GENRE: Straight Compilation
DIRECTORS: Michael Ninn, Laurent Sky
STARS: Ahsley Long, Aurora Snow, Jodie Moore, Mandy Bright, Michelle Wild, Nikita Denise, Raven, Shy Love, Wanda Curtis, Dominique, Katsumi, Scott Styles, Mark Ashley, Frank Gunn, Nick Manning, Leslie, Pat Myne, Jay Ashley, Mario Rossi, Erik Everhard, Tyce Bune, Brett Rockman, Anthony Hardwood, Joey Ray, Mickey G, Alex Roxx, TJ Cox
DATES OF PRODUCTION: 2000 – 2004
LENGTH: 134 mins with bonus material

Michael Ninn is one of the most provocative and powerful pornography producer/directors in recent memory. His movies are filled with suggestive images, interesting ideas and some very beautiful performers. He can take a standard scene compilation and, with a little artistic and erotic imagination, turn the entire enterprise into a penis and/or pussy friendly endeavor. While many consider his well crafted hardcore the higher end of the adult market, there are those who find his carefully considered carnality just far too fancy. Indeed, lovers of gonzo and amateur antics believe all this sense and sensitivity to be the very antithesis of ass to mouth madness. Yet there is no denying his influence. Filmmakers as divergent as Robbie D and David Aaron Clark have been known to plunder a few picture points and aesthetic angles from Mr. Ninn's catalog of cinematic smut. But this doesn't mean that Ninn's films should be shown on Cinemax during its 'After Hours' presentations. Mighty Mike and his protégés – like artcore director Laurent Sky – can turn up the hardcore heat when they want to, and the recent retrospective of dual insertion scenes, Double Penetration, hopes to prove this point. Featuring 10 scenes, 27 performers and more snatch and shitter shunting than you can shake a shaft at, this collection of hand-picked humping is a wonderful introduction into the wide open vistas and equally spread out fleshscapes offered by these Picassos of porn. Equally enthralling to all the ample antics is watching the juxtaposition of visual fluidity with XXX tool time. Sometimes, it seems like Ninn and Sky are almost schizophrenic in their showcase approach.

The DVD:
Call this Michael Ninn's greatest DP hits. Actually, don't call it that, since Ninn shares the director's chair with Laurent Sky for about half of the entries here. And not everything here is exemplary. In the short span of two hours, we are treated to 10 scenes from the Ninn Worx oeuvre, each concentrating on the dick and dumper double team. As a matter of fact, that is ALL this scene compilation consists of. Instead of giving us the entire portion of the previous film, sequences are severely truncated so that after a little cabaret or foreplay (or both) we jump right into the dual dive-bombing. Before we know it, the guys have popped their corks and the next slice of skin and sin begins. Like a collection of cum shots or an all oral offering, this DVD lives up to its name, both pro and con. Those who find Ninn's work far too nice will love cutting to the copulation chase. But others who cherish Michael's mannerisms with passion and suggestion will miss all the lacey underpinnings. Since each scene is more or less the same (introduction, strip show, fucking, money) this review will not go into detail as to what is happening specifically in each instance. And it would also be unfair to award individual scores for the MIA XXX here. It is safe to say that as a look at exclusive moments of butt and bush balling, the scenes in Double Penetration together earn an overall rating of 6.5 out of 10.

So instead, this review will focus on the effectiveness of this approach as well as gauging the reaction that the hardcore hopeful will have toward this cock teasing collection. We begin with:

Scene 1: Dominica Leoni (aka Dominique), Mario Rossi, Anthony Hardwood
From: Becoming Georgia Adair – Self Portrait
Double Penetration from the Reverse Cowgirl Position
The highlight of this installment is the actual introductory material featuring titled star Georgia Adair taking intimate video of Dominica. Doing a great bit of cabaret – excellently captured by Ninn's camera, we really feel a slinky sexuality radiate from the actress. However, all that played-up passion is pushed aside as Mario and Anthony implode the pussy and the pooper in a rather aggressive – maybe too much so – DP scene. The final pops are featured in slow motion with several repeat shots and a shifting focus from various angles. This makes for an interesting, yet strangely antiseptic sequence. Without a lot of the pre-pounding parameters, the hardcore looses a little heft.

Scene 2: Aurora Snow, Pat Myne, Jay Ashley
From: Fetish: The Dream Scape
Double Penetration from the Reverse Cowgirl Position
You immediately know you're in Laurent Sky country when the visuals turn techno-weird. Ms. Snow is painted up like a party doll and is very provocative in a set of red vinyl strips. She wears a ball gag around her neck like a choker and vamps for a while on the futuristic fetish set. Eventually, after a few moments of masturbation, two goofy looking guys appear on set wearing black bondage gear and goggles/gas masks. One has a free mouth and he feasts on Aurora's attributes for a while. Suddenly the scene shifts and we are faced with the DP, which is steamy, sensual and kind of strange. Aurora really sells it and the overall impression is hot and heavy. But the most mind-boggling is yet to come. One of our masked he-men drops his boy bomb all over the ball gag and forces it back in Ms. Snow's mouth. She sucks on in a surreal manner. Then the other actor boosts all over Aurora's boots. He takes them off and she licks them. This combination of the bizarre with the beautiful will be a staple of several scenes in this set.

