sorceress

Has internet porn brought us to such a cultural and sociological low point that we're now nostalgic for the days of Cinemax late-night skin flicks? Apparently so. How else do you explain the release of Sorceress, a butt-smacking, toe-sucking template for exactly the sort of pay-tv shenanigans that kept dads up until all hours with one nervous finger on the remote control? This isn't vintage erotica or edgy art-house fare. It's just boobs of ridiculous sizes.

Those in the know will point out the players involved (director Jim Wynorski along with stars Linda Blair and Julie Strain) have a rabid fan base and cinematographer Gary Graver earned some recent notoriety attempting to piece together Orson Welles unreleased final film, The Other Side of the Wind (although he paid the bills shooting titles like Countess Dracula's Orgy of Blood). Still, there's no point in attempting to pass the film off as anything more than a sexy soft-core play on 1962's classic Burn Witch Burn, pitting rival housewives against one another in a battle of curses, protections and ritual sacrifices.

Dropping the viewer into a story as complicated as a Mexican soap opera, Sorceress (or Temptress as the title card reads on Synapse Films' uncensored director approved blu-ray edition) opens with Erica (Strain) attempting to further her husband Larry's career by causing a rival to drive off the road. The man survives however and his wife, Amelia (Blair), vows to take her revenge...even after Erica accidently falls off a 2nd floor landing.

All this happens in the first five minutes, by the way; and yet the film also finds time to showcase Strain in all her full-frontal glory, oiling herself up in some essential oils and grinding out a deadly T & A curse. From there, things focus on Larry and his sexual predicaments, juggling the ghost of his ex-wife, their bewitching housekeeper and his new lover, Carol, who seems susceptible to supernatural suggestions.

There's more plot here than necessary, to be quite honest. It's all just foreplay until the movie decides it's been long enough between lesbian sex scenes. But there is quaintness to all the skin on display that harkens back to when filmmakers at least pretended there was an art behind all the exploitation. Sorceress isn't going to win over any new fans, but it might just make some old ones very happy.

Synapse specializes in edgy erotica under their Impulse banner, so the title isn't as out of left field as you'd think. The 2K transfer itself is good enough to play spot-the-breast-implant-scars without too much trouble. And extras include two commentary tracks: the first a solo with director Jim Wynorski and another where he's joined by the legendary Tom Savini.