THE BRIDE'S INITIATION is one of a kind, fortunately. This goof-ball combination of hardcore porn with other genres (comedy, horror, fantasy, bondage) was simply not ready for prime time.
Chief problem for over-achieving director Duncan Stewart is casting Marc Brock in the leading role of Count Dracula. This familiar porn face, usually resembling Eric Bogosian but due to amateurish heavy makeup nearly unrecognizable here, is a ham-bone, and his strenuous overacting does elicit some laughs, but only the unintentional kind.
The mythos for this Count is completely different from those familiar to horror fans. He walks around in the daytime, doesn't bite anyone on the neck, and instead of blood is immortal by virtue of a special potion made out of human sperm. The IMDb synopsis provided by the video company gives away the "comedy" spoiler of the ending twist, which I won't mention here.
I was introduced to this film in a roundabout way: I watched a 23-minute softcore excerpt (called a "featurette" by Something Weird Video) that was a bonus on the DVD for Dracula (The Dirty Old Man). It implied that the project was softcore, but following up by viewing the complete 68-minute VCX issue of the picture one sees it is XXX in content.
The entire bride central plot is omitted from the soft version. Integral film begins with a happy couple of newlyweds, who are shanghaied by their limo chauffeur James (Jack Birch, father of actress Thora Birch) in a very goofy scene wherein the lady is "frozen" by some knockout gas mid-blow job on her groom.
Ordering the kidnapping is the Count, who naturally given film's fantasy premise is more interested in obtaining the groom's sperm than he is in the predictable ravaging of the bride. I assumed that part of this oddball story's inspiration was generated by the medieval practice of the monarch getting first dibs on wedding night with his subjects' newlywed brides, as per the film's title, but this allusion to the count's practices is never made explicit.
With an elementary school play-level makeup job, the count's other assistant is a diminutive, hawk-nosed witch, charged with concocting the sperm-laden potion that keeps the count animated. She also doubles as the sperm-collector, holding a glass to capture each ejaculation generated by the count's set of busty handmaidens, who use hand jobs (naturally) and fellatio to do the trick.
Bondage seems to be director Stewart's not-so-hidden agenda here, as there are other maidens chained to the wall in the count's very low-budget lair, who never get involved in the sexual action but are decoratively nude. Part of the film's charm is the phoniness with which the imprisoned males are tied up by Birch, rendered "helpless" to prevent their being forced to ejaculate.
Stopped at an intersection, the count is smitten by a lovely blonde (porn star Carol Connors, Birch's real-life wife), who he follows home after accidentally bumping into her on purpose on the sidewalk. He later sends James to give her a huge ring as a present, which truly amazes Connors, although in her ad lib dialog she's even more shocked that there's no card accompanying it in the gift-wrapped package.
The count hypnotizes her from afar, and she sleepwalks (in a revealing nightgown, another fantasy/horror genre staple) into a limo for James to take her to the lair. Meanwhile James has knocked out the plodding detective on the case and hogtied him for sperm collection.
This nonsense is yet another example of bait and switch for Connors fans. She became a minor porn deity as the nurse, second lead femme in DEEP THROAT after Linda Lovelace, and made several other porn films, but while continuing to appear in explicit roles later in her career, she was also sometimes cast as marquee bait (notably in the Western SWEET SAVAGE), offering nudity but zero sexual action. The same is true here, even though the plot line strongly suggests to the viewer that she is going to get down.
At times this resembles a real film, micro-budgeted to be sure, but trying for something beyond the usual one-day wonder. But cheap sets, bad makeup and ham acting by Brock kill its potential.
Chief problem for over-achieving director Duncan Stewart is casting Marc Brock in the leading role of Count Dracula. This familiar porn face, usually resembling Eric Bogosian but due to amateurish heavy makeup nearly unrecognizable here, is a ham-bone, and his strenuous overacting does elicit some laughs, but only the unintentional kind.
The mythos for this Count is completely different from those familiar to horror fans. He walks around in the daytime, doesn't bite anyone on the neck, and instead of blood is immortal by virtue of a special potion made out of human sperm. The IMDb synopsis provided by the video company gives away the "comedy" spoiler of the ending twist, which I won't mention here.
I was introduced to this film in a roundabout way: I watched a 23-minute softcore excerpt (called a "featurette" by Something Weird Video) that was a bonus on the DVD for Dracula (The Dirty Old Man). It implied that the project was softcore, but following up by viewing the complete 68-minute VCX issue of the picture one sees it is XXX in content.
The entire bride central plot is omitted from the soft version. Integral film begins with a happy couple of newlyweds, who are shanghaied by their limo chauffeur James (Jack Birch, father of actress Thora Birch) in a very goofy scene wherein the lady is "frozen" by some knockout gas mid-blow job on her groom.
Ordering the kidnapping is the Count, who naturally given film's fantasy premise is more interested in obtaining the groom's sperm than he is in the predictable ravaging of the bride. I assumed that part of this oddball story's inspiration was generated by the medieval practice of the monarch getting first dibs on wedding night with his subjects' newlywed brides, as per the film's title, but this allusion to the count's practices is never made explicit.
With an elementary school play-level makeup job, the count's other assistant is a diminutive, hawk-nosed witch, charged with concocting the sperm-laden potion that keeps the count animated. She also doubles as the sperm-collector, holding a glass to capture each ejaculation generated by the count's set of busty handmaidens, who use hand jobs (naturally) and fellatio to do the trick.
Bondage seems to be director Stewart's not-so-hidden agenda here, as there are other maidens chained to the wall in the count's very low-budget lair, who never get involved in the sexual action but are decoratively nude. Part of the film's charm is the phoniness with which the imprisoned males are tied up by Birch, rendered "helpless" to prevent their being forced to ejaculate.
Stopped at an intersection, the count is smitten by a lovely blonde (porn star Carol Connors, Birch's real-life wife), who he follows home after accidentally bumping into her on purpose on the sidewalk. He later sends James to give her a huge ring as a present, which truly amazes Connors, although in her ad lib dialog she's even more shocked that there's no card accompanying it in the gift-wrapped package.
The count hypnotizes her from afar, and she sleepwalks (in a revealing nightgown, another fantasy/horror genre staple) into a limo for James to take her to the lair. Meanwhile James has knocked out the plodding detective on the case and hogtied him for sperm collection.
This nonsense is yet another example of bait and switch for Connors fans. She became a minor porn deity as the nurse, second lead femme in DEEP THROAT after Linda Lovelace, and made several other porn films, but while continuing to appear in explicit roles later in her career, she was also sometimes cast as marquee bait (notably in the Western SWEET SAVAGE), offering nudity but zero sexual action. The same is true here, even though the plot line strongly suggests to the viewer that she is going to get down.
At times this resembles a real film, micro-budgeted to be sure, but trying for something beyond the usual one-day wonder. But cheap sets, bad makeup and ham acting by Brock kill its potential.