Resurrection of Eve Review

Distributor: Mitchell Brothers Film Group Edition Details: Standard DVD MSRP: $39.95 DVD Release Date: August 7, 2002 Movie Specs: Genres: Golden Age Classic, Feature Film Run Time: 84 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1973 Director: Jon Fontana, Artie Mitchell Written by: Jon Fontana, Artie Mitchell Cast: Marilyn Chambers, Nancy Weich, Mimi Morgan, Matthew Armon, Kandi Johnson (as Kandi Jones), Johnnie Keyes (as Johnny Keyes), Dale Meador (as Dale Meader), Damona Marin, Cozy Edmundson, June Richards, Jon Martin (as Jerry Heath), Bentley Christmas, Buck Lacey, Dana Fuller, Diane Miller, Jerry Abrams (as Gerald Graystone), John Paul Jones, Mark Ellinger, Mike Bradford, Pam Francis, Tyler Reynolds (as W. Tyler Horn), Zachary Strong, Binky Bish, Paul Pierson, Sherrie De Groff, Robert Dunn, Charles Engel, Courtney Countee, III, Bubbles, Bob Morris, John Millious, Numbers Peru, Jean Gentry, Tom Berg, Paul Alba, Dave Erdman, Rick Jackson, Laurie Pierson, Merrie Wolfson, Katrina Lee, Lisa Collera, Jaqueline Foskett, Alice Clark, Molly Seagrim (as Jo-Anne Heather), Suzanne River, Billie Robinson, Katie Akin, Chuck Bayles, Marianna Arensbak, Dan O'Neill, Bob Cecchini, Ramona Moon, Susan Morning, Butch Katazakais, Al Rand, Ralph Eno, Jerry Ward, Bunny Brody, Roberta Shepp (as Roberta Shepps), Curt McDowell, Linda Williams, Doug Chapin, Jim Gish, Eric Nord, Dave Marty, God's Creation, Denise Larson (as Nickellettes), Priscilla Alden (as Nickellettes), Roberta Coleman (as Nickellettes), Jane Huether (as Nickellettes), Betsy Newman (as Nickellettes), Kathy Opits (as Nickellettes), Ellin Stein (as Nickellettes), Bill Spooner (as The Tubes), Rick Anderson (as The Tubes), Vince Wilnick (as The Tubes), Bob Macintosh (as The Tubes), Prairie Prince (as The Tubes), Roger Steen (as The Tubes), John Waybill (as The Tubes), Michael Cotten (as The Tubes), Re Styles (as The Tubes), Jordan Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1 Disc: DVD 5 (SS, SL) Special Features: Trailers, Photo Gallery DVD-ROM Special Features: none

Synopsis:
Please note that this synopsis for the film contains plot spoilers, so you may want to skip over this portion. On the other hand, it does clarify what is happening in the first half of the film which will lessen confusion while watching the film.

Eve (Nancy Weich as young Eve, Mimi Morgan as pre-accident Eve and Marilyn Chambers as post-accident Eve), who has had a troubled sexual past, is in a relationship with Frank Paradise (Matthew Armon). Frank thinks that she is having an affair with boxer Johnny Keyes (Johnnie Keyes) and the two get in a big fight casing Eve to leave the house all upset. She gets in a disfiguring accident and the hospital ends up having to reconstruct her face. After her release, she and her now husband Frank start attending swingers' meetings since he wants her to loosen up sexually.

Audio/Video:
Resurrection of Eve is presented with its original English 2.0 mono track, which provides all the joys of a monaural track. The sound is flat and due to poor original sound design, muffled and hard to hear at points. The sound problems are due to issues when the film was made and not due to a poor mastering of the audio for the DVD. Mitchell Brothers haven't included any foreign language tracks or any subtitle options for the film.

Resurrection of Eve is presented in the full screen aspect ratio of 1.33:1, which may not be the original aspect ratio for the film. The film looks as if it could have originally been filmed with the aspect ratio of 1.66:1, but I am not sure. For the age of the film, the print is in remarkably good shape. There are minimal artifacts though out the film but none are horribly bad and the film is starting to yellow in places. Which indicates that the masters may have been on nitrate film and be breaking down. This doesn't at all detract from the viewing experience though. The colors are slightly soft, which could be due to the masters breaking down as well except for at the end where the red level is incredibly strong. It is supposed to be strong at this point, but it looks as if it might be slightly more intense than originally planned. I could be wrong about this as well. Basically, for the age of the film, 29 years at the time the disc was mastered, the video is in great shape.

