Voices of Desire

Chuck Vincent's "Voices of Desire" stars Sandra Cassell,who played Mari Collingwood in Wes Craven's controversial rape and revenge shocker "Last House on the Left"(1972).For many years Sandra Cassell denied playing in porn movies,but here is the proof.In "Voices of Desire" she plays Anna who was involved in some bizarre sex cult in the past.Its members were either murdered or committed suicide.Anna begins hearing voices calling her;she becomes hypnotized and involves herself in various sexual fantasies.There is very little dialogue in "Voices of Desire" and classical & piano music is played during softcore sex scenes including full-frontal orgies and lesbian sex.Some of the camera-work is quite impressive here.I need to watch more Chuck Vincent's porn movies sooner or later.6 knives out of 10.

This is an interesting softcore sex film from Chuck Vincent. The late Vincent was considered one the best directors of both softcore and hardcore porn and he also made a few semi-successful forays out of the porn ghetto in the 80's. This kind of resembles one of Vincent's later 80's films, the "Repulsion"-like horror film "Deranged". Like "Deranged" this uses a number of hardcore porn actors like Darby Lloyd Rains, but the lead is one "Lydia Cassell" aka Sandra Cassell aka Sandra Peabody, the appealing young actress who played Mary Collingwood in Wes Craven's original "Last House on the Left". (She was also in "Teenage Hitchhikers", which finally got a much-deserved DVD release recently). Any movie that involves the lovely, lovely Cassel/Peabody lulling around naked, doing perverted things with fruit, and engaging in various orgy-type situations is certainly not a waste of time in my book, but this is actually a pretty good.

A girl named "Anna" picks up a pay phone in New York City and hears strange voices. Seemingly hypnotized by the voices, she engages in bizarre sexual fantasies that at some point cross over into reality. This is not as good as "Repulsion", of course, nor as serious and depressing as "Deranged", but it's certainly more interesting than your usual softcore sex fodder. There's some voice-over, but very little dialogue. And Vincent plays interesting music (including some classical pieces) over the sex scenes, so you don't have to listen to the characters moan and grunt or endure the usual waa-waa porn music. There's obviously not much of a plot here, but I don't think anyone will really mind too much.

It somehow feels false to say, but I'm one of those who really do prefer a bit of plot and artistry with their skin flicks. Voices of Desire was my first experience of the work of Chuck Vincent, who seems to be something of an adult cinema legend and it surely won't be my last if the others are up to the same scratch. It's a minimalist tale of erotic manipulation from beyond the grave, narrated in flashback and starring the lovely Lydia Cassel (otherwise known as Sandra Cassel, originally Sandra Peabody and best known for Last House on the Left). She begins to hear the summoning of ghostly voices which eventually draw her to a strange house of languid love, though before that she gets sensual with various items of fruit in a bizarrely miscalculated scene that comes across more eye rolling than hot. Though maybe it's just me that doesn't see much erotic potential in fruit, I don't know? Still, this is a minor misstep for a film that demonstrates decent shooting and sense of style from the start, with a sense of unease nicely cultivated by nothing more than 360 camera turns around the heroine to pin down her isolation. Still better is the moment she succumbs, in the street, dropped suitcase cracking like her broken will then her figure shot from down low, dwarfed and tiny by yawning giant blocks on either side. Things in her lusthouse destination are generally of the sexy rather than spooky variety, but the various couplings are shot atmospheric and occasionally split by shots of colored lighting, odd backgrounds, a candle and sometimes a guy conducting or playing the piano. The players are suitably enthusiastic and easy on the eye, they were apparently a mix of soft and hardcore performers (one or two scenes did look a little like real sex was going down). Both women and men rock the no razor look which is a definite plus in my books as well. Things all build to a really nice bit of head turning sinister weirdness, before a neat one two ending punch that comes off curiously affecting, as well as being a great looker Cassel has a sort of instinctive likability as a performer and so the last moments of the film are really rather effective. It goes without saying that this isn't a film for anyone who isn't already a fan of 70's softcore or a devotee of cinematic roads less travelled, but I had a pretty sweet time so it gets my recommendation. 6/10