Deviations (Domingo Lobo, 1983)

The producers of Deviations must have read my review for Rock Hard (or the very least, skimmed it), as it manages to avoid many of the same mistakes that film made. If you recall, my biggest complaint about Rock Hard was that two out of the three members of Adonna and the Sexelettes (the one's not named Adonna) did jack shit while on stage. In other words, they were glorified back-up dancers. Whoa, I just realized something, Deviations came out in 1983 (two years before Rock Hard). Meaning, there's no way the producers of Deviations could have read or skimmed my review. You know what that means, right? Exactly, the producers of Deviations decided to put musical instruments in the hands of the band at the centre of this San Francisco shot masterpiece on their own. Oh, and by "masterpiece," I'm referring to films that are in the rock porn genre. Anyway, just because the band members hold musical instruments, doesn't necessarily mean they know what to do with them. I'm looking at you, Connie Lindstrom. To be fair, this was Connie's first (and probably last) film. So, you can forgive her not knowing the proper way to hold a guitar. But then again, Connie Lindstrom's unorthodox guitar playing could be seen as her way of standing out from the crowd.

However, since it's 1983, you're going to need to do more than have a guitarist who holds their guitar funny to stand out.

Holy crap! It just dawned on me, they don't have a bass player. That's right, no bass!

And that poses a big problem for The Four Foxes, an all-girl pop band with new wave overtones. No, not the lack of a bass player... well, maybe that too. Nevertheless, the band can't seem to make any headway in the music industry.

(No headway, eh? Hmm, I wonder if giving head to others will lead them to attaining some of this "headway" you speak of.)

Lead by Ellen (Shanna McCullough), a shapely delight with killer thighs, The Four Foxes spend most of their time jamming in their fortress-like apartment/rehearsal space and getting... (Hold on, I gotta an idea. Why don't The Four Foxes emphasize Ellen's killer thighs?) They might just have to do that the way things are going. Only problem being, yep, you guessed it, Ellen has artistic integrity. (Killer thighs and artistic integrity? Now that's a losing combination.) Tell me about it.

While the other Foxes are more than willing to degrade themselves to get ahead, Ellen resists the urge to lower herself.

Sure, she'll have sex with a snake. But ask her to wear skimpy lingerie on stage and sing songs about anal sex? I don't think so.

Oh, and don't worry, I'll get to the snake in a minute.

After a close up shot of the cleavage belonging to Connie (Connie Lindstrom), the band's guitar player, the film gets underway. The other band members are introduced in a similar fashion. The band's drummer, Ginger (Adrienne Bellaire), is introduced via a close up of her camel toe in tight shorts, and the band's keyboard player, Goldie (Robin Everett), is introduced by focusing on her righteous booty in tight pink and white shorts. As for Ellen, she gets a close up all right, but it doesn't occur during the opening scene.

Belting out a song with lyrics like, "I love his hair and the clothes he wears... darling, oh, darling," Ellen's band is obviously not very good.

Suddenly, there's a knock at the door, or, I should say, a buzz. Would you look at that, it's Mr. Grundic, the band's landlord. Demanding that they pay their rent, Mr. Grundic threatens to evict them if they don't cough up the dough. Not wanting to be evicted, Goldie steps up to the plate. Removing her pink top, Goldie puts on a leopard print bikini, and offers to sit on Mr. Grundic's face in order to get a two week extension.

And the sexy blonde with the low center of gravity does exactly that, she sits on his face.

When the door-buzzer rings again, Goldie thinks it's Mr. Grundic back for more face-sitting. But it's only Stanley (Mike Horner), their next-door neighbour. Repaying Ellen with two cartons of eggs for the two eggs borrowed earlier in the week, it's clear that Stanley has a crush on her.

How could I tell? Check out the look on his face as he watches Ellen go to the kitchen to get Stanley some milk for his cereal, he wants to do nasty things to that booty. And why wouldn't he? Shanna McCullough has one of the most stain-worthy bums in porn.

