The Movie:

The latest 'event' title from Wicked Pictures is an interesting mix of hardcore and horror. While we've seen this in the past from Italian director's such as Joe D'Amato and his notorious Porno Holocaust and more recently with underground titles such as Slaughter Disc, it isn't all that common to see the two genres cross over and even less common to see it done well. Sure, last year we had Camp Cuddly Pines but that was more of a spoof than anything else. The Visitors, on the other hand, plays things completely straight.

Reasonably plot intensive (at least in porno movie terms), this movie tells the story of a small town out in the middle of the desert where the pretty young woman of the area start mysteriously disappearing. Investigators are called in to find out just what on Earth is going on, and what they uncover seems to prove that it may not be Earthly at all, and instead that there might just be an alien invasion in the works here. Saying anymore about it would ruin half of the fun, but let's just say that this is one of those rare adult films where the sex actually comes second to the story. It's not that there isn't a fair amount of hardcore fucking in the movie, it's just that it actually suits the storyline and while of course it's completely gratuitous (this is a XXX production so by its very nature it has to be) it does a very good job of hiding that.

Here's the obligatory fuck scene play-by-play:

Scene One – Kristen Price And Barrett Blade: These two are lying out under the stars in the desert at night in the back of his pick-up truck. Kissing leads to some rubbing up and eventually there's a bit of oral play for both parties involved. They soon start the actual intercourse after her oral ends, and he takes her missionary and doggy style before it comes to a close. It's a fairly brief scene and there's nothing particularly kinky in here but the sex feels a little more genuine than most scenes do which makes it worth a look, as sincerity equals heat more often than not.

Scene Two - Avena Lee And Eric Masterson: Switching inside we find these two sitting on the couch together enjoying the evening and soon enough enjoying each other. Once again we start things off with some foreplay that gets things moving in the right direction. Tongue kissing leads to his hand finding his way into her pants and then his fingers into her pussy and once he's gotten her warmed up she wraps her lips around his prick and sucks him off for a bit and with some honest enthusiasm for the task. He eats her pussy a bit and, after we see the condom go on (a rarity!), he slips his prick into her and they fuck with her on top and with him behind her. He mounts her missionary style to finish things off and when he pulls out he puts his wad on her stomach. Not a bad scene, but hardly a stand out one. The sex is a bit on the short side (the irony being it probably went on longer than most of us would last – which makes it rather silly to complain about) though she looks like she gives great head.

Scene Three – Cassie Courtland And Marcos Leon: As these two are sitting out in the woods by a nice campfire the mood comes upon them and they start to make out. Soon enough she's rocking out with his cock out and she's stroking him hard. Once he's up she gives him a pretty impressive handjob, using her mouth on him a few times as well. There's no penetration in here, it's just hand and mouth, but she's definitely having fun getting him into the scene and that makes it better than you might think. There's also a certain degree of realism to the way that she handles him here, sucking on the tip of his knob while she strokes him off rather than deep throating him and gagging on his cock. You don't see this too often in normal porno (though sometimes you do in specific kink related compilations) so it was kind of a nice change of pace.

Scene Four – Keri Sable And Chris Evans: Just like in the first scene, these two are in the back of a pick-up truck out under the stars enjoying a lovely evening together. They begin by kissing and as the tongues start wagging and things begin to heat up he spreads her legs and eats her pussy. She takes off his pants and gives him a pretty aggressive oral work out before she gets on her back and he fucks her pussy. From there she bends over and takes it in the ass from him, as he does her from behind while she works her clit with her free hand. He gets her on her back again and fucks her missionary style before pulling out and shooting his goop onto her stomach. This scene was pretty hot, the anal was appealing as she seemed to enjoy taking him in the ass and the foreplay was enthusiastic. This was definitely the most 'typical' of the scenes in the film in that it felt like porno, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Scene Five – Kimberly Kane And Evan Stone: These two are lying in bed together in a trailer out in the desert. They start to kiss and there's some rubbing and touching before he's got his face buried between her legs and is eating her pussy out. She gives him a wet blowjob and then pulls the condom over his cock before laying him down and riding him cowgirl style. He fucks her doggy style and then missionary style before pulling out and taking off the rubber so that he can come into her mouth and onto her tits a bit as well. This one also felt more like traditional porno but the two performers seem really into each other and the sex is steamy from the start so it works quite well.

