Aphrodisiac

Hustler Video

Genre: Feature

Director: Jerome Tanner

Cast: Daisy Marie, Evan Stone, Jasmine Byrne, Missy Monroe, Lee Stone, Memphis Monroe, Naomi, Eva Angelina, Sandra Romain, Steve Holmes, Tommy Gunn
Non-sex roles: Amber Ashley, Alexa Lynn, Frank Bukkwyd, Janos Skorzeny, Buddy, Mike D.

Length: 120.5 minutes

Date of Production: 7/10/2006

Extra's: The extras on the double disc set were much better than average, especially for Hustler Video. The first one on the second disc included 76.5 minutes of Behind the Scenes footage by Jake Tanner. I know that seems a little obsessive but each of the ladies were given ample time to be interviewed informally, show off tricks for the camera, interact with each other, and show some extra nudity and hardcore footage that was deleted from the movie. This was followed by a breakdown of the interviews on the BTS by female cast member (noting that Evan Stone was mugging throughout the extra). There were also numerous clips of the mighty Evan Stone mugging and acting like himself to make the work seem like play with Jerome Tanner giving pointers to the cast. There was a director's interview after that, lasting 9 minutes and giving Jerome a chance to talk some more, a lengthy slide show, a bunch of trailers, and some spam. The DVD case had a true double sided DVD cover and a 15 day trial membership to Hustler's live chat line for those who might be interested in trying it out too.

Condoms: None

Audio/Video Quality: Aphrodisiac was presented in a 1.85:1 ratio letterboxed color offering as shot by director Jerome Tanner for release by Hustler Video. Given the elaborate sets and trappings of the movie (for Hustler at least), I'd have preferred it be released in anamorphic widescreen for higher quality but perhaps next year will see the company learn to catch up with the times (as more consumers get home theatres, they will seek out such offerings for their set ups while full frame and letterboxed porn will continue to be downloaded with impunity by those who don't want to pay; companies take note). In any case, the movie was shot in HD so the added detail lost by the letterboxed format was balanced out by the increased quality of the movie from typical offerings. The lighting was well handled and that kept the grain and video noise to a bare minimum even in the darker scenes. The composition of the camera work enhanced the look of the women too but the editing showed some need of additional work to polish it up (perhaps it was rushed to get it out by the AVN awards deadline). The audio was presented in the usual 2.0 Dolby Digital English with some care given to the vocals and music, both balanced nicely to add to the quality of the movie. There did not appear to be a lot of separation on the vocals but the music (certainly added in later) wasn't so constrained.

Body of Review: Jerome Tanner is best known as the talented director behind Legend Pictures, making lots of smaller budget titles at the company until working for Hustler Video recently. His latest work is actually one of the company's biggest offerings of the year, designed with awards in mind, as written by the infamous Wit Maverick, called Aphrodisiac. The story follows the quest by an adventurer known as Dakota Smith (Evan Stone) as he leads some treasure hunters (Frank Bukkwyd and Lee Stone) to a famed sexual artifact known as the titular device. As they draw near to the end of the dangerous mission in the desert, they find that what they are searching for is actually a person in the form of the lovely Hustler contract gal Memphis Monroe (playing the goddess Aphrodite). The homage to mainstream adventure flicks like the Indiana Jones trilogy and more mundane greed aspects of The Treasure of Sierra Madre with appropriate amounts of cheese tossed in as one would expect from a campy porn adventure feature. The sex was better than average for the company and the set of extras managed to give me pause so while it might not be as interesting as the Britney Rears movies to me, it was a lot of light hearted fun with just enough comedic flair added in by Evan and Frank (two of the hammiest actors this side of the Mason Dixon Line). That said, here's a breakdown of the sex scenes by cast and action, noting that no condoms were used at all:

Scene One: The Cantina: Daisy Marie, dressed in a flimsy red dress, seduced the mighty Evan Stone by playing her guitar for ten hours; effectively taking all of his money in return. That led to her feeling guilty and wanting to give him something in return, calling him on stage of the little cantina to aggressively blow him (showing she knew how to play the meat pipe). Engulfing him in her mouth led to him lifting her up and placing her on the bar and going down on her cookie as she spoke fluent Spanish. They then screwed vaginally, her riding him actively when she climbed on top of him with her all natural body. She took several positions and then did some more oral (PTM) before he rubbed out a load to her mouth that she played with but didn't swallow.

