"Pleasure Maze"

The Film (1.5/5)

Working girls lingering on the corner are a thing of the past.  In the future, "nightdroids" will replace the ladies of the night with titillating warm flesh over cold smooth machine.  These android hookers are tested over and over again to work out any kinks that might be in their hardware or software and perfected to give the ultimate pleasure with robotic enhancements, including an internal vaginal vibrator.  Any and all droids will be pale in comparison to the one called Beta, a game changing nightdroid that'll revolutionize the industry as we know it, but will it really?

Writer-director Alan Shustak, aka Duck Dumont as credited, helms the sexual utopian "Pleasure Maze."  Dumont, founder of the RedBoard Video in the early 1990's, rigorously churned out titles in the span of two decades between 1985 up until his death in 2005, but "Pleasure Maze" became one of the few films that paved a path for his adult filmmaking career.  From the cutout metallic paper mache to the flimsy constructed space-age sets, Dumont obviously wasn't attempting to exceed the bar that Ridley Scott had set only a short four years earlier with "Blade Runner."  Instead, Dumont relied on his talent.  The buxom blonde, silky skin, perky tit talent with slender waists, bombastic chests, and with teased, rockstar hair were all the beautiful fixtures the director needed to fashion a future storyline.

Headlining "Pleasure Maze" is the gorgeous Tracey Adams.  Adams as a way of inviting you her passion-riddled moments with her amazingly soft appealing bust, but Stacey Donovan, the purely 1980's starlet from California, manages to hit a lot of the tender and sensitive parts of her body.  Both girls deploy their ravishing robotic charm (automaton is fairly common in most porn anyways) with Jerry Butler and, my personal favorite, Joey Silvera.  Silvera portrays, wish-washy, the potential male lead as monologues being the oldest tester of the nightdroids, but when he lays into the Beta, his passion chords get tugged on and love drops in on him like a bad habit.  Other pleasure bots retain in some of the industries heavy hitters including Nina Hartley, Alexis Greco, Joanna Storm, Lili Marlene, and Amber Lynn who dons the most ridiculously shoddy promiscuous future attire ever worn on a filmmaking set.  Don Fernando, Billy Dee, and John Leslie rounds out of the rest of the male testers. 

There's no getting lost in the "Pleasure Maze."  In fact, the stag just stagnates with no progression of the story with testers and nightdroids just dipping their oil sticks and checking under the hood for most of the duration.  The backcover plot had briefly captured attention, but ended up materializing more questions about why the Beta is the new face of the nightdroids.  There wasn't an everlasting impression, or a sudden epiphany, or a calculated plot twist when Tracey Adams and Joey Silvera bang.  Instead, it was just more of the same from the last 70 out of 76 minutes of this Duck Dumont production.

"Lovers Lane"

The Film (3/5)

A group of girlfriends reminisce about their sexual experiences at the local make spot known as lovers lane.  The recollection of events became about when Susan's friend, Ronda, also known as Lovers Lane Ronda, telephoned Susan about her sudden marriage.  Shocked by the very idea that this woman, who had casually revisited lovers lane with a different beau each time, becoming tied down, Susan calls a gathering of her friends to welcome back Rhonda after a five year, no-call-no-show, hiatus and each girl relives their wildest nights on lovers lane.

"Lovers Lane" is clearly the best of the two Duck Dumont films on the Vinegar Syndrome Peekarama double feature.  Intentions are made clear from the beginning that the intercourse highlights would majority be showcased through rhetorical flashbacks.  Each hot retelling was just that more interesting too.  From guy-on-girl to girl-on-girl and from threesomes to divided foursomes, "Lovers Lane" delivers tight pants sensations that'll sure to please all viewers.  Even the backdrops, which are literally detailed painted curtains, are better looking for the camera and not pretentious garbage. 

There is some repeat talent from the first feature though both were released the same year.  Tracey Adam again headlines as the film's lead character Susan, but Adams a bit more attractive in "Lovers Lane" with less of a mechanical feel about her as she rides, once again, Joey Silvera's saddled rocket.  Adams' character recalls a never-before-spoken-of threesome with Ronda, played sinfully by "Evil Toons'"Barabara Dare, and Buddy Love, as the voyeuristic perv officer Dumkey.  While Dare had eye candy written all over her bare ass, the horrendous donkey ecstasy sounds she emits are a pure turnoff and some completely ruins her other threesome scene with two bikers.  Stacey Donovan, Billy Dee, Alexis Greco, and Don Fernando score another appearance while Melissa Melendez and Karin Chandler sneak in for a romp.

Sometimes you have to take the bad with the good.  "Lovers Lane" is worth the price of the double admission on this Vinegar Syndrome double bill.  The sex is, by far, absolutely hotter with more lively performances that just don't follow the stereotypical line of passion skin-to-skin, but incorporate some comedy and a little bit of goofiness.  "Lovers Lane" may nothing to write to your slutty girlfriend about, but it'll do for a good flare of fun, a bit of cheeky cinema, that'll lead to more afternoon delight that'll make anywhere in the home a lovers lane.

Audio/Video (4/5)

As conventionally standard of any Vinegar Syndrome Peekarama release, both films have been scanned and restored in 2k from 35mm negatives.  The uncropped widescreen 1:85:1 presentation, along with the 2k restoration, gives "Pleasure Maze" and "Lovers Lane" a new lease on at home entertainment.  "Pleasure Maze" has softer colors that are much more likely the intentions to create a futuristic, if not dreamy, atmosphere, but, much like "Lovers Lane," the color palette is quite remarkable.  Both films are virtually damage free from image disruptions and blemishes.

The Dolby Digital mono track for "Pleasure Maze" has top prize clarity in all fields.  The range is good and the distortions in the tracks are kept at a low-level minimal.  "Lovers Lane" has good clarity as well, but the dialogue track has an imbalance that redirects the depth to a harder to capture the dialogue moments.  This happens about three times through the duration.

Bonus Material (1/5)

The only bonus material includes are the theatrical trailers for each film.

Overall

The dueling Duck Dumont and Tracey Adams' attractions are different, but the same when a surface floating story interjects with classic 1980's skin-to-skin pump action.  The scenes are hot, catering to the usual spunky crowd of Tracey Adams and Stacey Donovan fan base, but the overall takeaway from Dumont's stag films is a formulaic approach to erotic cinema.  Not necessarily bad, but not necessarily rememberable, "Pleasure Maze" and "Lovers Lane" revel randiness on a single viewing only basis.  The overall verdict is a casual recommendation for this title.