I was blown away by this major discovery: an unheralded 1985 Adult feature of remarkable power: a serious movie that defies the cliches associated with porn. And it is blessed with a remarkable performance by Nina Hartley early in her career.
She's cast as Natasha Kelly, a troubled 18-year-old who is psychoanalyst Jesse Eastern's patient. Vignette structure has him listening to his recordings of their sessions, voiced by Nina, as she relates her erotic dreams, which are staged in a classic fantasy/horror manner, replete with Nina dressed in traditional white nightgown.
The movie has many elements of Victorian porn both in design and content, but is not a period piece (as evidenced by Eastern's modern audio recorder). With a solid (rather than starry) supporting cast, it presents fanciful dreams, including an unsettling one where Nina is sleeping, clutching her Raggedy Ann and other dolls, in which two dolls come to life (Nikki Knights and Don Fernando) and have a threesome with her. In another she dances to a music box and a stud with a skull for his head (Jesse Adams) humps her. And especially a strong finale in which she's in a bordello watching group sex presided over by Mistress Dee (perfectly cast Janey Robbins as dominatrix).
Always somber in tone and never falling into the traps of porno silliness, the movie ends on a note of literary horror, rather than the expected shock effects that generally permeate both the erotic and horror genres. Creative credits all go to "Pablo Cairo", pseudonym that IMDb identifies as Mark Novick (who when Googled pops up as the litigant in a '70s "illegal search" (for porn) court case more valid than the currently idiotic Trump complaints filed about Mar-a-Lago).
She's cast as Natasha Kelly, a troubled 18-year-old who is psychoanalyst Jesse Eastern's patient. Vignette structure has him listening to his recordings of their sessions, voiced by Nina, as she relates her erotic dreams, which are staged in a classic fantasy/horror manner, replete with Nina dressed in traditional white nightgown.
The movie has many elements of Victorian porn both in design and content, but is not a period piece (as evidenced by Eastern's modern audio recorder). With a solid (rather than starry) supporting cast, it presents fanciful dreams, including an unsettling one where Nina is sleeping, clutching her Raggedy Ann and other dolls, in which two dolls come to life (Nikki Knights and Don Fernando) and have a threesome with her. In another she dances to a music box and a stud with a skull for his head (Jesse Adams) humps her. And especially a strong finale in which she's in a bordello watching group sex presided over by Mistress Dee (perfectly cast Janey Robbins as dominatrix).
Always somber in tone and never falling into the traps of porno silliness, the movie ends on a note of literary horror, rather than the expected shock effects that generally permeate both the erotic and horror genres. Creative credits all go to "Pablo Cairo", pseudonym that IMDb identifies as Mark Novick (who when Googled pops up as the litigant in a '70s "illegal search" (for porn) court case more valid than the currently idiotic Trump complaints filed about Mar-a-Lago).