Watchers Review

Running Time: 83 min.

Production Date: 7 / 19 / 2000

Director: Michael Raven

Cast: Julie Meadows, Bridgette Kerkove, Katja Kean, Shay Sweet, Shelby Myne, Sydnee Steele, Tavalia Griffin, Chennin Blanc, Dillion Day, Chris Cannon, Eric Masterson, Mr. Marcus, Pat Myne, Cheyne Collins, and Randy Spears and Evan Stone, George Kaplan, Jim Enright, Danny Wallace, Greg Wayne, Tacks Am7, and Mike Horner in non-sex roles

Initial Expectations: Michael Raven has quickly become one of my all time favorite directors. From what I’ve heard I’m expecting this to be one of his best.

Initial Reaction: Wow!

Who Should Watch It : Anybody who likes a well developed porno with a nice variety of sex and great art direction

Who Should Avoid It: Raincoaters and anybody who wants a lot of nasty sex

Audio /Video Quality: As usual with most of Sin City’s features, the audio is clear and well balanced. There are a few places where the balance suffers a little, but they’re mostly group scenes where you hear the people in the background better than those in the foreground. Unlike most adult features, Watchers is presented in a matted widescreen format. Michael Raven shoots most of his features on film, so there’s a bit of grain. For a shot on film feature, the grain is pretty good and doesn’t interfere with the feature much. There are a few shadows, but they rarely interfere with the feature.

Music: Mellenium does the score for this Michael Raven Experience. The music normally has a hard rock feel to it, which gives the scenes a lot of sexual drive, but it also slows down for some more romantic music as well. It’s normally well balanced with the rest of the audio, but does change a little depending on the scene and its mood.

Disc Problems / Complaints: As usual with Sin City’s earlier DVDs, you’re subjected to several phone sex trailers and a commercial for their web site that you can’t skip. This is one of my biggest pet peeves and always starts the movie off a step down. There’s also no time stamp, which is something I think Sin City has added since this DVD was originally released. It’s also done with two titles splitting the chapters in the middle of the feature. As was typical with this style, when you try and scan backwards, you can’t scan past the start of the chapter. Unlike many others using this style, you can skip to the previous chapter. Both of my complaints here are only for their earlier DVDs, such as this one, as they’ve stopped the mandatory commercials and have added a time code by the time of this review. To me this shows that Sin City cares about the consumer and does want to do what they can to improve their products. Since they’re willing to learn, I’m not holding these things against them in grading this DVD.

Menus: The main menu is different from most menus. A trailer for the feature runs during the main menu with the selections put on top of it. The chapter menu lists the chapters by a scene number and a small clip of the scene. It’s a pretty average way to offer a chapter menu, but since this is an older DVD, I won’t complain that it doesn’t list the star’s name in each scene.

The Feature: Sydnee Steele is having problems sleeping. She used to feel that she had a guardian angel who watched over her, but with the way her life’s now going she isn’t too sure. She’s plagued by sexual visions that she’s sure that it has something to do with a string of murders that’s happening, and is on the brink of ending her life. What she doesn’t realize is that she’s one of the important players in the celestial game, and her death will bring on the coming of the Evil One. Several other players are involved, such as Randy Spears, the guardian angel, Julie Meadows and Dillion Day, the police detectives, and Mike Horner, who’s motivations and goals are a mystery to most everybody.

Streetwalker Bridgette Kerkove takes on Cheyne Collins, Eric Masterson, and Pat Myne with the help of Chennin Blanc and Shelby Myne in the opening scene. They start off all working on Bridgette, but soon break into three quick pairs and then two threesomes, with Chennin taking on Pat and Cheyne with one at each end, while Bridgette and Shelby take on Eric. They break back into pairs, so Cheyne can fuck Bridgette’s ass as Pat fucks Shelby, and Eric nails Chennin. Bridgette even takes things to the next nasty level by having Cheyne pull out of her ass so she can get down and take an ass to mouth. The girls finish things off by getting down on their knees to take their line of facials. It’s a pretty hot scene, and does a great job of setting the mood for the feature.

