Amore & Psiche

Joe D'Amato has mounted (pun intended) this porn film with some flair and a respectable budget, but it's not very interesting. It does have enough XXX action to get the fans going.

Maria Papp displays two of the most prominent nipples in porn annals in her role as Psyche -reason enough to give the video a gander. Eros is played by the Robert Downey Jr.-lookalike in D'Amato's stable, Frank Gun, while busy Mike Foster plays Emeros, god of Lust.

Film gets off to a rousing start with a group sex scene featuring six pretty nymphs, goddesses, naiads, etc. The ancient Greek milieu is effectively and economically portrayed by burning torches, plus authentic looking costumes and foot gear.

Story hook is that Psyche could have sex with Eros but was not allowed to see the god's face. In some scenes there is a strange blue screen window effect inside the castle/ruins stage -it looks like a flaw -perhaps the planned filling in of a landscape for the blue window was never done in post-production. Oh, well, we're supposed to watch porn with an uncritical eye (i.e., all that matters today is the sex -you know, "how hot was it", like a Henny Youngman straight line). I, for one, refuse to send my brain out on vacation.

Another failing is that Eros' invisibility is merely alluded to in the voice-over -his sex scene with Psyche is shot normally. This is a chance for fun or at least something interesting (think Barbara Hershey getting boffed by the invisible demon in THE ENTITY), but I guess with a shooting schedule of completing two feature films per month (whew!!) D'Amato couldn't be bothered.

For porn fans the emphasis here is on anal sex and copious, Peter North-range money shots, typical of European XXX.

Love and Psyche (1996)

* (out of 4)

The beautiful woman of Greece refuses to bring any more men into her bed because she has fallen in love with a God. Does the story really matter? This here is a pretty bland and boring hardcore feature from D'Amato, which features some rather unattractive sex scenes as well as a boring story thrown in. The movie is very slow paced and is yet another example of the director not being too interested in the subject.

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.