Sex Wish (Alpha Blue) Review

Distributor: Alpha Blue Archives Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Golden Age Classic, Feature Film, Horror, Roughie, Thriller Run Time: 80 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1976 Director: Victor Milt (as Tim McCoy) Written by: Victor Milt (as Tim McCoy) Cast: Harry Reems, Zebedy Colt, C.J. Laing, Deanna Darby (as Deanna Benfante), Toni Roam (as Tony Rome), Candy Love, Joaquin La Habana, Alexis Del Lago (as Alexis Blassini), Ronnie Love, Nancy Dare (as Sue Franklin), R. Bolla, J.P. Paradine 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

Sex Wish was the adult film industry's take on Death Wish. Sex Wish is a gritty and, at times, brutal film which will certainly not appeal to all viewers. Happily Sex Wish doesn't just take the plot of Death Wish and make it an adult film. Instead it takes the themes present within Death Wish and becomes its own film. Ken Bradshaw (Harry Reems) comes home from work and finds that his wife-to-be Faye (C.J. Laing) was attacked, raped, and murdered by a serial killer that has been dubbed the sword-killer (Zebedy Colt). Ken devotes his time to trying to track down the sword-killer to extract revenge.

Sex Wish will turn off many viewers due to the amount of graphic, and disturbing, rape scenes that are in the film. However, it is because of them that the film works. Zebedy Colt gives an amazing performance as the sword-killer — called Night-Walker in the credits although I don't think his character is ever actually referred to that way in the film itself — and creates some rather chilling scenes. The result is that the film doesn't have much for erotic value. But due to Zebedy Colt's performance, along with the performances of the rest of the cast, the film does work as a feature.

Sex Wish obviously had a low budget, but instead of showing off the cheapness of the budget, Victor Milt instead manages to use alternate angles and well edited footage to work around the obvious budget limitations. Victor Milt also utilizes a combination of outdoor scenes on the streets of New York City and well done sets and indoor locations to give Sex Wish the feel of a real film instead of a quickly made adult film. Victor Milt's previous work in photography and commercials probably aided him in making the best of a limited budget.

For people who enjoy an adult film with plot and enjoy watching an adult film as such, and can accept disturbing graphic rape scenes, Sex Wish is a film you will probably want to check out. Just don't expect a film that will turn you on.

Alpha Blue Archives has used a poor master for this release. The master was obviously video and contains video glitches, dirt, and artifacts. The film is jumpy in places and colors are over saturated in places as well. Dark scenes are very murky. This version does run slightly longer than the later released Cal Vista / VCX release, but it seemed while watching this release that it is also missing footage that was present within the Cal Vista / VCX release. The film is presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural track which contains hiss. Alpha Blue Archives have dug up some extras that relate to Sex Wish along with some that don't. The original theatrical trailer for the film is included on the disc. The trailer is in poor shape but is a nice inclusion. There is also a text piece with some brief info about the movie which also talks about a scene for the film that was never actually shot. However, Alpha Blue Archives dug up a still photo that was taken for the scene which is included at the end of the text piece and is a great inclusion on the disc. The disc also contains around 17 minutes of Zebedy Colt's 1977 film Unwilling Lovers that is broken up into three portions. The video quality is low on these segments with video glitches and scratchy and low audio. Despite the longer run time of this disc, the vast improvement of picture quality on the Cal Vista / VCX release makes that one the one to seek out. However, that release is missing the film related extras that are present on this disc.

Sex Wish is a gritty, and at times disturbing, adult take on Death Wish which fails at being erotic however works as an adult feature film. The poor picture quality of this disc hinders the release and makes the Cal Vista / VCX release of the film the one to look for instead.

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