Lady Scarface HD DVD

Adam & Eve

Genre: Feature

Director: Daniel Dakota

Cast: Carmen Luvana, Herschel Savage, Ava Rose, Ice LaFox, Rod Fontana, Mikayla, Tommy Gunn, Emilianna, Christian, Shyla Stylez, Angel Cassidy, Ben English, Jerry

Non-sex roles: Marco Banderas/Duato, Lu Bricate, Dirty Harry, Dino Bravo, Zane Anthony, Jay Thompson, Judy Nevsky, Avery Grand, Max Hunter, Jim Stiff, Magic Man, Rudy Simmons, Andrew Player, others not credited

Length: 196:21 minutes

Dates of Production: 7/10/2006 to 7/13/2006, 7/15/2006, 9/13/2006

Extras: The first disc had an audio commentary by director Daniel Dakota, Carmen Luvana, and Ava Rose (who came in late). Yes, I listened to the commentary and no, it wasn’t all that great but it did put me in the mindset to review the movie (Carmen speaking of the Al Pacino version having “watched the movie 20,000 times” and Daniel a newcomer to the pop culture hit; suggesting he was paying homage to it). Ava added a few select comments too but nothing special unless you’re a fan. The second disc had all of the main body of extras and they were provided in SD as if taken from the regular release. Most of you will appreciate the bonus scenes from Camera Club and Double Trouble, since extra sex is what extras should be primarily all about. Still, I like related extras so the 16:46 minute long Behind the Scenes feature was pretty good for me. There was a lot of technical stuff this time, eschewing the usual additional sex and nudity for the most part, so your mileage may vary. The 44:13 minutes of outtakes and bloopers were a lot funnier and actually provided more entertainment value for me than the dialogue portions of the feature itself so don’t skip it. There was then a photogallery, some teasers and trailers for the movie, and a generic section of extras related to the company like trailers and spam.

Condoms: Some

Audio/Video Quality: Lady Scarface HD DVD was presented in a 1.78:1 widescreen color offering as shot by director Daniel Dakota for Adam & Eve in high definition. This HD DVD was encoded in the standard VC-1 codec in 1080p (the cover saying in “16x9 anamorphic” though that isn’t technically how it is supposed to be said on HD titles). Unlike the SD version of the movie that was letterboxed, this filled up the screen nicely and had a lot more resolution. This worked in favor of some aspects of the movie but also weakened it in others; one look at Carmen’s implants scars providing an example of the latter. The other problem with the enhancing resolution is that the ultra low end look of this shot on video release was amplified too; the sets looking tossed together and unlike some of the company’s bigger budget titles of recent years, it really fell short. Even in the opening scene (during the interrogation of “Toni Luvana”), there was aliasing in the background over the desk but the most frequent problems were the video noise and grain (perhaps this was simply a softness instilled by the cameraman on purpose) that interfered so much. I can appreciate A&E pushing this heavily as a tribute to the Al Pacino version of Scarface but the shoestring budget was not a good idea to do so with the concept; a couple of bedrooms and mansion sets hardly working to establish the scenes. The composition of the sex scenes was decent and much of the time, the ladies looked good but the movie did not appear to be made with the harsh realities of HD in mind by the original director given the way Carmen and others looked under the proverbial microscope. The audio was presented in the standard 5.1 Dolby Digital+ and the vocals seemed somewhat hollow on several of the sets, looped back in at other times, and often as if the actors were reading the lines cold for the first or second time often enough. On the favorable side of the equation, the music was not bad for a couples flick and used the rear channels much more aggressively than most porn does so those of you with surround sound will find something to appreciate. As expected though, the budget did not allow for cleaning up the tracks from the background noises like low flying airplanes, whispers on the set, or other elements that showed whoever was in charge of the sound was frequently dropping the ball.

Body of Review: Daniel Dakota has been the lead director at Adam & Eve for some time now and while I haven’t exactly warmed to his style over that time, I’ve seen worse. While his biggest project of the year was Eden, a decidedly flawed but big budget offering, he also made a pornified version of a near classic mainstream title with Lady Scarface HD DVD. If you’re one of the few that has never seen Al Pacino in his over the top Cubano cocaine kingpin, suffice it to say that the movie is a cult classic on the rise and inevitable fall of a murdering thug propelled largely by his performance. Spawning many copy cats in mainstream over the years (all of them falling short), it should come as no surprise that porn would eventually try to do likewise. Rather than a parody that employs humor to help minimize the tiny porn budgets and acting by people ill equipped to speak their lines, this one bravely pushed forward as a straight take on the title. Needless to say, without a substantially larger than normal budget, it was doomed to failure from the start but what about the sex scenes you ask? Thankfully, they were not typically so bad and for a very positive review of the movie, you can always check out Lady Scarface SD by Ravyn for a glowing account of the movie. The HD enhanced the resolution of the feature and the standard definition of the extras was expected (on a second disc) but sexually speaking; it had some merits worth exploring for Carmen’s legion of fans (and the cover was as close a copy of the mainstream version as you’ll find). So, that said, here is a look at the sex scenes by cast and action, noting that Carmen did require condoms being used:

Scene One: Carmen Luvana, the hotty on the front cover, was up first as she faced off against federal immigration agent Herschel Savage in a cramped office. He was strip searching her, exploring every nook and cranny to make sure she wasn’t smuggling in anything; getting especially frisky on her private parts. Carmen figured it was part of the price to be paid to make it into the country so she followed his lead and aggressively blew him and then actively participated in the fucking. There was a condom used and the sex on a couch was without chemistry but having watched a number of her scenes in the past, I have to admit that she was at her best here. She did some PTM and he gave some oral before she took the population pudding to her face.