Since jamming in their apartment isn't going to make them any money, The Four Foxes audition for Paul (Billy Dee) and Sybil (Lili Marlene), the owners of a local club. Wearing her finest black hose and a black and white striped dress, Ellen gives it her all, as she sings that awful, "darling, oh, darling," song.

While Paul thinks they're okay, Sybil dismisses The Four Foxes as "bubblegum," and tells her partner to break the bad news to them (Ellen is crestfallen). As they're leaving the club, Ginger is approached by Ziggy Rockstein, a music producer of some kind. Informing her that her band needs a gimmick, Ziggy says he's going to noodle with some ideas that are sure to make her band a success.

Meanwhile, back at Four Foxes HQ, Ellen dismisses the song she's currently working on as "cornball,"  and begins to openly bemoan the fact that she can't seem to express her true feelings in her lyrics.

Openly bemoaning must be a thing in this film's universe, as Paul and Sybil are doing exactly that at their club. Complaining that the crowds at their club are not as big as they used to be, Paul and Sybil are struggling to make ends meet. In  a moment of unexpected clarity, the stylish and sophisticated Sybil blames punk, new wave and blues rock for their financial woes, which she believes have become stagnant in recent years.

Instead of doing something about it, Paul and Sybil decide to have sex on the bar (I loved the close up of Sybil's garter belt adorned butt grinding against their modest returns as a direct result of Paul's first-rate thrusts - the bar is littered with cash).

Intertwined with  Paul and Sybil's bar sex scene is Ziggy and Ginger's meeting to discuss his ideas for The Four Foxes. As expected, Ziggy isn't all that interested in discussing his ideas. Well, for one thing, he doesn't have any. But more importantly, he seems more interested in eating Ginger's pussy, which he states that he's had a "burning desire" to do so since he first laid eyes on her.

After Connie and a reluctant Ellen (who still feels cheap) earn money posing for some wrestling photos (I'm a fan of the wrestling fetish, but only if the women are wearing slips), the band celebrate this sudden of influx of cash by drinking champagne on their deck. It's here that the idea to become more outrageous is born.

As Goldie is going on and on about how lewd they should be, Ginger chimes in and says, "We should change our name to The Deviations!" And with that, a new band is born. But what does Ellen think of all this? Who cares, let's get these gals in lingerie, stat!

Offended that the photo-shoot set up by Ziggy and the wrestling fetish photographer to promote their new look has turned into an orgy, Ellen storms off and has sex with a snake in another room. (Seriously?) Seriously. Coiled around her black fishnet-adorned legs, Ellen basically allows the snake to do everything but penetrate her vagina.

Speaking of penetrating vaginas, I can't believe that lumpy fuck Ziggy gets at least four helpings of pussy in this movie. It just goes to show you that even lumpy fucks can get laid if they... Actually, I have no idea he managed to pull this off. I guess it helps that he's in a position of power, but still... he's so fucking lumpy.

Debuting their new sound at Paul and Sybil's club, the Deviations hit the stage with a feisty, lingerie-clad aplomb.

Call me somewhat deranged, by I kinda liked The Deviations' music. Grabbing the mic, Ellen begins to wail: "We're The Deviations, we're into new creations / Normal is boring, kinky is wild / We're not straight, we deviate / I'm not mild, I'm a wild child... Let us demonstrate, how we deviate!" Don't judge me too harshly, but I was singing those lyrics under my breath in the supermarket the following day. And, as we all know, that's the hallmark of quality cinema.

