User Reviews

Paul Thomas's "The Masseuse" and its Jenna Jameson remake stand out among the best Adult features ever made, and this forgotten followup to the Hyapatia Lee starring original is magnificent in its own right. It demonstrates the legitimate theater approach PT often took toward directing movies, and it works in both the dramatic and the sex scenes.

I saw this one back in the VHS era, and it holds up well watching it recently on DVD. One key element contributing to its success is the use of concise, brief sex scenes, packing in 7 of them in less than an hour and a half running time, counter to today's XXX wherein only 2 or 3 elongated "real-time" sex vignettes would fit.

Playing like a soap opera, we watch the travails of Ashlyn Gere as a prostitute who's nominal profession is masseuse. Her strong dramatic performance dominates the film, but there are many other interesting characters. In a non-sex role as a budding screenwriter, Candy Marie Saint is terrific, while fellow hooker Asia Carrera shares the XXX burden with Gere.

Nominal bad guys are well-limned by Randy West and Steven St. Croix, and the drama builds to violent and strong climax, with Asia's hubby Bud Lee cameo performance near the end as a priest.

A perfect example of the dividing line between today's mindless porn and the Golden Era (plus followups, this one having been made a decade after the cinema-exhibition era ended) predecessors.

Paul Thomas is one of the few commercial porno-directors who try to do something beyond just showing the sex and getting the cash, and in this little film he actually gives life to a plot that's both thoughtful and philosophical. The film studies self-hatred, guilt and the misguided attempt at reconciliation through meaningless and agressive sexual acts. The characters try to establish control by committing to non-satisfactory lovemaking, as they drape their real identities in technicalities or fancy names, and the pair, Asia Carrera and Ashlyn Gere, do their jobs with no less skill than actresses in conventional films. 'The masseuse 2' tells the story of two masseuses who struggle against themselves and the total degradation of their souls as they casually step onwards in their illusive lives and become straight-out hookers. This is good porn, although those who prefer their sex to be non-violent, clean and without any inner stimula should stear clear.