The Movie:

This reviewer's earliest memory of Ms. Barbara Dare goes back to some point around 1986 where, like many kids my age, I was scouring the woods near my house looking for porn. Why porn would show up in the woods, more often than not near a creek or small body of water, is anyone's guess but for some reason this was common at the time in the area I grew up in. Imagine my surprise when I found an issue of Swank, laying exactly where porn was always laying. I opened it up, and Barbara was featured in one of the pictorials. Years later I'd find out she wasn't just an innocuous woman who spread her legs for Swank's photographers, but she was a full blown porno starlet with well over a hundred credits appearing in her filmography, which brings us to The Honey Drippers. Shot in 1987 for Video-X-Pix by director J. Angel Martini, the film features Barbara (credited here as Penthouse Pet Stacey Nix, a pseudonym she used a few times) two years into her career and at the height of her popularity.

Set in New York City, the film is based around a burlesque house, The Queens Theater (located on Jamaica Avenue, in Queens and which, ironically enough, has been converted to a church), which is hosting a 'teenage strip tease contest.' After Joe Santini and a pal talk on the streets of the city about this upcoming contest in which hot chicks can win a red Porsche and five hundred dollars cash, the first contestant arrives to prepare. Cut to an indoor scene where a guy finds his wife, Barbie Dahl, is waiting for him. They make out and she gives him a blowjob. They move into a sixty-nine and then she rides him cowgirl style. She sucks his cock again and then he fucks her doggy style until he's ready to pop at which point he unloads on the top of her ass cheeks.

From there we move to the backstage dressing room where Joe Santini and his moustache chat up a brunette named Cindy with a headband on. She tells him she hopes she's sexy enough and some bad guitar music swells up on the soundtrack as he sucks on her tits. She blows him and he fucks her doggy style for a little while and then spreads her legs and then fucks her missionary style. He puts it back into her mouth for one last round and pops inside of her.

At the same time, another one of the contest judges takes a brunette named Ashley Moore to another part of the backstage area where they get naked and he gives her head. He eats her out and fingers her a bit and then they move into a sixty-nine. She gets on top of him and rides him cowgirl style and then he gets her on all fours and fucks her from behind until he's all set - he shoots his goop onto her ass cheeks.

Barbie Dahl heads outside to talk to the stage hand about her chances at winning the contest. From there we see Cindy do a bump and grind on the stage while some smoke blows around in an attempt to make this look cooler than it actually is. While she's doing that, Barbara Dare shows up backstage and argues with Barbie. The MC introduces Barbie Dahl next, and she gets up on stage and does a similarly awkward dance. Barbie's husband from the first scene is shocked to see his wife on the stage. The MC introduces the next contestant, Ashley, and the bad strip tease dancing continues while backstage Barbara Dare is getting her pussy eaten by Barbie's horny hubbie while Barbie gives the stage hand a blowjob on the stage. Barbara returns the oral favors while Barbie gets fucked from behind. The action switches back and forth between the two scenes with Ashley still dancing away. Barbara gets fucked missionary style on top of a table while the stage hand has pulled out and decided to eat Barbie's twat from behind. Barbie sucks his cock some more and lets him fuck her missionary style until he finishes which coincides with Barbara and the hubby wrapping things up. Barbara comes out and does her strip tease... and the judges pick a winner.

All in all, this isn't a particularly good movie. The sex is pretty standard and uninspired, and aside from the fact that it appears to have been shot inside a former NYC grindhouse, it doesn't have much historical value. Take into account that you only see the marquee once and that there isn't much in the way of outside location footage and those who enjoy seeing old sleaze footage will probably walk away a bit disappointed. It's interesting to see Barbara Dare pop up here but she's only in one scene. The rest of the cast are not particularly impressive and the production values are pretty low rent, even by eighties video porn standards.

The DVD

Video:

This looks about as good as you'd expect a twenty plus year old shot on video skin flick to look. There's a bit of tape roll here and there and detail is soft at times but as far as how it compares to other shot on video porno movies of the era, it doesn't look bad at all. You have to keep your expectations in check, obviously, you just won't get the clarity or resolution from a VHS transfer as you would from a film source but if nothing else the picture is perfectly watchable. The Video-X-Pix bug does appear in the bottom right hand corner of the screen from time to time, which is an annoyance.

Sound:

The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo soundtrack is a little muffled and not of the best quality, but again, it's taken from an older source so the limitations of the era's technology are going to be there when that's the case - you'll notice a lot of wind and background noise anytime the movie heads outside. Dialogue is pretty easy to understand, however, and the background music comes through reasonably clear. There aren't a lot of sound effects used in the film, mostly just some random moaning and groaning added in post-production over top of the action scenes and these are handled just fine, as are the talkier bits of the movie.

Extras:

In the extras section you'll find trailers for The Erotic World Of Angel Cash, and Little Oral Annie Takes Manhattan, a slide show made up of a bunch of unrelated images of golden age performers all engaged in various sex activities, and for some reason, an Interview With Seka (4:44), who had nothing to do with this movie. Seka talks about 'Arthur,' the man who founded Video-X-Pix, about the movie Careful He May Be Watching which she made for the company, about the premiere of Inside Seka, about the pressure involved in being 'the platinum princess of porn' and about what it was like working with Jamie Gills who she first met when he was working as a live sex performer in New York City.

Final Thoughts:

Barbara Dare and Barbie Dahl fans might appreciate this one as it features the two girls during their prime but otherwise, you can skip this one. Video-X-Pix has done as good a job as is likely possible with the source material, and the interview with Seka is moderately interesting but the feature it pretty poor and not particularly interesting. Skip it.