direct to video
Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...
science fiction film
Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...
. Its origins are intentionally obscured on its packaging, crediting direction of the film to "British director Peter Williams" and the starring roles of Taylor to "Kevin Jean" and his ex-wife Nicola to "Raquel Rios" on the front cover and Rebecca Lynn on the back cover. The end credits reveal that these roles are played by Greg Derek and Krista Lane. The film is, in fact, an edited version of a
hardcore
Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to:
Arts and media Film
* ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film
* ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott
* ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...
pornographic film
Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include eroticall ...
called ''Cabaret Sin'' (originally released July 1, 1987) marketed to a science fiction audience, and its director is actually Philip O'Toole, from a screenplay with Nacada O'Toole and Christopher Saint Booth, Christopher Saint. The film was released on VHS by Even Steven Productions and bore a stamped decal warning of sexual situations, nudity, violence, and adult language, although the film has no
MPAA
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...
rating. The storyline is an imitation of ''
Blade Runner
''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...
'', while one character is blatantly modeled on
Anthony Daniels
Anthony Daniels ( ; born 21 February 1946) is an English actor and mime artist, best known for playing in 10 ''Star Wars'' films. He is the only actor to have either appeared in or been involved with all theatrical films in the series, and h ...
as
C-3PO
C-3PO () or See-Threepio is a humanoid robot character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise who appears in the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy and the sequel trilogy. Built by Anakin Skywalker, was designed as a protocol droid intended to as ...
. The executive producer is
Kirdy Stevens Kirdy Stevens (1920 - October 20, 2012) was an American pornographic film director.
He was inducted into the XRCO Hall of Fame in 2001 and the AVN Hall of Fame
The ''AVN'' (''Adult Video News'') Hall of Fame has honored people for their work in ...
.
Plot
In
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
in 2020, the crime rate is up 200%. The police are known as Eliminators, and they fight against the Droid Warriors of Azteca (Lorrie Lovett), who dresses in
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
regalia. The Droid were created as servants, and Taylor has one, Rochester (played by Kevin James, in a very close approximation of Daniel's speech patterns). Taylor, who was once the best Eliminator but more than anything wants to get back with his ex-wife, Nicola, is blackmailed into attempting to steal a digital decoder to shut down Azteca's forces. Much of Taylor's time, however, is spent at a club watching various sexual couplings featuring adult film stars such as
Herschel Savage
Herschel Savage (born Harvey Cohen on November 25, 1952) is an American former pornographic actor, director and stage actor who has appeared in over 1,000 adult films. In 2002, '' AVN'' ranked him 46th on their list of ''The Top 50 Porn Stars of ...
,
Bunny Bleu
The AVN Awards, ''AVN'' (''Adult Video News'') Hall of Fame has honored people for their work in the Pornographic film, adult entertainment industry since 1995.Tammy Dorsey, who
masturbates
Masturbation is the sexual stimulation of one's own genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation may involve hands, fingers, everyday objects, sex toys such as vibrators, or combinatio ...
with a
trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...
), Candie Evans,
Tom Byron
Tom Byron (born Thomas Bryan Taliaferro Jr.; April 4, 1961) is an American former pornographic actor, director and producer. A member of the XRCO and the AVN Halls of Fame, he was voted #20 in AVN's list of top 50 pornstars of all time.
Earl ...
, Keisha, and Kristara Barrington. Third-billed is an assassin called the Blade (Steven Densmore) who is hired by a man he interrupts masturbating.
Eventually, Taylor's apartment is attacked while he is in the shower, and his Droid goes haywire. He gets the decoder and uses it, and is reunited with Nicola. Azteca is not really destroyed however and "to be continued" looms.
Production
The original score is credited to "Cinema Symphony's" icand is claimed to have been released on
Motion Records
In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and me ...
. The packaging claims that the film is "a rollercoaster ride of special effects, award winning cinematography, and original motion picture soundtrack." No mention is made of what awards, if any, its cinematography (credited to Sly Burns) received.
The only non-background characters who do not engage in sexual situations in the edited version are Rochester and the Blade (whose end credits billing is much lower than his billing on the box or opening credits). The Taylors' sex scene is almost subliminal—several minutes spent on the two characters just slow dancing with flash cuts to their romantic lovemaking. Presumably, in the uncut version, the dancing and sex were given closer to equal weight.
One character is a virgin pleasure model that is threatened with termination for being a
virgin
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
. Taylor agrees to have sex with her after she says, "you're not married, are you?" another blatant moment revealing the film's pornographic origins.
Reception
''
Adult Video News
''Adult Video News'' (also called ''AVN'' or ''AVN Magazine'') is an American trade magazine that covers the adult video industry. ''The New York Times'' notes that ''AVN'' is to pornographic films what '' Billboard'' is to records. ''AVN'' spon ...
'' praised ''Cabaret Sin'' for "time and effort (and apparently money)" put into the production. It mentions the plot's similarities to ''Blade Runner'' but says that aesthetically it is more comparable to ''
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
''Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome'' is a 1985 Australian post-apocalyptic dystopian action film directed by George Miller and George Ogilvie and written by Miller and Terry Hayes. It stars Mel Gibson and Tina Turner in a story of a lone roving warri ...
'' and ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'', as well as ''
Café Flesh
''Café Flesh'' is a 1982 post-apocalyptic cult film, cult Pornographic movie, pornographic science fiction film designed and directed by Stephen Sayadian (under the pseudonym "Rinse Dream") and co-written by Sayadian and Jerry Stahl (credited as ...
''. It described the film as a mood piece with hardcore missionary and oral sex. It assessed the film as "definitely worth a look," and that response probably led to it being edited for mainstream release.
The Internet Movie Database
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, p ...
Adult Video News
''Adult Video News'' (also called ''AVN'' or ''AVN Magazine'') is an American trade magazine that covers the adult video industry. ''The New York Times'' notes that ''AVN'' is to pornographic films what '' Billboard'' is to records. ''AVN'' spon ...