Scene Two: The Desert: Jasmine Byrne, the curvy Latina hotty, extreme queen Missy Monroe, and muscular Lee Stone, were up next by the campfire at night as the women asked him if he would join them while they frolicked together on a bench. Making a Jasmine sandwich seemed to work for her but they were soon sharing his rod orally before he ate her out and started boning her while Missy sat on his face. This position looked great though Missy wanted to feel him deep inside of her too so he took her from behind while she used a bright pink toy on Jasmine's pussy while he pounded away at her pussy. They moved back to a horizontal Jasmine sandwich and he screwed her until he popped on her sweet ass before she used her hypnotic spell on him and the ladies disappeared. This was a great scene with lots of chemistry and energy, though I wish it lasted longer.

Scene Three: The Temple: Memphis Monroe, the busty lady on the front cover, showed why she earned her contract by working over Evan Stone on the sandy steps of the ruins. While her dialogue acting needed some polishing up, she seemed to be sexually in tune with his desires as she cradled him in her arms; working his cock in his pants as he undressed her. Her nibbling little kisses on his body and full on mouth work led to a fine hummer where she showed her oral talents in several ways, resulting in him going down on her fairly well too. That led them to vaginally screwing with her showing her best moves when on top of him. He ended it by rubbing out a facial and her licking the tip in a scene that was smoldering rather than openly hot but it was one of the best scenes with her that I've ever seen.

Scene Four: The Dungeon: Naomi, the bubble butt sensation of the year and sweety Eva Angelina, were up next in the darkened chamber. I wasn't expecting the two to be used in a lesbian scene together given how well they work with men but their tiny red satin bikinis looked good on them and Naomi appeared to have been on a diet since I last saw her (leaning up a little bit). Eva gave her pal some head and Naomi returned the oral favor nicely with several toys coming into play as the ladies pounded each other with them in different positions. It wasn't a great way to utilize their skills but I liked how they affectionately kissed together with some comic relief provided by the so-called bad guys of Lee and Frank.

Scene Five: The Cheap Motel: Sandra Romain, the brunette anal queen, was in a floral dress at the cantina when she and her friend Steve Holmes picked up the mighty Evan Stone and took him to their cheap motel room in the small dusty town. Evan provided her with a tasty oral treat in the form of his large cock while Steve went down on her until the men tag teamed her pussy with their fingers. These three are among the most sexually skilled performers in porn so I knew that the scene would be fun (and it was) but the spark between the trio wavered from time to time as they went about doing each other. In terms of sex, she actively rode their cocks in her mouth, pussy, and ass with a powerful DP and lots of taste testing but I've seen her do a better job with lesser men in the recent past than she did on the bed here. It was still a pretty good scene with some nice replay value but the fit into the movie wasn't all that great either and this made it seem tacked on. The men closed it out by dropping loads on her face that she swallowed down with ease as the music played on.

Scene Six: The Television Studio: Memphis Monroe, still playing the goddess Aphrodite in her flimsy garb, was up last with studly Tommy Gunn as she once again displayed her charms physically on a male cast member. She began by aggressively working his cock into her mouth, eventually leading her to lie back and let him go to work on her pussy. He was slow and controlled in his attempt to get her wet, resulting in her bouncing on his rod in reverse cowgirl style, letting him do the rest of the work in the other positions. She gave up some decent dirty talk and he rubbed out a healthy sized load to her crotch, ending the sex for the plot to finish up.

Summary: Aphrodisiac proved to be one of the best works by Jerome Tanner and Hustler Video with an eye for detail in many areas that typically get overlooked by the generic porn titles made in droves. The ladies looked good and the story was fun with plenty of groaners tossed in as with most porn adventure comedies. The extras were solid on the second disc and the levels of fuck for the buck, replay, and strokability made Aphrodisiac well worth a rating of Recommended. I hope the future includes the use of anamorphic widescreen, females with better acting chops, and lengthier sex scenes that aren't so formulaic but it was a light bit of fluff to enjoy and Evan is always well cast in this type of role (Frank was a hoot as well). Nice job.