Rock Hard (Bob Vosse, 1985)

I've read that in the early days of MTV, the then music video channel would play just about anything. Now, this policy had nothing to do with MTV being open-minded or adventurous, it was like that because they to had play something. You see,  music videos in the early 1980s were still a bit of a novelty. Meaning, not every artist bothered to make a music video. So, if you were in a band with a music video, the chances of it getting it played on MTV were pretty good. What does this have to do with Rock Hard, a Taija Rae porno movie from 1985? It's simple, really, if I was in charge of deciding what got played and what didn't get played on MTV, I would have flat-out refused to air "Hotter Than Hot" by Adonna and The Sexelettes on the grounds that it sucks ass. Seriously, what was that? Okay, I get it, Adonna (Taija Rae) is the singer. But what are those other chicks doing? Are they even in the band? Ugh. We wouldn't be in this mess if writer-director Bob Vosse (Yank My Doodle, It's a Dandy! and She-Male Sex Clinic) had the horse sense to hand them guitars. Hell, even a tambourine would have been a step in the right direction.

And don't give me any of this crap about musical props being expensive. The opening scene clearly

shows a drum-kit and two mannequins, one with a guitar and one with a bass guitar.

Look at them, they're right there. Grab 'em.

That being said, it sort of makes sense that Adonna and The Sexelettes were kinda terrible. Think about it, they would have to have sexual intercourse with almost everyone connected to the music industry in order to get their shitty music video on the air. And–you guessed it–that's exactly what they end up doing. Humping anything with a pulse, Adonna and The Sexelettes literally fuck their way to the top.

After enduring the music video for "Hotter Than Hot" (which is played in its entirety during the opening credits) Taija Rae's Adonna gets right down to business at hand by massaging the cock attached to her manager's crotch with the inside of her mouth. Even though they're technically a couple, Adonna treats Phil (Jerry Butler) more like a boy-toy. In other words, she'll continue to let him make the flesh on her juicy, pale ass ripple as a direct result of his pelvic thrusts as long it helps her career.

Call me avuncular tree frog, but I simply adored how each thrust caused a brand new ripple to appear along the surface of Taija Rae's untanned backside.

Pinning her legs back as far back as they will go, Phil penetrates Adonna with not as much gusto as I would have liked. The fact Adonna obviously wanted to be somewhere else minimized the impact of his thrusts. And it didn't help that Phil and Adonna stopped to chat every once and awhile either.

I did like Taija's purple satin garter belt and the torn up nature of her black stockings, which looked like they had just survived a nuclear explosion.

While to a certain degree it was also annoying that the opening sex scene between Taija Rae and Jerry Butler is periodically interrupted by the scene where The Sexelettes try to convince a VJ to play their video, I wasn't too upset, as the scene introduces us to Ultra Box!!!!

Yep, you heard right, Rock Hard has a character named Ultra Box, who I'm officially declaring to be one of the greatest movies characters of all-time. Sure, a lot my hyperbolic praise has got to do with the fact that she's called "Ultra Box," but Patti Cakes, the actress saddled with the task of bringing Ultra Box to life, is simply amazing. It doesn't have to be noted, but unlike Taija Rae, and Nina Hartley, who plays Cindi Looper, Patti Cakes doesn't have hundreds of credits on her resume (according to my research, Patti Cakes only appeared in ten movies during her film career). Anyway, Cindi Looper, who is wearing an orange sweater dress with a longer pink dress underneath it (creating a nice layering effect) and Ultra Box, who is wearing black stockings with a short skirt, approach Billy VJ (Billy Dee), the VJ for a MTV-style music channel. She hasn't said a word yet, but I like Ultra Box already; she starts clawing at her skirt (reveling the tops of her stockings with every claw).

When Billy VJ implies that there is something they can do to get their video played on the air, Ultra Box assumes he's talking about money, and says, "I thought payola was unlawful." Ahh, I love it. Her voice is so snotty and uncouth; she would be perfect in an early John Waters' movie.

He's not talking about money, by the way, he's talking about sex. Pulling out the mattress he had tucked away underneath the studio mixing board, Billy VJ invites Cindi Looper and Ultra Box to dine on his genitals.