In addition to the five standard scenes in the movie there's also a scene where Kimberly Kane is onboard the alien spaceship and she's vaginally penetrated with a long, phallic device. While not a 'sex scene' per se, she's definitely enjoying (or at least pretending to be enjoying) this which makes it very much akin to a masturbation scene that you might see in a regular porno where a girl fucks herself with a dildo or vibrator.

Director Michael Raven has done a pretty good job of assembling an attractive cast all of whom are better actors or actresses than most porn starts tend to be and all of whom are reasonably believable in their roles. Couple that with what is actually a decent X-Files inspired story, some great locations, and a few effects that work (in addition to a few that don't) and you've got a good movie for couples, which is very likely the market that they're trying to reach with this release.

The DVD

Video:

The Visitors was shot on high-end digital video and is presented in 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen. This is transfer is quite good as it does a pretty good job of bringing the movie home. There are spots where the black levels get a little bit jittery and you'll see some compression artifacts dancing around in the darker scenes throughout the movie (this does get a bit annoying) but for the most part you should find yourself pretty impressed with the quality of the image on this release, as aside from the mild compression artifacts, there are virtually no flaws with the picture aside from those intended to be there by the director or director of photography, like some intentional grain here and there. Skin tones look lifelike and natural, there's a very impressive level of fine detail both in the foreground and the background of the image, and there aren't really any serious edge enhancement or line shimmering issues to note. Reds look nice and strong and don't bleed into the surrounding colors (a common problem on DV productions, it seems) and there aren't any major haloing issues either.

Sound:

The primary audio track is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix with optional subtitles available in English, Greek and Italian as well as a dubbed Spanish 2.0 Stereo track and a dubbed German 2.0 Stereo track. If your gear can handle it, definitely go for the 5.1 mix as, while it doesn't make a difference really during the sex scenes, it brings the action scenes to life very, very nicely. The completely original score composed for this production fits the bill quite perfectly, adding an element of suspense to the horror scenes and softening up appropriately enough for the more erotic moments in the film. There are plenty of instances where the surround speakers are used very nicely in the mix, and the subwoofer comes alive in a few spots too although unfortunately bass is weak in some spots, noticably so. Seeing as dialogue is actually important in this film, a rarity in the world of adult features, it is to the DVD's credit that you'll have no problems understanding any of the actors and actresses in the film – everything is very, very clean and very, very clear sounding on this release.

Extras:

Well, seeing as this is a two-disc set, it goes to reason that the supplemental materials are spread across both discs, right? Right! Here's what you get and where you'll find it:

DISC ONE:

The only extras on the first disc can be found in the audio set up menu where you have the choice of watching the movie with only the soundtrack playing or with only the dialogue. Additionally, there is a full-length commentary track option in here that, if selected, will allow you to listen to Michael Raven talk about the film. He's joined here by Kimberly Kane, Kristen Price, and Avena Lee. The girls had evidently been drinking before this was recorded as they're pretty goofy throughout and don't add much aside from chit chat in the background but Raven manages to give us a reasonably thorough explanation of how the project came to be and what it was like on set in addition to casting, how he feels about some of the sex scenes, and standard commentary things like that.

DISC TWO:

The bulk of the supplements are on this disc, and they're divided into four submenus, all of which relate to the theme and storyline of the film. The first section is called Classified_Recon_101 and in there we're treated to a twenty-five minute long making of documentary called Incident At Desert City. This is a pretty interesting look at the movie wherein we get on set footage, behind the scenes footage, sex footage, interviews and some talking head bits and pieces. Up next is FX – Above Top Secret which is a look at how CGI and digital effects were added to a few scenes to give them more impact. We see before and after versions of these scenes and if you're into the technical side of things, this quick, two-minute segment should be of interest. Reconnaissance is up next, and it's a five-minute drive through the desert with a Michael Raven who is out scouting locations for the film. This is a pretty interesting look at what things directors consider when out trying to find somewhere to shoot their movies. Eyewitness Sketches is just over a minute's worth of production sketches for the aliens playing out over a slideshow while Subject : Michael Raven – An Interrogation is an interview with the director, where he's seated in a dark and smoky interrogation chamber, in which he talks about where his inspiration for the movie came from. Though he repeats some information from the commentary here, it's a little more put together and we learn about what difficulties he ran into, what it was like shooting on location and things like that. It's quite interesting and at just shy of eight minutes it's lengthy enough to have some genuine substance to it.