Scene 3: Michelle Wild, Wanda Curtis, Unknown Male Performers
From: Euroglam Budapest: Michelle Wild
Double Penetration from the Reverse Cowgirl Position
Individuals who take issue with Ninn's far-too-nice nookie will probably point to this pedestrian four-way as reason enough to avoid his output. Set inside some opulent manor and featuring many overblown music video moments, there is decidedly more cabaret and regular sex than DP in this sequence. There is also a desire by Wanda to walk around aimlessly, looking for excuses to horn in on the action. Eventually, we get to the simultaneous stink and pink attack and its really dull. Our primping and preening performers try as they might, but even the mandatory facial is less than satisfying. If this is supposed to represent Ninn and his features at their best, this installment really undermines that purpose.

Scene 4: Raven, Tyce Bune, Brett Rockman
From: In the Garden of Shadows
Double Penetration from the Cowgirl Position
Providing that he can be as equally unsettling as his artcore counterpart, Ninn notifies the viewer that this oddball offering is going to be gaudy, gothic and gratuitous. Raven walks around like a refugee from a Marilyn Manson video and her strange gait, bent posture and overall eccentric take on the cabaret are well-worth watching. You will believe that hardcore can give you the heebie-jeebies after observing this miscreant Miss. Once we get past the interpretative dance, the gal in the wheelchair holding a decaying doll shtick and the fantasy demonic angel horse hockey, we finally arrive at the sex. Both actors are wearing doctor's garb and one has a miner's lamp on his head. He illuminates the pussy before poking it, shining his g-spotlight on the situation. Once we cut to the DP, it's fairly intense with Raven reacting – or perhaps OVERreacting – to the Dutch door action. The men finally get their love lava flowing and they cover Raven's chest. If you can handle all the pseudo-horror histrionics in this scene and remove yourself from the crackpot carnality, you'll probably enjoy this scene. It is very erotic and engaging.

Scene 5: Ashley Long, Unknown Male Performers
From: Fetish: Are You Human
Double Penetration from the Cowgirl Position
It's back to the future with Laurent Sky as another Fetish freak out hits the home theater screen. In this Frankenstein- style offering, a mad scientist on a moveable platform looks over his creation (Ms. Long) and prepares her for plooking. A bored assistant in a vinyl outfit looks on, lazily. Ashley is energized and reanimated and she moves around sheepishly inspecting all aspects of the laboratory set. Suddenly, a couple of masked men enter the room. They grab Ms. Long and within the span of a jump cut, she is lunching on log while taking it in the backdoor, doggy style. We then cut again to the DP and the extreme close-ups and odd angles take over. After some ferocious fucking, an unusual thing occurs. The guys get out syringes and fill up the plungers with their pud pudding. Ashley sits back and opens her mouth as each man "injects" his semen directly down her throat. This goes on for a few moments in slow motion and from various angles. Again, if you can handle the peculiarity of the atmosphere, Ashley's entry in this collection is very erotic...if not a tad bit unsettling.

Scene 6: Jodie Moore, Scott Styles, Unknown Male Performer
From: Unknown
Double Penetration from the Reverse Cowgirl Position
In a boring, unoriginal scene of standard double penetration, a few card-carrying members of the Euro-trash nation engage in some foreplay before doing the dick/dumper/douche diorama. This ho-hum hardcore fails to ignite any personal passion and/or proclivities before our guys fling their funny foam all over Jodie's jaw line. Even with slow motion instant replay and multi-angle viewpoints, this is about as dreary as XXX can get.

Scene 7: Nikita Denise, Joey Ray, Mickey G
From: Inside Myself
Double Penetration from the Reverse Cowgirl Position
What was one of the hotter scenes during Inside Myself is given the condensed treatment, and suffers rather poorly in the translation. Where once we had Nikita sashaying and stripping until she met up with her meaty men, only to slowly work both boys into a royal, ready to ramrod, lather, we now just have the painfully aggressive ending to the DP, where Mickey smacks Ms. D D-cups in some manner of sadomasochistic sexual strangeness. By the time the performers pour their peter potion onto Niki's face and mouth, you're glad the scene is over. Not being able to see the set up makes the edited version here seem baneful, instead of bawdy.

Scene 8: Mandy Bright, Frank Gunn Erik Everhard
From: Fetish: I Know Your Dreams
Double Penetration from the Reverse Cowgirl Position
AH! The toilet! The most corporeally conducive component to successful and steamy hardcore pornography – at least if you believe Laurent Sky. The John is prominently featured in this scene as Mandy rides the porcelain pony for several dizzying minutes. Posing in a perplexed manner, the bowl ever-circling around a black and white nightmare of a setting, Mandy looks moments away from utilizing the facility for a Technicolor yawn. By the time she is double dipped by her paramours, Ms. Bright looks even more painfully uncomfortable in her pink body suit with many zippers and cutouts. The DP is frank and fresh, with lots of passion and heat. In the end, the actors bathe some mannequins in ball brine, and Mandy comes along to lick up the boy broth. Again, idiosyncrasies ensue as Master Sky ladles on the laughably wacky wayoutness to get our attention, both mentally and genitally. It works well here.