Wearing a red ruffle garter belt, a giant blue crucifix earring and sporting pink highlights in her hair, Ultra Box is the one who gets jizzed on when Billy VJ is finished. Or does she? I know her bush is thick and all, but I can't see any cum.  Man, what a piss poor cumshot. Whatever. Lying in a post-coital heap together, Billy informs the ladies that he can set up an appointment with the station's program director (he doesn't have the authority to decide what gets on air).

Meanwhile, Adonna is over at her record label's sales department to smooth talk Super Sales (Eric Edwards), his secretary (Mai Lin) and Dave Darling (Francois Papillon), an art director (he's in charge of designing the video boxes).

My initial thought when Adonna comes barging onto their office was: Holy crap, that pink dress with the zipper sleeves is so fucking chic. However, after that initial thought had subsided, I thought to myself: I wonder how much cocaine Taija Rae did before shooting this scene?. And it would seem that I wasn't the only one who was thinking this, as Eric Edwards asks Adonna at one point if she's on anything. After giving Adonna's body the once over, Dave Daring suggests that since Cindi Looper and Ultra Box aren't there, that Super Sales and Mai Lin stand-in for them in order that he imagine what the box art will look like. One thing leads to another, and the four end up having group sex on the floor. As was the case with the studio scene with Cindi and Ultra Box, the music during the floor foursome is all wrong. I mean, the jazzy score just doesn't fit with the tone of the movie. If this had been, oh, let's say, a Doris Wishman-directed nudie cutie flick from 1964, it would have been perfect. But this film is about hot new wave chicks fucking their way to the top in 1985.

Wearing pink pantyhose, knee-high black boots, a pink top covered in splotchy black dots, multiple gold chains around her neck and a short black and white skirt, Cindi Looper shows up at the office of Joan (Lili Marlene), a booking agent of some kind. And I don't have to tell you what happens next. For those who don't know, Cindi Looper and Joan engage in lesbian sex with BSDM undertones.

Since Adonna and Cindi Looper have both tried to get their band's music video air play by employing sexual favours, it only makes sense that Ultra Box give it a shot. And her target is Mr. Wilson (Roger Scorpio), the music video channel's program director. As luck would have it, Mr. Wilson digs trampy chicks who talk dirty. And no one comes close to being as trampy or vulgar as Ultra Box.  Unlike the previous scenes, the one between Ultra Box and Mr. Wilson has pep. What I mean is, there's nary a dull moment. This is because Ultra Box never stops berating Mr. Wilson, who is inundated with crass put-downs and insults of an emasculating nature. My favourite line during the cunnilingus/annilingus portion of their love-making session is this Ultra Box gem: "I'm going to cum all over your executive neck-tie, you asshole!" Though, I have to say, "Come on, faggot. Give it to me," has its charms as well. Oh, and when Ultra Box informs Mr. Wilson: "I'll show you what Ultra Box is," I didn't doubt her for a second.

There was a moment when I got scared, as I didn't think Mr. Wilson had it in him. It occurs after Mr. Wilson had just expelled a modest amount of seminal fluid all over Ultra Box' ample hindquarters. When she instructs him to lick it off, I wanted to crawl under a rock. Assuming that Mr. Wilson would ignore her request, I braced for the awkwardness that was surely to come. To my unexpected delight, Mr. Wilson does exactly as he's told and laps up his spunky leavings with more vigor than I expected. You rock, Mr. Wilson.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Ron Jeremy's Teddy Turner; this guy's repulsive. Nonetheless, if Adonna, Cindi Looper and Ultra Box wanna get their music video on the air, this is is man to see, or, I should say, this is the man to fuck. I know, you're thinking to yourself: Why don't they just upload their shitty music video to YouTube? (that's what everyone else does). Believe or not, there was no YouTube in 1985. So, on the downside, they have to fuck Ron Jeremy in order to get famous. On the plus side, they wear pink (Cindi Looper), red (Ultra Box) and yellow (Adonna) stockings while doing so.