Angel Face

VCX

Marie McCray and Jenner

Genre: Feature

Director: Roy Karch

Jada Fire, Jenny Hendrix, and Christian

Cast: Dakoda Brooks, Marie McCray, Jenner, Jenny Hendrix, Jada Fire, Christian, Eva Angelina, Billy Glide, Evan Stone

Non-sex roles: Kimber Winters, Vera Vangaurd, Mocher Baldie, Mimi, Roy Karch

Eva Angelina and Marie McCray

Length: 135:20 minutes

Dates of Production: 11/24/2007 to 11/27/2007

Billy Glide and Eva Angelina

Extra's: The best extra was the 17:24 minute long Behind the Scenes feature by Will Lee that gave the cast a chance to get some quality time in interviews, photoshoots, and even bits from their scenes (from another point of view). I would have liked a lot more from it but fans of the ladies in particular will find a lot to like here since each had their own personal anecdotes to share. There were four trailers, a pop shot compilation from the scenes, and a photogallery as well but that was all.

Evan Stone and Marie McCray

Condoms: None

Audio/Video Quality: Angel Face was presented in a decent looking 1.78:1 ratio anamorphic widescreen color presentation using MPEG-2 as shot by director Roy Karch for VCX. The movie was made to look as though it was shot on film to a degree, emulating Roy's good old days fairly well given the attempt to restart the company as a player (completing the circle as it were). The first thing I noticed about the visuals of the show was hot it looked much higher budget than some of Roy's works in recent years, either thanks to his crew (Andre Madness and Ralph Parfait working cameras for example) or the budget itself. The ladies were all made to look their best from a compositional standpoint, the lighting nicely keeping the shadows, grain, and other usual flaws to a bare minimum. The fleshtones were accurate and the bitrate hovered around the mid 5 Mbps rate; making me wonder what it would have looked like using Blu-Ray. In terms of artistic license, there were a lot of textures used this time too, the clarity of the camera work a step ahead of many companies and the wealth of angles enhanced the production nearly as much as the solid editing did. The audio was presented in a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround English using the 448 Kbps bitrate, more than twice what is usually used by most companies. The vocals were clear as were the sound effects, the music better than the generic pap usually offered up and some fair dynamic range to go with the separation between the channels I noticed at least a few times. Good job!

Body of Review: Many years ago when even videotape releases were kind of new, I used to rent a lot of porn. One of the most reliable companies of the day was VCX, their releases offering the best trailers (the only "extra" of day) on top of the most sought after movies from the late 70's to the early 80's. There was a format war back then too, Beta eventually losing out, and porn was more common to seedy, run down movie theatres in the inner city, subject to raids by the police. The advent of tape meant you could enjoy porn in the privacy of your own home, making it more acceptable even if the adrenaline rush coming from the possibility of being seen at such a place was lost. All the old stories aside though, the landscape was markedly different than now, changing in some ways for the better and in other ways for the worse. In a recent turn of events, VCX has decided to get back into the production side of things, trying to revive some of the old spark of their early years, producing a well received title called Angel Face as a result. Veteran director Roy Karch was brought in to helm the project, a fitting idea considering he's been making porn since before most performers, even the males, were born (not Ron Jeremy or Mike Horner but you catch my drift). The story was about a young gal setting out for the big city and finding her sexual urges awaken under the pressure of a host of people she encountered, a traditional type of porno in many ways that worked in large part due to solid casting, especially Marie McCray as the naïve newcomer. Here's a brief look at the scenes by cast and action, noting that no condoms were used for those still interested:

Scene One: Dakoda Brooks and Marie McCray, both looking like youthful strippers, were up first in the locker room and shower as they helped each other clean up. They rubbed each other a bit during the lathering up portion and I was all set for a generic lesbian scene when Dakoda left for Marie to do what amounted to a solo scene in the shower. I was irritated initially but it seemed to fit better than the programmed porn I'm used to, the solo portion of the scene quite erotic in fact, something I wasn't expecting.

Scene Two: Marie McCray, the cute redhead newcomer leading the cast, was up again as she prepared to leave campus and move to the big city after discussing her future with the coach. Jenner walked in and the moper convinced her to strip for him, moving to a blowjob where she treated him as though she really was a virgin. Unlike most modern porn, her oral skills did not display a lot of sexual athleticism, fitting the movie a lot more as a result with Jenner busting a nut of population pudding onto her chest.

Scene Three: Jenny Hendrix, the cute anal princess, Jada Fire, the black bombshell, and sexually versatile Christian, were up next as he portrayed a pimp in a shitty part of town preying on naïve newcomers. The ladies were shooting heroin (well, heating it up in a spoon at least) when Christian introduced Marie to them; resulting in the girl leaving when Christian started getting some benefits from his drugged out friends. Jada sucked a better cock but Jenny was a better rider during the vaginal sex, the taste testing showing both gals on equal footing (with intermittent drug use, this time cocaine). Jada even did a moderately active anal romp here before the ladies shared the facial; Christian's spew left on the ladies as he searched out his latest victim again.

Scene Four: Eva Angelina, the hotty brunette featured on the front cover (underneath Jenny's picture), was up next as she picked up Marie McCray at a small restaurant and brought the gal home to bed. They drank some beer and sexually aggressive Eva showed her the wonders of lesbian sex. This was probably the most traditional (in modern terms at least) scene to this point in time, Eva excellently showing her acting chops as the alpha female while Marie came across as the submissive gal still in awe at all the new things she was learning. The oral and vaginal sex (with a strap on dildo) showed both of their relative skill levels clearly too, making it fit nicely with the theme of the movie.

Scene Five: Eva Angelina, fresh out of her lesbian scene, was up immediately next with Billy Glide when he walked in on the two ladies basking in the afterglow of their scene together. Billy got frisky and Marie left the room, the bed serving as the stage for the sexually aggressive Eva to show she was every bit as willing to do a guy, pumping herself on his cock after suck starting it for full effect. It was another fusion of traditional and post modern sexual performances, the sexual athleticism discussed previously nicely handled. It was oral and vaginal only but they shared some chemistry and she took the expected face pop.

Scene Six: Marie McCray, having now run into a fashion photographer played by the mighty Evan Stone, was up on a set after he spent considerable time taking her picture. She still looked fresh and new so the seduction angle of this de-virginizing scene worked. Evan did not play it for comedy and only a lack of background music hampered it from appearing out of a late night cable offering; at least until they started getting busy. Her oral showed improvement from the previous scene she blew a guy in and Evan took his time warming her up orally as well as penetrating her pussy; invoking the spirit of classics such as 3 AM among others. While she was not even in the same ballpark as Eva was in the screwing, she fit her role nicely and the resulting heat was noticed. I wouldn't want a steady diet of such flicks but it was a nice change of pace from the gonzo tsunami I usually deal with; the hummer unleashing his wad on her face.

Summary: Angel Face by director Roy Karch for VCX might not have been an exact return to the golden years of porn when the company dominated the landscape but it certainly offered up a closer view of it than the vast majority of what sells so well on the market today. With a few more musical tunes propping up the feature, more pubic hair, and a lot less explicit sex, it would have been a distant cousin but recognizable as such all the way. Marie McCray was well suited for her role as were the rest of the cast, the appeal of the show earning it a rating of Recommended by this reviewer. I admit to having a soft spot for the classics the industry produced before the video wave took over and dumbed things down so much but if you're looking for the best of both worlds, you really can't go wrong with Angel Face. I will be interested in seeing if VCX will continue this revival over time or if this is simply a one shot promotional release but I sure hope it is a sign of things to come given what I saw.