Katja Kean and Tavalia Griffin team up to take care of Mr. Marcus. They start out with a little kissing before the girls bend over to work together and suck Mr. Marcus’s cock, which is easily big enough for two. The girls move up onto Marcus, with Tavalia riding his cock and Katja on his face. They move around so Tavalia can give Katja’s pussy some attention while Marcus continues to fuck her. Katja has to put her fingers to work after a bit, since Tavalia gets so into Marcus’s cock that she seems to forget about Katja. Katja doesn’t have to work herself over too long, as Marcus turns his cock’s attention towards Katja’s pussy and Tavalia moves up to work on Katja’s tits. Tavalia moves aside to play with herself as Marcus fucks Katja from behind, and then comes back to help Katja suck Marcus’s cock until he blasts them with his ball butter. It’s a very hot scene that has some great chemistry.

Cops Julie Meadows and Dillion Day head back to his place. Dillion was planning on them working on the case, but Julie would rather they work on each others’ briefs. They strip down completely while kissing and smiling at each other before Dillion plants his face between Julie’s legs to lick her twat. Julie shows why she’s become a favorite of many fans here as she smiles, coos, and giggles as Dillion licks and fingers her pussy. She returns the favor by sucking Dillion’s cock, but never stops making little pleasure noises or smiling as she does so. Julie fucks Dillion cowgirl style, before moving on to doggie style and finishing it in a piledriver. Dillion gives her a good blast of guy goo, which he hits her with from her pussy up to her forehead. It’s another very hot scene, with Julie leading the way very nicely. In addition to the great chemistry and a nice lead-in, the scene fits nicely into the plot.

Katja Kean starts off the next scene with Shay Sweet as a large group watches them. She kisses Shay and plays with her a little while standing behind her before having Shay down so she can eat and finger Shay’s pussy a little easier. She moves on to fuck Shay’s ass with a toy and spank her. Unfortunately, the scene ends very abruptly, so it doesn’t have much of a clean ending. Unlike most scenes, Shay only receives and never gives, but with how hot it is I don’t think many people will care.

Finally, Sydnee Steele thanks Randy Spears in the best porno way, with a good boinking. She tenderly sucks his cock before climbing on and riding him. Apparently she figures he’s done enough already by saving her, so she doesn’t send him down to warm her up orally. She rides him cowgirl before letting Randy fuck her from behind as well as a little missionary work before popping on Sydnee’s stomach. It’s a very romantic scene and ends the feature on a very high note. It’s a very well done scene that has some nice chemistry as well.

Watchers shows why director Michael Raven is a person to watch. The plot and acting are both fabulous, and the sex scenes have a nice variety. They don’t vary just in actions, but also in style. Some of them are dirty, driving, pounding sex scenes, while others are soft and romantic. Unlike in so many other features, Michael Raven has crafted Watchers so that the different scenes fit together nicely and none of them seem out of place. The plot will probably remind some of Kevin Smith’s Dogma, as they both share an obvious theme of one who thinks they’ve been abandoned only to be chosen by the One they thought abandoned them to save the world with a little help. Raven takes Watchers in a different direction, however, and turns it into more of a supernatural detective thriller. Watchers is definitely worth watching, and not a feature that I’m going to easily let off my shelf.

Extras: The photo gallery contains about thirty four full screen photos. Unlike some of Sin City’s earlier photo galleries, this one is very clear with only a few photos looking like they might have come directly from the feature. Trailers are included for Eighteen & Awesome, Eighteen & Anxious, and the first four installments of the Just 18 series. There’s also the standard web site and phone sex commercials, which are the same ones that were mandatory before the main menu.

Unlike many of Sin City’s DVDs, Watchers contains a behind the scene featurette, which lasts about five minutes. Julie Meadows talks a little about her role in the feature, as well as hinting about what’s new about her for this feature. Mr. Marcus, Katja Kean, Shay Sweet, and Sydnee Steele also give short introductions to their characters. Director Michael Raven also talks a little about the feature and what it’s about, as well as an update or two. It also mixes in some shots of the film being shot as well as clips of the actual movie. Although short, it does add a bit to the DVD, and should please many fans. Oddly, unlike the feature, the behind the scenes has a time stamp.

Themes: Straight, group, lesbian, anal, ass to mouth, inter-racial, and toys

Raincoat Factor: Medium high

Overall: Currently, Watchers can be found online for between $18 and $24 with most stores offering it for under $20. It’s easily worth the price. It’s one of the most original and well done adult films I’ve seen in a long time. The plot and acting are superb, and the sex doesn’t lag far behind. The transfer is done very well for film, and the behind the scenes featurette helps the extras well over the average mark.

Note to Sin City: It’s great to see you supporting the widescreen format, but in the future, please take your support all the way to anamorphic widescreen. Anybody with a widescreen TV will greatly appreciate it.

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

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