Playboy: Asian Exotica Review

Reviewed by astroknight  on  12/4/2004

The Little Details

Running Time: 51 min.

Production Date: 1998

Director: Steve Silas

Cast: Moren Corwin, Lisa Marie Scott, Cristy Thom, Lynn Thomas, Venice Kong and others; Hosted by Morena Corwin and Thao Nguyen

The Short Story

Initial Expectations: I’ve never watched one of Playboy’s movies, but I occasionally like a softcore movie. I’m curious about this one.

Initial Reaction: Eh.

Who Should Watch It : Anybody wanting soft teases with Asian beauties

Who Should Avoid It: Anybody wanting actual sex

The Technical Stuff

Audio /Video Quality: The audio’s okay. It’s almost all voice over and music, but it keeps a good balance. The video is okay. It’s nicely lit, but there’s a bit of grain throughout the entire feature. I want to think it’s there for an artistic look, but I just can’t be sure. There’s also a few places where there was a flash of digital breakdown.

Music: The music is soft and sexy. It works, and shows a bit of care.

Menus: The menus are okay. The main menu is extremely generic and doesn’t do anything for me. The chapter menu is better and lets you choose a scene based on a small clip of each scene and a title for the scene.

The Feature

Asian Exotica features a series of softcore scenes. The scenes are completely independent of each other with the exception of all featuring Asian women. There’s a quick lead-in for each scene that gives an Oriental style saying and often features a slight tease as well.

Scene 1 - Lynn Thomas

Lynn starts things out dancing around a little in The Garden of Love. She lies back and dances with streamers as birds fly around the Japanese style garden as well as putting on a little tease inside the Japanese styled house. Finally, the scene fades out.

This is a nice little scene. Lynn is a definite looker, and does a nice job of playing to the camera. She mixes things up a bit as well and the editing keeps the scene moving nicely. I would have liked it if this scene ran a little longer, but it still works well as is.

Scene 2 - Lisa Marie Scott

Ecstasy Dance is next, with Lisa Marie in a black leather outfit and shades. She dances around and strips down while a guy welds in the background. After a bit of dancing, the scene fades out.

This is an okay sequence. Lisa Marie does an okay job doing her tease, but the focus is definitely more on the dance than it is on the tease.

Scene 3 - Cristy Thom

Cristy starts out A Touch of Silk lighting a candle. As the camera changes angles her clothes magically disappear and she’s blindfolded by an unseen partner. He teases her with feathers and chains, and after a bit she plays with a snake.

This is an okay scene. The artistic editing didn’t work well for me here because it kept interrupting the flow of the tease. There was a lot of potential for a great tease here, which is really too bad.

Scene 4 - Venice Kong, Morena and a guy

The Feast features one girl fantasizing about two others trying to please a man sensually. She runs her hands across herself thinking of the girls kissing and caressing each other as they roll around on the man’s lap. They let him reach down to gently rub each girl’s pussy before kissing in front of him on a couch. Finally, the scene ends with the girl answering the door to find the other girl on the other side.

This might be the best scene in the movie. There’s some nice chemistry between the girls, and the fantasy and reality are edited together very well. The ending also acts as a nice bit of icing on the cake. This is a fairly hot scene.

Scene 5 - Venice Kong

The Naked Kiss reminds Venice of her dreams. One of her dreams has a man trying to pleasure her in an open field. Another dream takes her back to the land of 1940s style detective movies. Her dreams seem to follow her where even she goes, whether she’s lying around the house or going for a swim.

This is a pretty good scene. It’s softer than the others, but at the same time it’s stronger. The quick flashes of dreams work much better, and feel like that’s all they should be. It’s a decent scene, but far from hot.

Scene 6 - One girl

Shimmering Delight features one girl dancing around in a warehouse. She strips out of her coveralls and down to her high cut white panties. The panties come off soon afterwards, and the girl dances around as she’s sprayed with water. Finally, the scene fades out.

