Private Movies 11: Delilah Review

Reviewed by astroknight  on  12/6/2004

The Little Details

Running Time: 89 min.

Production Date: 12 / 15 / 2003

Director: Michael Raven

Cast: Ashley Long, Aurora Snow, Fallon Sommers, Kaylani Lei, Teanna Kai, Dale DaBone, Jay Ashley, Joey Ray, John West, Steven St. Croix, and Shanna McCullough in a non-sex role

The Short Story

Initial Expectations: It’s not often that Michael Raven doesn’t impress me with his movies. I’m really curious to see what he brings to the Private party.

Initial Reaction: It’s an interesting take, but nowhere near as good as I normally expect from Raven.

Who Should Watch It : Couples

Who Should Avoid It: Anybody wanting audio and video that synch rather than dubbing in the native language of the performers

The Technical Stuff

Audio /Video Quality: The audio is dubbed pretty well. Unfortunately, it’s even dubbed in English despite the fact that the entire cast is English speaking as far as I know. This really interfered with the movie for me, and definitely held it back for me. The video is also pretty good. It has a slight grain which I suspect is there for the artistic effect. It’s nicely lit, but is sadly presented in non-anamorphic widescreen rather than giving the movie the anamorphic widescreen that the format deserves.

Music: The music has a fun, electronic feel and is nicely balanced with the rest of the audio.

Menus: The main menu is pretty simple and works in a little animation. The chapter menu is very simple and lets you choose a scene based on a small clip of each scene and a chapter number.

The Feature

It’s a story that’s been around for thousands of years. Samson and Delilah. Big strong guy who’s unbeatable until little woman Delilah comes along. Of course, in the old Biblical version, Samson wasn’t the head of a huge virtual reality company, and Delilah wasn’t a VR construct. Then again, with Michael Raven behind the camera, things rarely follow the usual formula.

Scene 1 - Teanna Kai

Teanna starts things out sitting back in a chair and taking care of herself. She starts out naturally, and then adds a jackrabbit to the mix. She picks up speed gradually as the scene goes on, and finally ‘cums’ before the scene ends.

This is an okay scene. I like the camera work, which brings in some very nice angles, but sadly that’s the best thing about the scene. Teanna mugs the camera mercilessly, which on paper I can see working to start out a virtual reality movie. Unfortunately, it didn’t work here and often annoyed me. The scene also seemed very long and dragged on quite a bit.

Scene 2 - Ashley Long and Joey Ray

British tart Ashley starts out the first full scene letting Joey warm her up with his tongue. She reciprocates with a bit of cocksucking before letting Joey take her from behind. She eagerly moves on with a bit of anal missionary before letting Joey pop on her pussy.

This is a very average scene. The camera work didn’t impress me as much here, as it seemed to have a few too many close-ups throughout the scene. The scene also felt very long by only having a couple positions, and the dubbing of the performers killed what little chemistry was left. Ashley always turns in an energetic fuck, and that’s the main thing which helped this scene barely eke it out to an average level.

Scene 3 - Kaylani Lei and Steven St. Croix

Steven starts out the third scene sitting back in a chair and letting Kaylani work his cock into her throat. He rewards her with a little tonguing from behind before fucking her doggie style. They keep it moving with a bit of cowgirl and missionary before Steven pops on Kaylani’s great natural tits.

This is a pretty decent scene. The camera work seemed much better balanced and you could get a decent feel for the chemistry despite the horrible dubbing. Kaylani and Steven also put out some decent energy to help this one out. This is an okay scene.

Scene 4 - Aurora Snow and Jay Ashley

Jay starts out the next scene eating Aurora from behind, pulling her hair, and spanking her ass. She reciprocates with some knob gobbling and plenty of throat action before going directly to the reverse cowgirl anal. Jay also stretches out Aurora’s sphincter doggie style before popping on her gaping ass and then fucking it in.

This is a pretty hot scene, and probably the best in the movie. You can tell that Aurora and Jay are into each other, and they both put some very good energy into the scene. They’re obviously enjoying themselves, and it helps the scene end up well above average.

Scene 5 - Fallon Sommers and John West

Fallon looks a bit lonely as the penultimate scene begins, and passes the time diddling herself until John arrives. She kisses him before moving right down to suck his cock, and then lets him go right to fucking her doggie style. Fallon also gets in a little cowgirl ride and a bit of missionary work before stroking John to a facial.

This is a nice scene. There’s good chemistry and energy, and it helps the scene move along nicely. There isn’t anything really special about the scene, but there’s something likeable about it. This one ends up pretty good.

Scene 6 - Kaylanie Lei and Dale DaBone

Kaylani returns to take on Dale in the final scene. She sucks his cock before letting Dale fuck her from behind in a few locations. Kaylani also takes a cowgirl ride and then finishes things up with a facial.

This is a pretty good scene. Kaylani and Dale put some nice energy into the scene, and also seem to have some decent chemistry. Unfortunately, the first position seems to go on forever, and holds back the entire scene because of it.

Delilah is an okay movie that continues to show that Michael Raven has a lot more working between his ears than a lot of adult directors out there. Taking Samson and Delilah into the virtual realm is a neat idea, and his using an interview framework looking back on it sets up the scenes nicely while keeping things simple. Unfortunately, there was a lot to hold the movie back for me. The camera work keeps a nice balance of close-ups and distance shots, but it almost seems afraid of the guys. I’m not asking for slow sweeping close-ups of the guys, but this is a couples movie. With couples movies, by their very definition, roughly half of the viewers are women. Most of the women I’ve talked to who watch porn with their man enjoy fantasizing about the guys just as much as the guys enjoy fantasizing about the women. It even hurts things for me as a guy because with the way the guys were kept out of the shots I had a hard time getting a feel for a lot of the chemistry in the movie at times. This didn’t interfere with my enjoyment of the movie as much as dubbing English over English speaking performers, but it definitely didn’t help it. Delilah has a great idea behind it and continues the line of classic tales Michael Raven’s creatively re-envisioned. Sadly, Private’s style gutted most of the emotion out of the movie (which seems kind of ironic with movie being about virtual reality).

The Extra Stuff

Trailers are included for Sex Angels, Casting X 31, Hot Property, Delilah, I Want to Fuck You... In the Bathroom, and Theatre of Lust. The photobook contains about three dozen very nice looking full screen photos and snapshots. Bios are included for all of the female performers except for Shanna McCullough, and production notes give an overview of the movie along with some notes on it. There’s also bloopers, a behind the scenes featurette, and weblinks.

The blooper reel lasts about three and a quarter minutes. Most of it is filled with Dale DaBone flubbing his lines, although a few other cast members also show up. It’s not an overly impressive or amusing blooper reel.

The behind the scenes featurette lasts about five and a half minutes. There’s plenty of the photo shoot included here, as well as a little fun on the set. Unlike the behind the scenes featurettes in most of his movies, Michael Raven barely even makes an appearance in this one. There’s some okay shots in the featurette, but overall it just doesn’t feel like much and seems incredibly forgettable.

The Down -n- Dirty Sex Stuff

Themes: Straight, masturbation, toys, anal, interracial, rimming (male > female), and cream pie

Raincoat Factor: Medium

Condom Usage: None

The Bottom Line:

Currently, many of Private’s upper line of DVDs can be found online for between about $16 and $25 with stores offering them everywhere in between. I’d aim low or rent this one here. The adaption is intriguing, but the sex just didn’t do much for me. The technical aspects are pretty good, and Private put their usual good effort into the extras.

Note to Private: It’s great to see you go after some of the bigger directors now and then like you did here. I hope you keep it up in the future!

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

Other reviews by Astroknight