New Behind the Green Door, The Review

Distributor: Vivid Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Feature Film Run Time: 133 minutes Rated: XXX Release Year: 2013 Director: Paul Thomas Written by: Steven L. Austin (as Phil Noir) Cast: Brooklyn Lee, James Deen, Richie Calhoun, Steven St. Croix, Dana DeArmond, Herschel Savage, Brandy Aniston, Ash Hollywood, Penny Pax, Nat Turnher, Jon Jon, Prince Yahshua (as Prince Yeshua), Chanel Preston, Kylie Ireland, Thomas Ward, Johnnie Keyes, Shylar Cobi, Andy Appleton, Dahlia Sky (as Bailey Blue), Mischa Brooks, Presley Hart, Karlo Karrera, Mia Lelani, Chastity Lynn, Mae Olsen, Ashli Orion, Alliyah Sky, Eric Swiss, Holly Taylor, Michael Vegas Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: none Video: Widescreen, 1.78:1 (anamorphic) Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 2

When doing a remake of a film, in adult or mainstream, it is always a crap shoot. You will never please everyone. There will be some who want the original faithfully redone, there will be some who want something new, and there will be some who want a modernization of the original. There will also be always some who say why redo what has been done. Therefore I feel it important to say where I fall going into this. I like a re-imagining, there is no point in just copying what has been done. However, I want there to be a reason why it is a remake and not just an entirely new movie.

Vivid bills The New Behind the Green Door as a remake of Behind the Green Door. The reality of the movie is that it is actually a sequel to the original. The movie ignores the existing sequel, Behind the Green Door: The Sequel, but uses conventions that were utilized in the sequel. At the Caligula Club, the now named Green Door Club, footage of Behind the Green Door is used acknowledging that it was a film. I want to be mad at Paul Thomas for this but Jim and Artie Mitchell already did essentially the same thing in Behind the Green Door: The Sequel. At least he is following the conventions of the series. I still wish he hadn't done that though. The story for this film is that Hope Perdita (Brooklyn Lee) and Mitch (James Deen) are down-and-out with everything they own being repossessed. Hope is seeking for the identity of her birth mother. Hope meets Harvey (Steven St. Croix) at a party, who has plans for her.

Archival footage from Behind the Green Door was utilized in the beginning for Hope's fantasy. This worked even less for me. Come the end, it makes sense why, but if they had to go that direction with this film they should have matched up Mitch's fantasy to footage of another 70s film and licensed that material as well since Hope's fantasy looked dated and Mitch's fantasy looks modern.

The story behind The New Behind the Green Door is an enjoyable one and outside of the ending doesn't seem overly strained. As a result the film stands up well by itself and a sequel to Behind the Green Door. The cast does a great job with their acting portions, as well as their sexual portions. The sex scene with Harvey and Eden (Dana DeArmond) seems forced into the movie. After seeing the deleted scenes, it fits better and I wish that the non-sex portion hadn't been cut from the movie. I enjoyed Johnny Keyes cameo in the movie as well. I love seeing the stars of the golden age still being remembered. The end of the movie I thought was a cop out and that the movie could have been just as strong without that ending. Overall, Paul Thomas and Vivid, along with the cast, have done a really good job with this movie and it is well worth watching.

Vivid has done a nice job with the presentation of the movie. The New Behind the Green Door was shot on digital video. The movie is presented in anamorphic widescreen and offers a crisp and clear image with nice detail. The colors are rendered beautifully. Now, on to the bad, Vivid has put a bug on the lower right corner of the screen. This intentional marring of an otherwise beautiful image is sad. The film is presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track, which sounds nice and works well. Vivid has included several extras on the disc. There is a fifteen minute featurette “Memories from Behind the Green Door,” featuring Paul Thomas, Johnny Keyes, and McKenna Taylor (Marilyn Chambers' daughter) at the O'Farrell Theater talking about the theater, Marilyn, and Jim and Artie Mitchell. There are three deleted scenes included on the disc. There are outtakes from shooting Thomas Ward's comedy sketch in the movie. There is a thirty minute behind the scenes piece. “Brooklyn Lee Photo Session” presents a video of the photography session with Brooklyn Lee with the photos overlaid on top of the video. There is a photo gallery. There is also a “cumshot recap” which is a compilation of the cum shots from the movie. Vivid has also included Mitchell Brothers' DVD of Behind the Green Door in the release.

The New Behind the Green Door is not a remake nor re-imagining of Behind the Green Door. Instead it serves as a sequel to the original film, but seems to ignore the sequel for obvious plot reasons. While the movie is not perfect, Paul Thomas has done a good job creating this sequel that stands as a good movie on its own.

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