This is yet another okay scene. The girl is cute, but I just couldn’t get into the scene. I felt like I’d already seen it earlier in the movie.

Scene 7 - Lisa Marie Scott

Lisa Marie becomes a Body in Motion for the next scene. She dances around dressed as if she’s a ballet dancer. Of course, her outfit is a little shy and she has to take a break to caress herself a little and lie around. She changes outfits a couple times and dances around most of the scene.

As a soft dance this one’s okay. As a sexual scene, it’s barely even lukewarm. I have to give Lisa credit for being a good dancer, but this one doesn’t do much for me otherwise.

Scene 8 - Two girls

The Hands of Love features a girl getting a massage. I’m not positive, but the girl giving the massage might be Lynn Thomas. They move into a few positions as one rubs the other, and the scene finally fades out.

This is another okay at best scene. There’s nice chemistry between the girls, but once again I had a very hard time getting into the scene. The cameraman seemed to want to see how much he (or she) could pan around the girls rather than focusing on them enough to let the scene shine.

Scene 9 - One girl

Paradise on Earth features a girl playing in the river. After she gets out, she decides to enjoy a little fruit and rubs it all over her body. After a couple minutes, the scene fades out.

This scene started out great, and then quickly nosedived. Part of this is because I’m not into food play too much, but the scene also had a slightly odd feeling because the food play got much more attention than some other sexual teases in the movie. The other thing which really disappointed me was the initial tease in the river. It’s extremely good, and the girl plays to the camera perfectly. As soon as my hopes (among other things) popped up, the scene changed focus and left me wishing for something other than what I was shown.

Scene 10 - One girl

Bed of Pleasure features a hot little Oriental chick dancing around in some black lingerie in a bedroom. She slowly strips down as she moves around the room. Finally the scene fades out.

This is almost an okay scene. The tease starts out good, but then seems so quick that it loses much of its power. The editing also doesn’t help this one. This scene had potential and then once again wasted it.

Scene 11 - Morena Corwin

Morena finishes things up in Water World. She dances around in a street and then inside as water rushes over her. I’m not sure if the scene then cuts to another girl in a bathtub or if it’s Morena in the tub. Regardless, the scene seems to be over before it begins.

This is an extremely forgettable scene. Morena is darn hot, but the scene is so short and the cuts are so quick that it feels like if you blink twice you missed half the scene. Heck, you just might have!

Asian’ Exotica is a nice idea that just didn’t work. Most of the reason it didn’t work for me is the style. Part of me wants to call it an artistic style, but that just isn’t it. The problem is that it’s extremely choppy and short. If feels like you’re holding a Playboy in front of you and just flipping through the pages rather than actually looking at them. It’s too bad, because the Asian girls are definitely hot and there are some scenes here that show some potential. Unfortunately, as soon as the scenes start to show some potential, the editor cuts the scene away from it or changes the focus completely. If this were my first softcore feature, I kind of doubt I’d pick up another. Asian Exotica has some hot Asian girls, but it just isn’t too exotic (or even sexy) in any way.

The Extra Stuff

The photo gallery contains about a dozen small and okay looking snapshots. Trailers are included for several other Playboy releases.

The Down -n- Dirty Sex Stuff

Themes: Softcore, Asians, tease, masturbation (light), and food play

Raincoat Factor: Medium low

Condom Usage: None needed

The Bottom Line:

Currently, many of Playboy’s DVDs can be found online for between about $12 and $25. Rent this one first. Softcore seems to be hit or miss for most people, and I can’t see this one having much repeat viewing value. The scenes are overly soft and chopped up. The technical aspects are pretty average, and there’s also not much for extras.

Note to Playboy: A little more polish would go a long way. As a start, include a full cast listing, and then please do it right and have it as a scene by scene cast listing to let people know who’s in each scene. A little more effort towards the main menu would also be nice, as it helps set the viewer’s first impression of the DVD.

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

Other reviews by Astroknight