Hustler Platinum: Arsenic 1 & 2 Box Set Review

Distributor: Hustler Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Feature Film, Foreign Run Time: 231 minutes Rated: XXX Release Year: 2002 Director: Pierre Woodman Written by: Pierre Woodman (written by), Vincent Winner (original screenplay), Judith Pryzdetétt (script Part 2) Cast: Drimla, Angie Scott (as Suzie), Lucia, Daphnye (as Daffney), Mia Panther (as Zita), Passion, Rebecca, Eve Angel (as Sevrine), Ahud (as Michelle), Philippe Duroc, Manuel Ferrara (as Manu), Alain Deloin, Sebastian Barrio, Reda, Kevin Long, Bob Terminator, Gabriella Tchekan (as Gabriella), J.P.X., Pascal St. James, Sophie Paris (as Sophie), Alicia, Jennifer (as Orsolya), Lylly Berty (as Lilly), Choky Ice (as Csoky) Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (dubbed) Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 2 Disc: DVD 9 (SS, DL) Special Features: Behind the Scenes of Brazilian Snake, Slide Show, Director's Profile, Previews, Cast List DVD-ROM Special Features: none

Synopsis:
Elodie's (Drimla) husband dies and she suspects that he was killed by a secret powerful organization. She hires detective Jonathan Stark (Philippe Duroc) to find out what really happened.

Audio/Video:
Both of the discs for Arsenic are presented with a dubbed English 2.0 Stereo track, which is perfectly acceptable considering the material present in the film. As the film consists of dialog and sex scenes, no fancy audio track is required for the film. The dubbing in the film is rather poor. There is a horrible over dub on the sex scenes with added sexual dialog on top of the original dialog which ends up sounding rather poor. As for the plot portions, they aren't much better. The original language has been completely removed and obviously truncated dialog has been added. You can see the cast members talking for an extended period but on the dub track only a short sentence is said by both. I wish that Hustler had left in, as an option, the original language track with English subtitles available that actually conveyed what was said in the original script. The dialog is clear and can be heard at all times. There are no foreign language tracks or subtitle options available on the disc for the feature film.

The film on both of the discs is presented in the full screen aspect ratio of 1.33:1, which appears to be the original aspect ratio for the feature film. As with most Hustler discs, the picture is slightly on the soft side, but the presentation on the disc looks nice with no artifacts, blemishes or glitches that I noticed in the print. The color levels look correct making for a nice viewing experience.

Special Features:
On the first disc, Hustler has included a few extras, but most of them have nothing to do with the feature film. There is a slide show with 19 stills on a track. There is a director's profile included for Pierre Woodman, that runs for 8 minutes and features an interview mixed with footage from some of his films. There is a “Behind the scenes of Brazilian Snake” feature, which is a 29 minutes piece of which most is not in English, showing footage from the making of Brazilian Snake 1 and Brazilian Snake 2. The bitrate is low in places as they exhibit pixels. There are also previews included on the disc for Young Sluts, Inc 6, Hot Showers 3, Anal Intensive, Barely Legal 27, Superfuckers 14, and Asian Fever 8.

On the second disc Hustler hasn't included much in the way of extras at all. There is their standard Pierre Woodman Director's Profile, which is the same one that is included on many of their discs with Pierre Woodman films, including the first disc in this set. It runs for eight minutes and features an interview mixed in with clips from his films for Hustler. There is the cast list, which lists the cast by their sex scenes. There is a slide show, which contains 20 stills on a track. There are also previews included on the disc for Young Sluts 8, Hot Showers 6, Anal Intensive 4, Barely Legal 31, Superfuckers 16, and Asian Fever 9.

Disc Design/Navigation:
Both of the discs are designed with simple animated menus with background music. On the first disc, when you first pop in the disc, an advert plays, but unlike earlier Hustler discs, you can skip over the advert. The second disc doesn't have the advert at the beginning. For the first disc, there are seven chapters available from the chapter menu, each one is identified by a video clip. Each chapter on the chapter menu goes to six sub chapters, which are identified by a video clip and the sex act. There are 63 chapter stops within the feature film itself. For the second disc, there are seven chapters available from the chapter menu. Each of them is identified by a scene name and a video clip. The seven main chapters lead to between three to six sub-chapters, which are identified by a video clip and the sex act being performed. There are a total of 31 chapter stops within the feature film itself. There is a time code encoded on both of the discs for the feature film.

