Recently rescued from obscurity in a new negative-sourced transfer from Vinegar Syndrome, SCHOOLGIRLS' REUNION (per the film's title card, if not poster) marks one of one-day-wonder king Shaun Costello's first transitions to 35mm from cheaper 16. While that would seem to augur more professionalism, old habits die hard, and though this story is more ambitious than most of Shaun's earlier efforts, the film still can't shake the sense of filler that marks his small-gauge period.
The nominal plot finds high school lothario Roger (Roger Caine) heading back for what I guess is his five-year reunion (the opening clearly calls out that the reunion is for the graduating class of 1970, which is weirdly recent given the film was released in '77). While wandering around the football field ruminating on his former glory (via grainy stock-footage flashbacks), he bumps into Melanie (Kim Pope). Unfamiliar with the mysterious woman, he begins reminiscing with her about the good old days, which include boffing his coach's French professor wife (Renee Duval, whose incessant and grotesque sexual vocalizing anticipates porn starlets of the modern era) and various other girls around campus. Meanwhile, Melanie recounts the story of her mousy "friend" who harbored a longtime crush on Roger. Sleeping with his pal Barney Miller (a vexing and apparently pointless reference typical of Costello's make-it-up-as-you-go creative process) in order to get him to set them up, Melanie's path collides with Roger's at an end-of-year party, where their moment of long-anticipated passion fundamentally transforms her feelings about her longtime fantasy.
This emotional core is a surprisingly sensitive subject for an adult film, and SCHOOLGIRLS does have something meaningful to say about the harsh wake-up call reality can provide to someone caught up in lust. The film also grants an unusual amount of agency to its female protagonist, whose initial facade of quiet and anguished impotence gives way to a satisfying moment of well-earned defiance. It's a shame, then, that these gestures toward subtler character and thematic work get swallowed by the inert storyline and overlong sex scenes. As usual, Costello isn't afraid to go for the gusto, and the film is packed with a surprising number of DPs, sperm-guzzling (a particularly nasty shot featuring Duval rolling Caine's chunky aftermath around on her tongue feels like it goes on for eternity), and - as always - the director's trademark two-at-a-time blowjobs. Despite trying to maintain interest by upping the sleaze factor, each scene goes on way too long to allow the story to progress smoothly, and in the end the film's considerable merits are lost in its limp narrative. It's a good try from Costello at something more ambitious, and a harbinger of better things to come in movies like WATERPOWER, MORE THAN SISTERS, etc., but unfortunately as both porn and drama, SCHOOLGIRLS' REUNION is of interest more as a transitional project than a success in its own right.
