By Selwyn Harris
In the scum-dilly-icious '70s, New York City's Avon Films pumped out some of the most supremely slimy hardcore sump to ever burble up for public consumption. These were the days of live sex shows in Times Square and open-all-night theaters splattering anything-goes filth flicks against sticky screens around the clock.And one of the main progenitors of this rough-and-tumble chapter in skinema history was writer-director Shaun Costello. He is most famous as the unhinged mastermind behind two of the most notorious triple-X atrocities in history, with Harry Reems as a psycho war vet who murders a series of innocents in blood-curdling color, and Water Power (1977), an enema-freak opus featuring Jamie Gillis as a perv who gets off on colonic irrigations. The extreme pleasures to be discovered in Entry and Water Power are not to be underestimated. No matter how many gore-sopped horror films you've seen or serrated-edged X-rated abominations you've endured, this pair continues to pack a wallop quite unlike all other pretenders. Entry depicts Harry Reems as a lonely, angry gas-station attendant prone to constant combat flashbacks (which we see in the guise of actual Vietnam War footage). In a chillingly convincing performance, Reems follows female customers back to their Greenwich Village apartments. Entry has been called The Texas Chain Saw Massacre of porn, and not without proper reason.By contrast, Water Power is a hoot--but be prepared to witness real-life expulsions of the stuff Harry moaned about having on his dick. Acclaimed adult-film thespian Jamie Gillis takes up over the top and all the way up various bowels as a Times Square perv who gets his mind blown while thumbing through enema magazines at an X-rated bookstore. He then pays to watch such a process at a midtown whorehouse and, afterward, he's off. Gillis becomes the Mad Enemaniac, breaking into women's homes to hose out their intestines for his own sexual gratification. At his initial moment of rectal revelation, Gillis famously declares: "Water and power! That's where it's at! Water and power!"You can't help but agree with him. For too long, the man responsible for these and other ungodly Avon Films efforts was essentially AWOL--as were the movies. A few of Shaun Costello's better-known titles were traded by bootleggers and, even then, many of them were missing key elements. For example, countless reviews allude to Water Power being devoid of any on-camera excrement, but fear not--(sh)it's in there!AIDS, crack, and home video long ago eroded what kinky kicks one might have in a public auditorium, but the blessed DVD format at least allows us to enjoy the movies that made the whole mess go. And on that front, the heroic heathens at Alpha Blue Archives have gathered some of the rankest and most raw of Shaun's Avon efforts together in The Shaun Costello Collection. Besides the indispensable Entry and Water Power, the highlights of the fifteen-film (and five-trailer) box set include:
Cherry Hustlers (1977)
Jennifer Jordan, Vanessa Del Rio, and Annie Sprinkle star in a scorching expos?f human sex slavery.
Daughters of Discipline (1975)
Death-cultist C.J. Laing reminisces on all the fun she's had in her organization, including whippings and an electrified dildo, all of which lead up to her ultimate sacrifice.
She's No Angel (1976)
Yet another evil mom and dad plot to have their fourteen-year-old daughter (Sharon Mitchell) committed to a mental institution for nymphomania in order to pilfer her inheritance. you will see it performed in this Shaun Costello production.
Slave of Pleasure (1978)
A private eye pops the lid off of a white slavery ring in Coney Island and witnesses all manner or rough treatment before the heavy-duty climax.
A Taste of Bette (1978)
A young firebrand assumes leadership of a sex cult after its founder dies. His main order of business is all members to undergo re-initiation rituals that include new heights of pain and ecstasy.
Venture into the Bizarre (1976)
Darling young Claudia makes plaster casts of celebrities' cocks and then extorts dough from the original meat models. A crooked cop punctures her plan and allows the men to get their vengeance in an orgy of brutality.
Again, all these--and more!--are available on DVD now from Alpha Blue Archives.
Perhaps even more remarkably, fearless filmmaker Shaun Costello himself reemerged in early 2005 via the online forum at DVDmaniacs.net, where he answered questions from fans he was surprised to learn that he had.
Among the mind-reeling revelation he shared was that "Water Power was shot in the fall of 1976. The elderly Jewish distributor, who was the XXX front man for the boys downtown, called and asked me to come see him. I sit in his office and he says, 'Look, I'm a grandfather and I'm ashamed to have to say this, but they told me they need an enema picture.' He had an audio tape of something called 'The Enema Bandit'. Since the boys who paid for it were too embarrassed to look at it, I was able to take great liberties and have a lot of fun with it. It was an enormous cult hit in Germany, where it was released under the title Schpritz."
When asked about the Alpha Blue Archives set, Costello continued: "The pictures in this collection, with the exception of Entry and Water Power, were what was known in the business as 'One-Day Wonders'. It was a simple formula: shoot twelve- to fourteen-hour days, usually with a cast of six (three males, each of whom had to come twice, and three females), edit in two days, and deliver the answer print to the boys downtown. "I was in most of the early films because I could do four come shots a day, and because I was free. The total budget for each picture was $5,000. I made a thousand and so did my partner, who was the shooter. The cast all made $100 each. We did three pictures in a week when we were at it full time, in between LSD binges and travel."
In conclusion, Costello noted: "I have no interest in writing about porn history. I was there at the beginning, and probably played an important role, but I'd rather leave it at that. I'm just amazed that you guys are still watching this shit after all these years and I'm happy to share anything I know about those days with all of you."
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Alpha Blue Archives The Shaun Costello Collection Annie Sprinkle |
