Review of Pleasure Shop on 7th Avenue

I have to say I'm more than a little bit disappointed with this film. It's not that The Pleasure Shop on 7th Avenue is particularly bad for what it is, or that I was expecting it to be brilliant...but somehow, this just feels a bit too empty to be a film from the often proclaimed 'king of sleaze', Joe D'Amato. The film starts off well, with two would be robbers holding up a chemist, before finding out that it's under the protection of the local mob boss and scampering out the back door. The shenanigans continue when the bumbling thieves happen upon a porn shop being run by the mob boss' girlfriend! They then take her captive and make their way to Canada in order to escape the mob. The problem with this plot is that D'Amato doesn't take any advantage of the opportunities for a good thriller, or for humour and instead; we get a barrage of sleaze and nudity, which is OK, but the film could have had so much more if D'Amato had been thinking outside the box. The sleaze on display isn't the most shocking Joe D'Amato fans will have seen from him, but there's a lot of stuff that is bound to please anyone with a mind to see this film. The Pleasure Shop on 7th Avenue isn't easy to track down, and I can't really recommend going out of your way as there are better trashy exploitation films out there….but of course, there's also a lot worse.