General Review:
The box set for Hustler's Arsenic combines the previous releases for Arsenic 1 and Arsenic 2 from Hustler. Combined together like this you notice the lack of extras provided by Hustler for the two films together, especially with one of the extras repeated on both discs. As with most of Hustler's multi-part films, the plot starts in part 1 and concluded in part 2. As far as Hustler's multi-part series go, this one isn't as good as past ones that they have made. The plot for the series is disposable and actually ends up getting in the way of the film instead of helping it. Hustler would have been much better off cutting out the plot and making this a one part all sex film.

The cast looks great and the sex scenes in the series look nice and are fun to watch, but at times appear to be formulaic. The sex scenes often don't fit in with the characters in the series, another reason this series would have been better as an all sex film versus a plot based multi-part film. What really hurts the sex scenes in the series is the horrible overdub that Hustler has added to the audio track. You can hear the original sex scene and on top of that, Hustler has added an English dub that becomes annoying very quickly. They should have left the sex scene audio alone for the series. The sexual themes in the film are vaginal and anal sex with pussy fingering, blow jobs, male masturbation, DP, female masturbation, hand jobs, lesbianism, pussy eating, vaginal strap-on use, anal strap on use, vaginal and anal toy use, and anilingus. For viewers that care about condom use, there are no condoms used in the film.

The production values for the series is high with a slick and glossy looking finished product. The series is well shot and features a nice selection of indoor and outdoor locations. The original music for the series sounds great and adds to the series. If Pierre Woodman had tried to make the plot as good as the production this could have been a great series. Unfortunately since he didn't this series ends up just being average adult fare.

Scene Synopsis:
The scene IDs for the series are believed to be correct, however the second part of the film has a cast list included in the extras and the IDs given here differ from the ones given in the extra so not all the IDs may be accurate.

The first scene, which is the first scene in the first film, brings us Drimla and Manu and the scene starts out with Manu having vaginal sex with Drimla. Then Drimla gives Manu a hand job until he cums on her face.

The second scene gives us Daphne, Lucia, Bob Terminator and Philippe Duroc and the scene stats out with Bob rubbing Daphne's pussy though her underwear while Lucia strokes Philippe's dick in his pants. Then Lucia gives Philippe a blow job. Bob then pulls Daphne's panties aside and fingers her. Daphne and Bob go into some vaginal sex as do Philippe and Lucia. Philippe and Lucia switch over to some anal sex as do Bob and Daphne. While Bob continues to have anal sex with Daphne, Lucia licks Daphne's pussy while Philippe masturbates. Philippe moves in and he and Bob DP Daphne while Lucia masturbates. Philippe has vaginal sex with Lucia while Bob anally fingers her and she goes Bob a hand job while Daphne masturbates. Then Bob and Philippe DP Lucia. Daphne gives Philippe a blow job as Lucia gives Bob a blow job. Bob weakly cums in the air and then Philippe cums on himself and Daphne's mouth.

The third scene features Rebecca and Reda and starts out with Rebecca giving Reda a blow job. Then Reda eats her pussy before they go into the vaginal sex. Reda masturbates a little before he anally penetrates Rebecca. Rebecca masturbates until Reda cums on her face.

The fourth scene brings us Zita, Kevin Long and Philippe Duroc and the scene starts out with Zita giving Kevin a blow job while Philippe masturbates. Kevin eats out Zita's pussy and ass while she blows Philippe then Kevin goes in for some vaginal sex. Philippe gets in some vaginal sex before he switches over to anal sex while Kevin gets a blow job. Kevin goes back to the vaginal sex while Philippe masturbates then the two DP her. Kevin masturbates while Zita blows Philippe. Philippe cums on Zita's face, then she blows Kevin until he cums on her face as well.