Scene Two: Ava Rose, the latest contract gal at the company when the movie was made last year, joined up with Carmen Luvana at the outdoor carwash. Granted, it looked like the back parking lot to a generic office building and nothing more but even as it sucked in terms of the feature elements, the two ladies were fairly skilled in lesbian sex. They ate each other and removed their admittedly skimpy outfits (according to the commentary, doing so to a growing crowd just out of the view of the camera); using a strap on dildo to seal the deal with a squeal. This scene kind of lacked much energy and Ava seemed more reserved than usual but there were worse ways of spending some time than watching these two fuck (even though it lacked replay value).

Scene Three: Ice LaFox, was up next in the restaurant wearing a form fitting pink dress that enhanced her curves nicely as she took care of nasty Rod Fontana. While his vocals throughout the movie were unintelligible, he managed to slip her the hot beef injection fairly well. He ate her, they vaginally screwed, she blew him without much chemistry, and they screwed some more. Her hummer was messy as the streamers flew everywhere and she at least impaled her all natural body on his cock with a purpose but he was having erection difficulties and that being the case, why should a fan watching at home think it was all that special if a guy getting laid by her was having issues? He slapped her fleshy ass and she took most of the pop to her mouth, though she did not appear to swallow any of it.

Scene Four: Mikayla, a curvy brunette that looked her part nicely, was up next in bed with studly Tommy Gunn as he played a kingpin of crime. Her dark green outfit enhanced her figure as her large breasts hovered over the guy during their role playing session, Tommy going down on her gently as he savored her cookie. Her blowjob was a bit on the light side compared to some of her recent efforts elsewhere but I’m sure it felt good to him given the look on his face. They screwed in a few positions and it was a mixed bag like several of the other scenes; the chemistry higher than usual but the energy dropping off at times. It ended when he busted a nut on her ample chest, a modest sized load but within usual expectations.

Scene Five: Emilianna, a statuesque blond in a tiny black dress, was up next in the living room with henchman Christian; also in black. They macked out and she sat on his face, Christian slurping away and fingering her before she blew him in return. This was perhaps the weakest hummer of the show and she looked disinterested but it prepared him for the vaginal plowing he did on her nicely trimmed pussy. He did most of the work here but the lack of chemistry combined with the low levels of passion killed any heat for me, the semen splattering on her ass cheek at the end.

Scene Six: Shyla Stylez and Angel Cassidy, two curvy blonds that have been around for awhile, started out the next scene outside by the pool as they engaged in lesbian sex to impress their boss, overload Ben English. He joined in as they were revved up, their bikinis falling to the wayside as they teamed up to blow the guy. I preferred Shyla’s technique over Angel’s but they seemed intent on sticking to an oral exhibition of skill this time with some minor titty fucking as the icing on the cake, speaking of which, his icing landed on their faces. The vaginal fucking they did was fair at best since much of it was shot in a non-explicit way and it did not make Angel look very appealing (to say the least).

Scene Seven: Ava Rose, in black, flowered undies and red high heels, was up next as she knelt before the foot of the bed to blow muscular Tommy Gunn. She gave him a very solid hummer before he went down on her pussy and ass, the gal appearing to be into the sex as she held her ass cheek open for him to gain better access. His rapid tempo tongue work and the fingering gave her the incentive to produce some vaginal fluid, the commentary talking about it as “squirting”. That she fingered her own ass as he did so was a treat as well but the main draw of the scene was the moderately active vaginal screwing by the duo in several positions. She did some taste testing and there was some chemistry between them; the scene rewarding her efforts with a blast of semen soup hitting her face. Few of the scenes worked this well on the sexual merits alone.

Scene Eight: Carmen Luvana, having taken care of her enemies and betraying friends alike, was up last as the sexual circle was now complete since she was thoroughly searching Jerry; much like she had been searched in the opening scene. He was definitely sporting a small caliper weapon, his cock, but she did everything in her power to make it grow as big as possible. She orally worked his cock to his bursting point of excitement; Jerry reciprocating on her cookie with a combination of tongue and finger. As expected, he wore a condom as they bumped uglies; the vaginal screwing actually fairly decent again, though not quite as heated a pairing as previously in the movie. She panted and moaned like she was performing but the titty pop eventually closed it before the big gunfight finale.

Bonus Scene 1: Camera Club: Violet Blue, still dressed in her 1950's housewife garb, took Joey Ray to the bedroom for some fun and loving. They kissed and she seemed to enjoy him caressing her before he popped his penis into her and slowly banged away. This was a kind of weak scene too but Violet's legion of fans might appreciate the change of pace the entire movie gave her.

Summary: Lady Scarface HD DVD by director Daniel Dakota for Adam & Eve was a study in the flaws of serious, low budget porn features to me. Without the intentional humor that makes most features porn work, the acting made me laugh when it wasn’t supposed to and the dialogue had me reaching for the fast forward button on my remote control (I refrained but only barely) so as a tribute to the 1983 version of the movie, it was horribly flawed but the sex was often decent considering the audience this was marketed towards and the cover was as close a copy as possible (recently winning a Venus award). Since porn is about the sex, I rated this as a Rent It, but like most such titles, the sex was clumsily dropped into place here so don’t expect a whole lot. In short, Lady Scarface HD DVD didn’t work as well for me as the Lady Scarface SD version worked for my friend, but it might be worth a lot; if only to see why the director’s name brings winces to those who’ve seen his works.