I know it isn't a review, but don't worry the blog isn't dead. In fact the task who took most of my time since the beginning of the year is now done, so I'm ready to resume my writing duty... maybe tonight if nothing happen.
I just did a mail order sooner today for three upcomming After Hour Cinema releases, so I expect to get them somewhere in may. All of them will be release the may 10, but I must take into account the mail travel between the USA and the Canada.
One of the most notorious of old Times Square’s “mini-cinemas,” the Avon 7, and the films produced under its banner, have become the stuff of legend. Located on 724 7th avenue (hence, the Avon “7”), the venue was known early on for its live sex acts, which were its main draw. To sedate the restless audience during intermissions between live sex, the theatre would screen self-produced adult films. With BDSM becoming prevalent in sex films by the late 70s and early 80s, the Avon 7 would reach the epoch of its career, and during this period would produce some of its most recognizable and infamous titles.
After Hours Cinema is proud to present three notorious Avon 7 roughies, produced by one of classic porn’s greatest producer-directors: Shaun Costello!
The Avon 7 is gone… But the films live on!
SLAVE OF PLEASURE – Shaun Costello’s hot and bothered wife is kidnapped by white-slave-trader Jamie Gillis, in a fiendish plot conceived by sexy blonde C.J. Laing! But, Shaun will see that justice is met… Kinky, leather-clad justice!
MY MISTRESS ELECTRA – Sleazy pals Carter Stevens and Ashley Moore are going to be awfully embarrassed about screening a porn film for their buddies… Why? Because this particular film, unbeknownst to them, contains a friend’s mild mannered wife as a lusty performer!
PRISONER OF PLEASURE – A housewife is abducted and held for ransom by the filthiest bunch of NY criminals you’ve ever seen! How about small screen sexual sadists like George Payne and Dave Ruby as examples?
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Brand New Telecine from the Original Film Elements
- Booklet with Liner Notes
- After Hours Cinema Trailers 
PLEASURE PALACE COLLECTION 2-DVD SET: The Early Films of Carter Stevens Vol. 3, 1977 – 1979
After Hours Cinema is proud to present Volume 3 in its Carter Stevens Grindhouse Director Series showcasing new film transfers of Stevens’ ‘70s classics - approved by director Stevens himself!
By the late 1970s, the name Carter Stevens was recognized by the vast majority of porn patrons as a mark of quality. His was a name associated with all that a porn film should be: fun, fanciful, and free. Those very same marks also constitute the maxims by which Stevens has lived his life. Since his landmark first effort, 1971’s The Collegiates, each subsequent film of Stevens was seen as an opportunity to grow as an artist (a designation Stevens modestly denies) and also to fulfill the expectations of his audience. Stevens’ late 70s period is seen by most fans as the epoch of his career.
THE LOVE COUCH – A spin on one of porn’s classic motifs: the living bed that narrates the film by recounting aloud its illicit memories. It’s a tried and true concept that enables the filmmaker to litter the screen with multifarious sexual antics.
DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE – Brooke and Taylor Young – those tasty twins – are back…and looking to recapture the success of Stevens’ 1976 film Teenage Twins (financially his most successful film).
PLEASURE PALACE – Writing under the pseudonym “Al Hazrad” (coyly alluding to the author of the Necronomicon of Lovecraftian mythos), Stevens would pen at that time his dream project: a film not only to satiate Stevens’ ambitious desires, but a porn film to break the conventional mold of traditional porn films. A film with action, romance, and, “gasp,” an actual story! That film was 1979’s Pleasure Palace – a film set to reshape the standards of adult films!
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Digital Restoration from the Only Existing Film Elements - Approved by Director Carter Stevens
- Newly Produced Interview with Carter Stevens
- Trailers for other Carter Stevens Films
- Liner Notes Booklet 
They don’t make them like Tina Russell anymore. They can’t - because girls like Tina Russell aren’t “made.” That is, they’re no product of some big-time porn studio, which feeds all their potential talent through an “idealist machine,” and when they’re squeezed out the other end, they’re your typical fabricated porno star. Fake breasts, fake ass, fake personality…
Fake, fake, fake.
Tina Russell was 100% natural; gorgeous face, beautiful body, bubbly personality, and a sincere love for sex. She was real – so real, you could’ve mistaken her for the girl next door.
After Hours Cinema is proud to present this fine collection of 8mm loops – an eclectic showcase of Tina Russell in some of her most sexually scintillating performances ever captured on celluloid for the small screen. All loops newly telecined from original grindhouse film elements.
Review to come as soon I'll get them at home!
Please be advised the the announced triple title release called: New York Grindhouse Avon 7, containing Slave of Pleasure, My Mistress Electra, and Prisoner of Pleasure is illegal. I hold the copyrights on Slave of Pleasure and Prisoner of Pleasure. Alternative Cinema Inc/After Hours Cinema LLC has been served a cease and desist notice regarding their attempt at an illegal release. I sent three e-mails to Mike Raso at the aforementioned companies, notifying him of my rights of both copyright, and privacy. These e-mails have gone unanswered, as has the cease and desist notice. Please do not support or review this illegal release. Mr Raso simply found a 16Mm print, and never checked the copyright. He also did not ask me to write the liner notes, an agreed servive I performed for him in the past, for compensation. Millions of dollars have been made by many people on the illegal sale of my titles, without any offer of payment to me. This is just another example.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Shaun Costello
Hi Shaun, nice to see you comment on my blog (even if I would have prefer a post on one of your movies I reviewed). Since I have a lot of respect for you I will not review those films, but I've also the same respect for Mike so I doubt that he did anything illegal here.
ReplyDeleteIn theory the films rights belong to the Avon theatre since you did those for them. This is exactly the same case than John Carpenter doing a film for MGM, the film belongs to the studio not the director since he was paid for his works.
But I will check before reviewing them.
You are incorrect in assuming that these titles were produced for the Avon Theater chain. I produced Slave of Pleasure, which was distributed by Star Distributors Inc, and Prisoner of Pleasure, which was distributed by Leisure Time Booking. I hold the copyrights pseudonymously to both of these films. All post 1978 film copyright information can be easily accessed at copyright.gov Have a look for yourself. Mike obtained 16MM prints of these films, which were shown in Avon theaters (among many others)many years ago, from a former employee of Avon, who has kept many prints that were forgotten. Possession of these prints does not constitute the right to market them by any means whatsoever, and DOES constitute infringement of my right of copyright. MY MISTRESS ELECTRA was directed by me for Robert DiBernardo at Star Distributors, who then sold it to Avon. I make no claim on this feature, but most certainly do claim copyright to the other two.
ReplyDeleteI won't comment anymore on this one and I won't review as asked, but the recorded copyright for those two is for the videotape and not the film themselves. But it isn't a black and white case like you write in your two comments.
ReplyDeleteIt's the last comment I approve on this one as it's a legal matter.
No Jimmy. Look at the date on the copyrights. These two films were copyrighted to me when they were released theatrically, and by now Mike Raso knows it. I made these films. Don't you think I know what I'm talking about?
ReplyDeleteShaun
You are right on the date Shaun. My attention get drawn on the "videotape" word this is why I did think it was the video version who were copyrighted to Leisure Time Booking/Mel Video and not the film themselves.
ReplyDeleteOf course I think you know what you're talking about... If it wasn't the case I would have reviewed those films a while ago.