The fifth scene gives us Ahud and Alain Deloin and the scene starts out with Alain fingering Ahud's pussy. Then Alain starts eating her out while she gives him a blow job. The two then go into some vaginal sex. Ahud goes back to giving Alain a blow job. The two return to the vaginal sex before going into some anal sex. They return to the vaginal sex for a while before returning to the anal sex. At the end of the scene, Alain cums in Ahud's mouth.

The sixth scene features Severine and Philippe Duroc. Philippe starts out by eating Severine's pussy and ass. Then she gives him a blow job. The two then go into some vaginal sex. Then they go into some anal sex. Then Philippe fingers her while she gives him a hand job and licks his balls. She gives him a blow job as he continues to finger her. To end the scene, Philippe cums in Severine's mouth.

The seventh and final scene in the first film brings us Gabriella Tckeckan, Angie Scott, Alain Deloin and Sebastian Barrio. Alain and Sebastian start out by fingering Gabriella. Then Gabriella gives Sebastian a blow job while Alain eats her. Alain gets in some vaginal sex while Gabriella continues to give Sebastian a blow job. Then Angie enters the scene and masturbates. Then Angie gives Alain a blow job while Gabriella fucks Sebastian. Angie masturbates while Alain and Sebastian DP Gabriella. Angie gives them both a hand job until both men cum on Gabriella's face and each other.

The eighth and ninth scenes are interlaced. The eighth scene, which is in the first scene in the second film, brings us Sophie Wild and Orsolya and the two start out by kissing each other before Sophie starts eating out Orsolya's pussy. Then they switch and Orsolya eats out Sophie. Sophie dons a strap-on and vaginally penetrates Orsolya. Then Orsolya wears the strap-on and Sophie blows it before she climbs on for some vaginal sex. Sophie returns to wearing the strap-on as Orsolya rides it anally. Then Orsolya uses a dildo on Sophie vaginally and anally while eating her pussy and Sophie eats out Orsolya's pussy. The ninth scene features Philippe Duroc and has Philippe masturbating until he shoots his load into the air.

Like the eighth and ninth scenes, the tenth and eleventh scenes are interlaced. The tenth scene gives us Lilly and Alain Deloin and starts out with Lilly masturbating. Then Lilly gives Alain a blow job before the two go into some vaginal sex. The two then go into some anal sex. Lilly then blows Alain and gives him a hand job until he cums in her mouth.

The eleventh scene brings us Passion and Pascal St. James and the scene starts out with Passion giving Pascal a blow job. Then Passion climbs on Pascal for some vaginal sex. Passion returns to giving Pascal a blow job and then they go into some anal sex. Passion returns to blowing Pascal again until he cums in her mouth.

The twelfth scene gives us Alicia and Philippe Duroc and it starts out with Alicia giving Philippe a blow job. Then Philippe eats and fingers her pussy before going in for some vaginal sex. Then after a short blow job, Philippe has some anal sex with Alicia. To end the scene, Philippe cums on Alicia's ass.

The thirteenth scene brings us Angie Scott and Alain Deloin and the scene starts out with Alain eating Suzie's pussy before they go into some vaginal sex. Then Suzie blows Alain following the blow job, the two go into some anal sex. To end the scene, Alain cums on Suzie's chest and mouth. The fourteenth scene features Alicia and JPX and starts out with Alicia giving JPX a hand job. Then Alicia gives JPX a hand and blow job until he cums on her hand.

The fifteenth and final scene in the series gives us Drimla and Bob Terminator and the scene starts out with Drimla blowing Bob before they go into the vaginal sex. Then Drimla and Bob go into some anal sex before returning to the vaginal sex. They go back to the anal sex one more time before Drimla gives Bob a blow job again. The scene ends with Bob cumming on himself.

Parting Thoughts:
Hustler has repackaged their two part Arsenic film series into this box set. Given that this film isn't as good as Pierre Woodman is capable of, buying this box set makes a much better value for fans of the film and the cast members. Viewers who like a real plot with their film, nasty sex, very tame sex or hate the intrusion of any form of plot will want to skip this title. Fans of Woodman or the cast members might want to check out the title, but a rental is probably a better choice so if you don't want to watch the film again you don't feel ripped off.

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