La regina degli elefanti

Queen of the Elephants (1997)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Joe D'Amato flick is a hardcore version of Tarzan but with a beautiful blonde being the one lost in the jungle. Once discovered by men....you know the rest. Once again we get some good cinematography but I can't help but not to find the film overly erotic. Selen plays the jungle girl and she's certainly a very beautiful one so fans of porn will certainly like seeing her. The low budget nature really doesn't help the film but then again, it really doesn't hurt it too much.

Director Joe D'Amato will always be remembered for his horror films like BEYOND THE DARKNESS and ANTROPOPHAGUS as well as his long running Emanuelle series with Laura Gamser. After the Italian horror market dried up, D'Amato had a comeback with the softcore ELEVEN DAYS ELEVEN NIGHTS, which eventually led to the director doing porn titles. The director had previously mixed sex and horror in such titles as PORNO HOLOCAUST and EROTIC NIGHS OF THE LIVING DEAD but those films were a long way off from his later day porn.

La regina degli elefanti, or The Elephant Queen, is an exotic and erotic adventure directed by Joe D'Amato and set in the lush and dangerous jungles of Thailand. With a title like that, you know you're in for a wild and steamy ride, and this film certainly delivers on that promise!

The cast of this film is a who's who of adult entertainment in the 90s, including Deborah Valentine, Selen, Frank Gun, and Zenza Raggi. These performers certainly bring the heat, and their chemistry is off the charts. One of the most memorable scenes involves Valentine, who finds herself in a steamy DP scenario with Frank Gun and Zenza Raggi. The passion and intensity of the scene are off the charts, and Valentine's vocalizations will leave you breathless.

But it's not all just about the sex. The film also offers a glimpse into the local culture and traditions, with beautiful shots of elephant processions, adding an element of authenticity to the otherwise fantastical story. The scenery is stunning, with lush greenery and breathtaking views of the Thai jungle providing an exotic backdrop to the steamy action.

Of course, with a title like The Elephant Queen, you can expect some unique and intriguing scenes featuring these majestic creatures. One particularly memorable moment involves Selen, a stunning Italian actress, riding not only a massive elephant but also Frank Gun in a passionate outdoor tryst. The contrast of their sweaty, writhing bodies against the serene jungle backdrop is a sight to behold.

If girl-on-girl action is more your style, Maria Bellucci and Selen deliver a sizzling performance, their tongues dancing over each other's most intimate areas with expertise. The scene is a feast for the senses, with soft moans and gasps accompanying the visual spectacle of two stunning women lost in pleasure.

While the film excels in its eroticism and exotic setting, the plot is somewhat thin, and the dialogue is often cheesy and over-the-top. However, this is to be expected in a film of this nature, and it almost adds to the charm. The special effects and production values are also notably dated, but this only adds to the retro appeal for fans of 90s adult cinema.

Overall, La regina degli elefanti is a wild and steamy adventure that delivers on its promise of erotic thrills and exotic locales. With a cast of adult industry heavyweights, jaw-dropping locations, and unique elephant-themed antics, this film is a must-watch for fans of 90s adult entertainment.

I was pleasantly surprised by QUEEN OF ELEPHANTS, a 1997 porn film by busy-busy Joe D'Amato, which took the Greystoke theme and fashioned a diverting if overlong stroke movie from it.

Selen, a very beautiful actress who seems equally adept at commanding and riding atop elephants as she is at performing BJs on well-endowed European porn actors, stars as Jenny Mallory, a young cousin of our hero and heroine (the other leading thesps' identities are not matched in the credits), searching through a wildlife park in Kenya for the long-missing girl.

D'Amato's leisurely pace spends pleasant moments capturing the flora and fauna, with trained elephants performing admirably, and the cast going through the typical XXX sex positions against attractive settings. Unlike most porn of this era, D'Amato's camera-work and editing keep the frequent sex scenes running in the 5-minute or so timeframe, rather than the endless Warholian format to which adult films have devolved. His attractive heroines (I'm guessing that Marisa Swalloy does the most enthusiastic athletic sex as Esther, a very free-loving relative in the Scottish clan), are extremely impressive visually, while the male cast provides repeated fountains of money shots that would do Peter North proud.

Second half of the film has Jenny brought back to the clan's Scottish mansion, where Selen proves quite charming and funny portraying the innocence of a wild child right out of Bruno S.'s playbook for Werner Herzog. Ending is no surprise, as QUEEN OF ELEPHANTS 2 with the same cast was already in the can.

For the U.S. DVD release, D'Amato has the dubbed English downplayed to such an extent that the dialogue is almost subliminal. At first it's all spoken in long shots so there's no need of lip-synch, and later on it's vaguely murmured to the point of near-unintelligibility. Other than the clash of cultures, there's no real point here, and any characterization is sacrificed in favor of a "let's get it on" attitude by all the players. Most amusing was the leading man's resemblance to Robert Downey Jr. -hope his career doesn't lead him to porn!

It struck me early on that the simple pleasures of the old Tarzan, Jungle Jim and Sheena juvenile adventures was naively re-created by D'Amato, adding the incongruous explicit sex with disarming ease. I've seen many exploitation films set in Africa, of the BOWANGA BOWANGA and TRADE HORNEE variety, but D'Amato does an infinitely better job of just giving the viewer what he wants. In a strange way, QUEEN could even qualify as a couples film: it gives equal time to its male & female characters and is totally devoid of the cruelty and nastiness upon which Joe built his rep from all those years toiling in horror.

and the sexy Selen instead of Christophe Lambert.

The two movies shares some great locations as well, even if their budget are apart. Here we are in Kenya with real animals and also back to the eternal castle of D'Amato movies. The 2 movies are also deadly slow : the jungle is always one and the same and inside the castle, they are trapped in their inner world.

But it's always exciting to see Selen. In a way, she is for me the European twin of #Sunny Leone, shapely smiling brunette, always happy and tender. Her scenes are a bit short but she was excellent as a wild woman jumping on elephants and then discovering the modern civilization. Sure, we can wonder how she got her nails done in the jungle and why she seems to understand what she is told. A the end, if having sex seems totally inappropriate to welcome strangers, at least, it's only the only universal language so it's OK.