5
out of 5.00 -
Film:
5
Extras:
5
Video:
5
Audio:
5
-
7/29/2002
It's been almost a year since
Euphoria made its debut on VHS, but one look at the DVD and fans will quickly realize what Wicked has been working on all this time. To state it succinctly,
Euphoria is quite simply the best adult DVD product to ever hit the market. With a superb reproduction of the film (in anamorphic widescreen and boasting both Dolby 5.1 and DTS 5.1 tracks) and accompanied by a second disc jam-packed with bonus features,
Euphoria compares favorably with even the best mainstream releases on the digital format.
The movie is directed by Brad Armstrong and mixes elements of
The Matrix,
Total Recall, and probably several other science fiction movies that I didn't immediately pick up on. The film is set in the year 2020, where consumerism has become the most important thing, and those who cannot pay their debts off have the chance to "volunteer" for service in exchange for having their slate wiped clean ("land-mine duty" is just one of the assignments given out).
Sydnee Steele stars as Melina Taylor, a young woman who is looking to pay off her debt, and gets assigned as a subject for the test phase of "U-4", a sexual drug (which we are told is kind of an enhanced version of Viagra) which allows users to fantasize about their sexual desires.
Mike Horner plays Baron Shakes, the doctor who has developed and is testing the drug, while Ava Vincent plays the vice president of the pharmaceutical company that employs Shakes - and a woman who obviously is the real "power" behind the "U-4" program.
Thanks to the premise that Brad Armstrong has set up (as well as David Aaron Clark, who co-wrote the screenplay with Brad), the movie jumps from location to location, with the viewer never being quite sure of what events are reality and what events are happening in Sydnee's mind. Granted, this could have been quite confusing - but Armstrong manages to pull it off, and most viewers should come away feeling both satisfied with the story and the amount of sexual action they have been treated to.
There are nine sex scenes in
Euphoria, including two orgy segments toward the end of the film - one which takes place in a mansion, and another which pairs off couples in separate areas of a sex club. But for this reviewer, the hottest scene was one in which Ava Vincent shows her domination over Mike Horner's character, both in the workplace and sexually.
Sydnee Steele fans should be quite happy with the amount of action she sees during the film, as she is featured in five of the nine sex segments. Included in these are a lesbian coupling with Ava, being part of the orgy in the mansion (where she gets it on with Mark Davis) and the film's final scene in which she participates in a threesome with Inari Vachs and Dillion Day.
Disc one also contains a full-length commentary track with Brad, Sydnee and Ava, plus star bios, a number of photo galleries and the trailer for the movie.
The best fun to be found on disc two is with the 60-minute "All Access: The Making of Euphoria", which takes a look at each of the eight days of filming on this movie, including the one pick-up day that happened long after the initial seven day shoot had concluded. Customers should note that some of the video in this piece, as well as some of the video of other segments on this second disc are heavily pixilated, due to the fact that the original materials were apparently stolen from Wicked Studios. However, the video is not so bad that it is unwatchable, and I'm glad that the decision was made to include what was available, even if it wasn't the highest quality.
Other bonus material includes "Pre-Production", "Behind The FX", "Deleted Scenes" (two non-sexual scenes), "Extended Scenes" (longer versions of three sex scenes), "AI Music Video" (an Armstrong-directed video featuring Asia Carrera), "Syndee Steele Photo Shoot" (a music video-like montage), "Girls Of Euphoria" (another music video-like montage), "Bloopers" and "Interviews with the Cast" (which has separate interviews with Sydnee, Mike Horner, Ava, Lee Stone and Bridgette Kerkove). Easter Egg fans will also want to note that there are at least 8 different hidden "eggs" on this second bonus disc - at least that's how many I was able to uncover!
It's obvious that a lot of love and care went into the making of this disc, and as a result, adult fans have been given a real treat from one of the best studios in the industry.
By:
Spooky