Amateur Porn Star Killer (2007) + Prostitution
Pornography U.S.A. (1971/Cinema Epoch)
Picture:
C Sound: C/C+ Extras: C-/D Features: D/C+
As a lame
entry in the sexploitation/violence cycle (almost bordering on torture porn) is
star/director Shane Ryan’s dismal, embarrassing, dumb Amateur Porn Star Killer (2007) which is all taped and tries to
feign being filmed as a serial-type killer makes snuff films of the young girls
he seduces, has sex with and eventually kills.
Its 71 run-on, arrogant minutes dares to quote the great Paul Schrader’s
astute observations on snuff films (a person is slowly killed for
entertainment, as shown the underrated hit Nicolas Cage film 8mm, influenced by Schrader’s more
underrated Hardcore).
This
self-impressed mess is like Blair Witch
Project with child rape and if it thinks it is being so shocking, Mr. Ryan
should know that actual rape porn with a murder at the end has been made with
much more shocking graphics and results, so bad it is at the center of a U.S.
Government investigation. If this is a
supposed record of a serial killer he is trying to portray, he has trivialized
some of the most brutal murders in history.
Yawn!!!
More
interesting and amusing is the 1971 attempt at a documentary, Prostitution Pornography U.S.A. tries
to show the world of prostitution pre-Internet, saving a three-way lesbian
tryst for last. I had seen this eons ago
and forgot about it because it was careful to not show intercourse, though it is still graphic enough. Showing men filmed it, frontal nudity was
avoided. Unfortunately, that selective
caution carries over into its would-be journalism, which makes this campy as
anything and some of those here are actors anyhow. As a result, it is more like Woody Allen’s Take The Money & Run than anything
important. At least it does not
celebrate rape and murder.
The 1.33
X 1 image on both are about the same, with Killer
shot on low def digital video and the filming of Prostitution still looking a bit better, except the print has aged
poorly. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on
the new work is shrill, muddled and problematic throughout to the point you
have to watch out for your volume being too high, while despite the background
hiss and other fidelity problems, the 1971 production (even in a bad print) has
a more consistent sound level!
Too bad
it has no extras, because more on it could have been interesting. Killer
adds a bunch of awful shorts, trailers, interviews and a “crime tour”
segment that is one of the worst in DVD history. Let’s hope history does not repeat itself.
- Nicholas Sheffo
