowest photo gallery I’ve ever scene. For a little bit I was thinking I’d be able to pick up a decent copy of House of Dreams when somebody decent re-releases it before I’d get to see the next picture. It’s also has perhaps the worst picture quality I’ve ever seen in a photo gallery. The pictures were so fuzzy that I first thought I was looking at pictures from the monkey cage at the zoo.

Themes: Straight, lesbian, masturbation, group, toys, B & D, foot worship, and toe-ing

Raincoat Factor: Extremely high.

Overall: Currently, House of Dreams can be found online for between $10 and $27 with several stores offering it for under $13. Although it’s a great movie and for under $15 I think everybody should have a copy I hate to recommend buying it due to the horrible job Caballero did on the DVD. For now, rent it and pray that Mr. Blake gets control back soon.

Note to Caballero: If you’re going to release DVDs, please do it right. This is pathetic! Andrew Blake has a huge following and many consider House of Dreams to be one of his best. By giving it a treatment this poor all you’re doing is chasing customers away.

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