Sex Wish (Cal Vista Classics) Review

Distributor: Cal Vista / VCX Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Golden Age Classic, Feature Film, Horror, Roughie, Thriller Run Time: 79 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.

Cal Vista and VCX have done an okay job with this release. The film is presented in the full screen aspect ratio and the picture is jumpy at times with artifacts and dirt present. Dark scenes are unfortunately murky. It looks like the original master used was a print from a theater and not the original as a voice over at the end asks patrons to stick around for coming attractions. The film also appears to have some missing footage. There is about a 20 second difference between this version and the previously released version from Alpha Blue Archives. It felt as if footage present here was missing from the Alpha Blue Archives release though. VCX has also inserted a copyright notice several times during the presentation in the middle of the picture at the bottom of the image. The film is presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural track, which contains hiss but works for the material being presented. The only extras that Cal Vista and VCX have included on the disc are bonus scenes from Girls of Treasure Island, Peek Freak, Lorelei, and Pleasure Palace. Sadly, the extras that were on the Alpha Blue Archives release that related to Sex Wish are missing from this release. Despite the issues with the master used, marring portions of the picture with a copyright notice, and the print used being slightly shorter than the Alpha Blue Archives release, the picture quality is better making this the preferred release to purchase

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 quality of the Cal Vista / VCX release is better than the previously released Alpha Blue Archives version but is sadly missing the film related extras from that release.

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