Acid Dreams

Private

Genre: Feature

Director: Michael Ninn

Cast: Nikita Denise, Tyce Bune, Wanda Curtis, Shay Sights, Nick Manning, Michelle Michaels, Heather Tristany, Mercedes Ashley, Steve Holmes, Romeo Knight, Sledge Hammer, Manuel Ferrara, Miles Long

Length: 131 minutes

Date of Production: 6/02

Extra's: trailers, production notes, double sided dvd cover, cast biographies (partial), photogallery, multiple languages and subtitles

Audio/Video Quality: The majority of the movie was presented in 1.33:1 ratio full frame with some dialogue parts in widescreen. The colors and grain were only part of the problem for me here but I'm sure at least some of the issue will be spun off as being true to the concept-if you're on acid, the movie will appear more real to you by being made this way. The lack of detail and focus were other problems that popped up and the slow motion stuff didn't help. The audio was also made to appear like you were watching through the eyes of someone dropping acid.

Body of Review: Michael Ninn is known more of an artistic pornographer than anything else. This means you can expect to see lots of slow motion and other visual effects in his movies. If you like such effects, you're going to love his latest dvd release on the Private label, Acid Dreams. The movie is based in very small part on the scientific experiments by the US government during the cold war using the drug most commonly known of as acid. The idea was to use it to expand the mind, control the mind, or simply incapacitate people with anew kind of chemical weapon. Out of those experiments, counter culture types purified the formulas, amplified the effect, and created a whole new way to become a burnout. The movie takes more of a look at using acid to enhance sexual properties than anything else and you can safely skip the story part of the show in favor of the sex alone (like most guys do no matter how good a movie is). Here's a breakdown of the scenes by cast:

Scene One: Nikita, a sexual dynamo known for her energetic performances as much as her accent, took on Tyce in a scene that amazingly enough, wasn't centered around anal action. I say this because a) it's a Private release and b) Nikita is best known for her anal antics. By failing to play up to a performer's strengths, Ninn missed out on a golden opportunity to breathe some life into this release but the sex, if you like special effects laden scenes, wasn't bad.

Scene Two: Wanda, Shay, and Nick had another mind bending scene. More effects and while it was also kind of interesting to watch-particularly for the fetish costumes the gals wore, it was kind of limited by the trapping of Ninn's style as well.

Scene Three: Michelle, a blonde with a scruffy look that sort of worked for me, and Tyce, had a scene on a staircase. The scene seemed too short for me and devoid of any heat.

Scene Four: Shay, Wanda, Heather, had a lesbian scene that actually worked for me even though the butch looking Heather didn't appeal to me at all. The fetish attire and toys were fun to watch, even given the effects, and the gals did a good job. Tyce joined with Shay afterwards and had an okay scene.

Scene Five: Mercedes, a trampy looking gal (that's what the character looked like at least) Steve, Romeo, and Sledge, had a scene in a hotel room. The scene bounced around a lot in the style of photography (like all the scenes did to some degree) and the editing was also done to assist in this look (along with smoke, and weird lighting). This was my least favorite scene of the bunch. Pass.

Scene Six: Nikita, Manuel, and Miles had a scene after shooting some pool. This time she took anal and a DP, although the usual culprits of heat reduction also applied here. Not a bad scene otherwise.

Summary: I've seen several of the Director's movies over the years and sometimes he can really make it all click-combining his style with just the right cast, circumstance, and technical qualities but this was one case where it all just looked pretentious. The music and visual effects might've worked elsewhere but not here and I'm left to believe that the only way to enjoy this dvd is to take a couple of hits of acid first. I'm rating it as Skip It based more on the lack of heat and weak technical values than all the other flaws but if you're a huge fan of his (or if you're paid to like him), this was as outside the box (in more ways than one) as you'll see from a normally decent director.