Scene 9: Shy Love, Alex Roxx, TJ Cox
From: The Edge
Double Penetration from the Reverse Cowgirl Position
In a very intense scene, Shy really gives it her all as somehow, via magic or osmosis, she is partner in a three-way DP sequence. The sudden appearance of studs in this compilation (thanks to the awkward editing and abridgment) mirrors the actual actions in the film. Ninn's weird way with just having the dick unexplainably appear is a tad bizarre, but not unusual for his impressionist fuck and suck style. While Shy's 'chipmunk with the makeover' mannerism is a little off-putting, this is still a decent scene with a nice amount of obvious eroticism.

Scene 10: Katsumi, Mark Ashley, Nick Manning
From: Angel: Sex, Money, Power
Double Penetration from the Cowgirl Position
Outdoor hardcore always has an interesting intimacy, and this scene from Angel: Sex, Money, Power is no different. Following Ms. Kat as she vamps around the balcony and atrium of a luxurious mansion, we spend a lot of time in elaborate cabaret and moments of self-satisfaction. Then suddenly, the sex is on and the Asian icon is being pounded like cheap chop meat. This goes on for a while until the men spill their seed all over Kat's face, mouth and chest. Though it looks great and has excellent production values, the hardcore is hampered by some odd attention to detail. We see more of Nick Manning's bubble butt, bouncing and behaving as he works Katsumi's cunt, than the actual act of penetration itself. Such a physique focus tends to ruin what we are after, which is smokin' hot XXX DP. As with most of the sequences culled for this compilation, the duo dynamic presented was part of a much bigger whole, and this highlights one of the major concerns with this collection. A synopsis is not all that sexy.

Frankly, this is not Ninn Worx, Michael Ninn or Laurent Sky at their best. By removing the scenes from their context and clipping out the vast majority of the monkey business, the tone and atmosphere that these directors and productions strive for are all but destroyed. The Dirge has reviewed three of the titles represented here (Inside Myself, The Edge and Becoming Georgia Adair – Self Portrait) and each installment, in it's original form, was far better than the abbreviated antics here. The intricate build-ups that Ninn and Laurent utilized are still intact - for the most part - but all the sexual situations feel rushed and ridiculous. Like a compendium of facials, it takes a certain mentality to cotton to a focus on one particular facet, to the detriment of all others. And the Ninn/Sky style is to layer on lewdness, position-by-position, interlude-by-interlude, until the audience is aching for release. If someone were looking for a primer on the world of high class, art ass porn, then Double Penetration would be a great starting point. But fans of Ninn and his production house would be better served purchasing the titles these sequences hail from, since they truly represent what makes this adult industry giant so special.

The Video:
When one sees Michael Ninn's name on the cover of a DVD, there is no question as to whether the visual elements will cut the condiment. Indeed, the 1.33:1 full screen transfer here is impeccable, balancing the optical tricks with the straight ahead filming excellently. While Ninn's work focuses more on ambiance and mood, Sky is all pop art poetry, and the transfer here captures both perfectly. Even with the occasionally intense color scheme and the varying exposures, we have an evocative and atmospheric image.

The Audio:
Again, Ninn knows aural ambience and his titles always have gorgeous sonic atmospheres. The music is marvelous and the voices are crisp and clear. The Dolby Digital Stereo really suggests the scope of some of the settings and the overall impression is one of evocative environments of erotica.

The Extras:

In something of an unusual move for Ninn Worx, this DVD comes fairly bare bones. Though the two-hour plus running time could be seen as an advantage (especially with the technical needs required to recreate the massive visual and sonic issues Ninn and Sky indulge in), in the area of added content, all we get is one of those lame still galleries that function to show us, in photo form, what we've already seen in animated reality. Though a behind the scenes featurette is announced on the box, it is not to be found on the DVD. For a company that usually offers up more extras than this, the sense of digital disappointment is palatable.

Final Thoughts:
As said before, Double Penetration is recommended and receives a score of 7 out of 10 on the Disco Dirge Peter Meter. With a little more bonus material – or any at all for that matter – the disc would have slipped over into the highly recommended category. The approval for couples in a little more complex. Guys will more than likely groove on the duo orifice workout, but the gals may find this to be one plug in too many. Therefore, a Cohabitation Certification is granted, but only on a probationary basis. If anything, here's hoping that Double Penetration opens up the oeuvre of Michael Ninn and Laurent Sky to the hundreds of hardcore purists in the audience. Granted, those who only accept XXX that is more full bore fucksy than froufrou artsy will still feel stifled by all the pretty pictures, attractive talent and directorial skill. And even those who like their smut on the girly-girl sensitive side might find some of Laurent's lunatic fringe-work to be a bit much. But Ninn Worx makes adult material that is challenging, tasteful and terrifically erotic. Double Penetration only provides a small sampling of the company's sensational sex films. Consider this a taste of the tantalizing adult material they offer. It is far too condensed to be anything else.