Special Features:
There are a few extras included on the disc. There is a photo gallery, containing 24 stills from the feature film. There are also trailers for Resurrection of Eve, Behind the Green Door, Autobiography of a Flea, Inside Marilyn Chambers, The Grafenberg Spot, and a showcase of early Mitchell Brothers film classics (Flesh Factory, Wild Campus, Reckless Claudia, Woman of the Night, Rampaging Nurses, Family Affair, Rabin's Revenge, Flesh & Brimstone, Divorcee's Wives, and Sex Odyssey). I don't know if Mitchell Brothers is actually going to be releasing all these films on disc or if they are just here as nostalgia pieces as the trailers are obviously the original ones. The one for the showcase mentions the film being in the theater and a work in progress, Sodom & Gomorrah, and the one for The Grafenberg Spot mentions Traci Lords (credited as Tracy Lords) as still being in the film and obviously she has been cut from any current version. Either way, the trailers make for fun viewing as one doesn't often get treated with original theatrical trailers for adult films. This is definitely an extra more companies should include on their classics.

Navigation:
There are seven chapters available from the main menu for Resurrection of Eve. Each one is identified by a video clip from the area of the film that the chapter goes to. There is a time code encoded on the disc for the feature film. Given the style of the film, there is no easy way to create decent navigation without providing more chapters than feasible but the existing ones are acceptable for navigation.

General Review:
Resurrection of Eve is a hard film to review since it is very different from any other adult film that I have seen. It's rather amazing, considering some of the subject matter in the film, that the film appears to be presented in its original uncut version. This is certainly not a film for anyone wanting to watch a film for self gratification as it will be useless for that purpose. The film is a dark drama that is sure to upset the viewer at times. Resurrection of Eve is a film that couldn't be made within the realms of conventional cinema at that time, or this time for that matter, but could be made for adult cinema at the time. A movie such as this would never see the light of day if someone were to try and make it today.

The biggest problem with the film is the lack of coherency in the story. Normally this wouldn't be that much of an issue in an adult film, but since this film relies on the story to be a good movie, this isn't necessarily such a good thing. The problem is that the film is trying to tell too much of a story in too short of an amount of time. The end result is that the beginning of the film is muddled and confusing. It isn't until you get to the middle of the film that you figure out exactly what was happening in the first half of the film.

There is then a break in the story where a 60s style hippie band, named God's Creation, takes the stage and performs which ruins the pacing of the film. The time spent with this, which is considerable, would have been better off spent on the actual story since this scene doesn't actually serve the plot at all. Then the second half of the film seems rushed. By the end of the film, you will have gotten the point behind the film, but if more time had been taken to tell the story, the film would have been much better. If Jon Fontana had made the film two hours long instead of under an hour and a half, and used the extra time to strengthen the story, the film could be excellent. Instead, we get what was a great idea for a film that couldn't be told through conventional cinema that has been lessened, probably due to the rampant drug use that was supposedly done in the Mitchell Brothers Film Group, by failing to create a strong finished product.

There are no full sex scenes in the entire film so viewers who go into the film for an intensely erotic experience will be sorely disappointed. There are pieces of scenes throughout the film, many of which don't feature any cum shots. There is a lot of implied sex in the film as well, where no actual penetration shot is shown or a quick penetration shot is shown and that is the end of the graphic sex for the scene. I've read that in Jon Fontana's original cut of the film there wasn't enough graphic sex to please Jim and Artie Mitchell, so Artie filmed additional graphic sequences that were added into the film.

Most of the sex scenes in the film are part of the story and exist solely to further the story along, not add a sexual interlude. As a result the sex scenes are very short in duration and usually aren't shot to give the viewer the money shot. The first scene, with Nancy Weich (?) and Dale Meador is a bothering scene where Nancy is playing a 12-year-old Eve, please note that she doesn't come close to looking 12-years-old fortunately, that is introduced to sex by a dirty old man with some of the nastiest teeth I've ever seen. The intention of this scene is not to titillate the viewer, but to show where Eve's sexual hang-ups come from. This scene is disturbing, but from its presentation, it appears that it was supposed to be this way. This is the most disturbing scene in the film, unless you happen to be homophobic, at which point you will have issues with the orgy scenes at the end of the film.

From a solely adult erotica stand point, this film is a total loss and if you go into viewing it from this prospective, you will be sorely disappointed. If you are just looking for some wack off material, this film is not going to give you what you want. If you want to watch a film that actually has a story to tell, then you might be the perfect candidate to give this film a try, just remember it isn't perfect. The sexual themes in the film are oral and vaginal sex with orgies, statutory rape, interracial, implied internal cum shots with brief lesbian and gay sequences. For viewers that care about condom use, there are no condoms used in the film.

The Scenes:
There are no full sex scenes in the film to describe. There are pieces of scenes throughout the film and due to their shortness I'm not going to bother describing them here. If knowing exactly what goes on in the sex scenes is important to you, chances are this is not the film for you to be buying.

Parting Thoughts:
Whether this film is worth viewing for you depends on what you are looking for from the film. If you are looking for an erotic film for self gratification or to stimulate yourself and your significant other, this is not the film for you and not worth the time it will take you to watch it. If you are looking for a film to sit back and actually watch that doesn't fall into conventional cinema, this might be the film for you, just remember it is a product of the early seventies by film makers on large quantities of drugs, so it isn't the most coherent film you will ever watch.

Screenshots:

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