The Film (3/5)

There is always something really amusing or satirical about watching a movie about people making a movie. Matinee Idol is an X-rated comedy drama which features two adult movie stars, Lance Hardy (John Leslie) Linda Hand (Jesie St. James), who aren’t getting along with each other, due to their huge egos and behave childishly despite having to do (reluctantly) sex scenes together in films. They are both working on a film together, called Matinee Idol (hence the movie’s title). Before the shoot, Lance says some derogatory things about Linda in an interview, and Linda gets even by biting Lance in a very vulnerable spot during the shoot. The tensions are so high between the two that they go their separate ways to pursue new sexual partners and conquests. This leads to erotic scenes with both Lance and Linda having other partners, be it on their personal time or to be part of a new adult film. Will this somehow lead Lance and Linda to eventually get back together again and finish the film that had already been started? Will there be a happy ending ?

Matinee Idol, being an adult film is what one would expect it to be, a movie filled with a lot of sex scenes, including a wildly interesting one with Herschell Savage (playing Bobby Cochran as a pool cleaner!) and his toes. It is more or less played tongue in cheek; the story is pretty basic, but these films aren’t made for their plots. Well the script is literate in this one and it works well, but as in adult films, it plays second fiddle to endless erotic scenes. Matinee Idol also has a some of the bigger names in adult films from the 1980’s including Colleen Brennan(as Ginger) Kay Parker(as Dorothy) and Angel (Daisy Cheney)

David F. Friedman, the legendary producer of some of the earliest graphic ultra-gory movies, that were directed by longtime partner, Herschell Gordon Lewis (Blood Feast) was not only the writer for Matinee Idol, but he also plays a major role in this film as well.

Audio Video (4.5/5)

Vinegar Syndrome has packaged Matinee Idol as a Blu-ray / DVD combo, so you can get the best of both worlds viewing this release. Of course many will prefer to watch the movie in HD rather than SD. That being said, the review on both the audio /video quality will be about the Blu-ray.  The film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1, given a new 2k scan from the original 35mm negative, in 1080p with an MPEG-4 AVC encode. Matinee Idol looks just terrific. The colors look really vibrant and vivid. Daylight scenes look spectacular. Details look really good here, with strong textures. Flesh tones look true and authentic. Film grain is present, black levels are strong. It’s not perfect for the entire film as there are a couple of brief scenes still look rather dull but overall the image quality for the film is sure to please. This was definitely a revelation!

The audio used for the film’s release is English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 and the sound quality really good. The dialog, music, moans and groans along with other sounds come in loud and clear without pops or drop-offs. There is nothing in the audio that comes off as too strong or too passive, basically it’s solid. 

Extras (2/5)

There are two extras for this release. An audio interview with producer/screenwriter David F. Friedman, and a theatrical trailer

Overall (3.5/5)

Matinee Idol because of a good script on top of the plethora of erotic scenes makes for an above average film. The picture quality for this release is amazing, and coupled with a few extras, also being REGION FREE, this release is a no-brainer for fans of this film all over the world. Highly recommended!