Sex Wars (Excalibur Films) Review

Distributor: Excalibur Films Edition Details: Manufacture on Demand DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Classic, Feature Film, Comedy, Sci-Fi Run Time: 82 minutes Rated: XXX Release Year: 1985 Director: Don Brown (as Bob Vosse) Written by: Arthur King (screenplay & concept), Thomas Street (concept) Cast: Laurie Smith, Paul Thomas, Robin Cannes, Richard Pacheco, Gail Sterling, Billy Dee, Mike Horner, D.J. Cone (as De Ja Vou), Howard Darkley, Cindy Carver, Ashley Welles (as Lea Brown), Madame Plunket, Mai Lin, Mariko, Rick Savage, Jon Martin, Peter Chalk, Rick Ryder, Tou Lousse, Bunny Bingo, Dannica, Jessica, Perry Drake, Darnell Mason (as Della Mason), Raoul Wigman, Arthur King, Miss X, Lady T, Gypsy, Oblivia Synthetica 88, Doris Fish, Tippi, Bo Sweetn, Doris Troupe, Jennie Roulette, Dorian Christopher, Sharona, Pierre Le Cher, John Beauregard, Michele Rebel, R.F. Dowiak, John Paul, Cecily Garcia, Jacqueline Hyde, Sparki Eden, Bud Custodio, Christina Parik, Phillip R. Ford, Taryn Tyler, Vevina Wilson, Gary Eberhart (as Gary Dana), Liz Hatton, Phil Mangand Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD-MOD (DVD-R) Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

Sex Wars is a fun comedy/sci-fi adult film to come out of the mid-80s. The film is goofy and filled with cheesy special effects, like strings attached to moving spaceships. Sex Wars boasts a huge cast, many in supportive non-sex roles, and a decent and amusing plot. Unlike the parody films of today, which usually try to emulate scene for scene when possible the movie they are a parody of while slipping in sex scenes, Sex Wars takes a different direction. There is no doubt that it is a take-off of Star Wars. However, beyond making a play on some of the characters and situations, the rest of the film is an original story. The story here has Princess Layme (Robin Cannes) who hires down-and-out pilots Brinker Duo (Paul Thomas) and Mark Starkiller (Richard Pacheco) to pilot her spaceship to the planet Tyros to help her find her sister Princess Orgasma (Laurie Smith). The sets are incredibly well done as well making for a fun and campy adult film.

This isn't to say the film is without error. The ending of the film seems rushed, with a character who just shows up after being briefly mentioned earlier, in a sex scene. There is extended MTV-style sequence at Lil's Last Chance Space Saloon towards the end of the film, which features clips from earlier sex scenes, shots of the extras at the saloon, and some topless dancing all set to a song. The scene goes on for a while and seems to be there for no other reason than to pad out the run time as it offers nothing to the actual film. The film would have been better off to have the actual plotted ending slightly more developed and have skipped the needless saloon song. Another issue that hampers the film slightly is that during some of the sex scenes there are cutaways to shots of stock footage of lava flows, space, and a spaceship flying. These cutaways do detract from the otherwise very well done sex scenes. All in all, Sex Wars is a very enjoyable film which is definitely worth watching.

For some reason, Excalibur Films has seen fit to only release the titles they own as manufacture on demand titles, which greatly reduces the amount of people who will know the film is available and reduces the devices which can play the disc, since manufacture on demand discs are only expected to play on playback only devices. As Excalibur Films appears to be the owner of this title, I am considering the MOD release to be the official release. Sex Wars is presented in the full screen aspect ratio. I am not sure if the master for this was film or video, either way, the video looks good. The picture is a little soft and there is some minor dirt and artifacts. Colors are well represented. Sex Wars is presented with a Dolby Digital 1.0 monaural track, which works for the presentation. Excalibur Films hasn't included any extras with this release.

Sex Wars is a fun comedic sci-fi parody to come out of the mid-80s. The story is engaging and the sex scenes are well done. The picture is in good shape but the release is flawed by only being available as a manufacture on demand disc.

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