The Movie:

Just one of a few sex films made in the Swedish boom era of the 1970s by director Mac Ahlberg (who would go on to become a famous cinematographer and work on everything from Re-Animator to The Wonder Years!), The Second Coming Of Eva holds up well as a fine example of how fun and classy European sex films could be.

The film follows a teenage schoolgirl named Eva (Teresa Svensson) who is a little obsessed with sex. Her sister (Kim Frank of Sarno's Swedish Wildcats), a bit of a prude, catches her touching herself in her sleep and decides that in hopes of improving Eva's moral standing, she should spend some time at a boarding school specializing in 'moral and aesthetic instruction.' Eva's hesitant at first but soon warms up to the idea when she discovers that while the school looks very proper and mundane on the outside, it's actually populated by all manner of pervert and deviant.

Eva's education begins with a private lesson from a foxy fellow student (played by French hardcore starlet Brigitte Maier of Ahlberg's later Justine & Juliette and Lasse Braun's Sensations) in the ways of Sapphic liaisons. Their lesbian encounter brings Eva's passions to the boiling point and she finds that she can easily transfer her new skills from female to male lovers with ease. While Eva and her playmates are doing everyone in sight, much to the delight of some of the faculty, a sneaky lawyer is sniffing around the campus investigating reports of promiscuous coeds. Complicating matters is an unexpected visit from Eva's uptight sister. Will the morality police shut down the campus for good or will these foxy, friendly young things show them the lighter side of free love?

Ahlberg's first foray into hardcore territory (he'd follow this with the softcore Flossie and return to hardcore with Justine & Juliette) the film doesn't spend too much time playing with anatomical close ups but definitely delivers enough of the old in and out to qualify as XXX. The picture is wonderfully playful, and it spends its entire running time with tongue placed firmly in cheek. Everyone seems to be having a good time here and the movie is a definitely a comedy before it's a stroke film. Ahlberg (who is credited here as Bert Torn) left the cinematography chores to Andreas Bellis, best known for shooting Bo Arne Vibenius' Thriller: They Call Her One Eye. The movie looks fantastic from start to finish with plenty of carefully constructed compositions and excellent use made of its various locations. Claes Oesterdahl's score compliments the action and comedy quite nicely and while the film is a little predictable and does very little, story-wise, to differentiate itself from other 'young girl's sexual awakening' stories that were popular at the time at least it looks and sounds great. The pacing is quick, the comedy is reasonably effective and the sex is well shot and at times quite steamy - as far as sex films are concerned, that's a winning combination. The film exists in both Swedish language and English language versions, though there doesn't appear to be any differences in content or running time aside from the audio.

The Video:

VCX presents The Second Coming Of Eva in an interlaced fullframe transfer that doesn't look quite as nice as the anamorphic widescreen transfer of the original Swedish version of the movie that Impulse Pictures released a couple of years ago but which is perfectly watchable. Colors are a bit faded and detail is a bit soft but the image is reasonably stable throughout playback and there aren't any problems to report with mpeg compression artifacts or edge enhancement issues.

The Audio:

The English language Dolby Digital Mono track, obviously dubbed from the original Swedish language, sounds okay. Not great, but okay. A few scenes are a bit warblely and the range is obviously pretty limited but the dialogue is easy enough to understand, the levels are properly balanced, and the hiss that occasionally pops up here and there isn't ever too distracting.

The Extras:

Aside from some tacky animated menus, VCX has included three bonus scenes, the first of which is from Dear Fanny (7:03) and features Amber Lynn and R. Bolla. Basically, Bolla fucks her from behind for a few minutes and she finishes him off with a blowjob. The second scene is from Sex The Hard Way (8:18) and it stars Penny Morgan and Peter North. They make out at a horserace track, she gives him head, and he blows his load all over her face. The last bonus scene is from Three Faces Of Angel (11:31) and it features Angel and R. Bolla again. Angel enters Bolla's swanky apartment, he seduces her and then fingers her and eats her out. They move into a sixty-nine and then she sits on his face for a bit before she blows him and lets him fuck her missionary style. She finishes him off with a blow job. Rounding out the extras are trailers for Call Girl, Expose Me Now, Naked Afternoon, and Too Hot To Touch and a VCX.com commercial.

Overall:

If you've already got the Impulse release, you've got the better version of the movie in its original language with a far better transfer. That said, completists might want the English dubbed version of the picture and this VCX release offers that in a watchable version. The film itself is a blast, a nice mix of European arthouse sensibilities and flat out smut all shot with a keen eye and handled with a great sense of humor. Recommended.