The second section is entitled Analysis_Database_+002 and here we start things off with Sexual Surveillance which is a fifteen minute montage of the sex scenes being shot. This is pretty much all hardcore footage and it gives us a few alternate angles and a more unpolished look at what these guys were hired to do for the movie in front of the camera. The Visitors: The Women Of Desert City is a five minute montage of the female stars from the film posing for the cameras for their glamour shots. It's nice to see them naked, all very Playboy style, and it's simply lovely women nude set to music. A simple formula, sure, but it works for me. Subject: Kristen Price – Molding is a look at the procedure that Ms. Price underwent for the film where she had a mold made of her ass and her pussy for the film. It's about four minutes long and it could have been a bit shorter but it's a fun, candid look at something that you don't see too often – and hey, the more naked Kristen Price the better, right? Area 69 Trivia With Kristen Price is, as you'd imagine, an interactive trivia game. If you get the questions right you unlock some bonus footage of her, if you get them wrong, you're out of luck and you have to reinsert the disc to try again. It's neat the way it's laid out as a classified file even if having to reinsert the disc is annoying after the novelty wears off. Supplementary Liasons is a collection of two bonus scenes from different Wicked Pictures productions. The first bonus scene on the disc is from All About Keri and here we see Kimberly Kane playing around with Eric Masterson. They start fooling around and he kicks things into high gear by spreading her legs and lapping away at her snatch. He tells her he wants anal but she's having none of that and so he fucks her pussy missionary before she gets on top of him. He lets her bounce around on him a bit and then he pulls out and comes on her to close the scene. The second bonus scene is from But I'm With The Band and it stars Kristen Price and Keri Sable. The girls aren't able to get backstage at a show they're both at so they go to the bathroom where Kristen goes down on Keri. They tongue one another in all the right places and finger fuck each other two, in addition to some vibrator play highlighted by the scene where Kristen gets one in her pussy and one in her ass at the same time.

The third section, Auxiliary Stimulus_003, starts off with Project Errors which is a three-minute blooper reel. From there we find Sector 1 – Recovered Footage which is a brief collection of footage of the aliens used in the movie – we see UFO's flying around on fake newscasts and things like that. Deleted Files is a one minute collection of three deleted scenes – two of them are abduction clips and the third is footage of the newscaster. Propaganda – Musical Stimulus is a video for the song Take Me Away that's used in the film, directed by Michael Raven. Extra Wicked Visualizations is a collection of trailers (for the feature, Camp Cuddly Pines, Crème Brulee and Rendezvous among others) , promo material, DVD-Rom supplements, a Wicked DVD catalogue and some 'more adult fun' options.

The fourth and final section, Intelligence_Report_004, is a look at the ladies by way of a bunch of still galleries. First up is Abductee Statistics which is a stats listing for the five female starts of the movie. Abductee Visual Images – Individual is a collection of still galleries, one dedicated to each of the five girls, all of which are set to music and are quite nicely photographed. Abductee Visual Images – Sexual Encounters is a collection of still galleries, each of the five dedicated to the main sex scenes from the film. Abductee Visuals – Grouped is a three minute slide show containing a bunch of images of the cast members shot on set. Last but not least, Desert City Surveillance Visuals contains two minutes worth of behind the scenes photographs.

Final Thoughts:

Much like Pirates, this is a pretty legitimate attempt at crossover porn. The sex comes after the plot or because of the plot rather than instead of it though when it happens, it's pretty hot. It's well directed with nice production values and the erotic scenes are just that – erotic. Wicked Pictures has done a great job on the presentation all the way around and stacked this release with plenty of extras that add a lot of value to the package. This one won't do it for the spank movie crowd but if you're looking for a good couples movie or a decent thriller with some hardcore scenes, consider The Visitors highly recommended.