Shaun Costello - Alpha Blue Archives

[Jason W]

I know before the forum crashed their was a thread on Alpha Blue Archives, and I was wondering if anyone here ever ordered the new boxsets they offer? I am really interested in them, but I wish they'd sell the titles individually because I'm only interested in a couple of the titles. Anyhow I was wondering if anyone has gotten the Shaun Costello boxset? I found out this is the same guy as Warren Evans, who directed some good films mainly "Dracula Exotica" that I really liked. What exactly are Avon films? And are the films he made under the Shaun Costello name any good? And if anyone actually has picked up this set, what's the audio and video quality of the films like? Oh and has Alpha Blue Archives put out the corrected version of The Story of Joanna?

Classic Adult Film Review

[scott favareille]

I have both the Avon boxsets on order.

Avon was a chain of porn theaters in the New York City area. Most of their films tended to emphazize S&M and other kinky stuff. The Alpha Blue site, under their porn history link, has a good article on them.

[Jason W]

I thought about ordering the boxset, but there was only 1 of the 33 movies that I really wanted and that was Waterpower, and I can't really justify buying the whole set just for 1 movie, but then again the other films may very well be good too. I just am very wary of buying from Alpha Blue again because of the terrible quality of the picture on "Anyone But My Husband". They made VCX look like Criterion

Classic Adult Film Review

[scott favareille]

I received my sets last week.

FYI, I have noticed over the last two days, these box sets no longer show up on Alpha Blue's website. Have these already been pulled from the market and if so, why?

[Jason W]

It said on their website a while back when I was looking at getting the set, that it was only a limited time offer. Apparently it was a very short limited time

[Ian Jane]

Scott, how are the quality on the sets?

[scott favareille]

I hope to start watching them within the next week or so.

[Jason W]

Scott have you gotten around to watching the movie "Waterpower"? I see it's included on this set, and it's really the one reason I want to get this boxset, but I wanted to see what the quality of that movie is like, is it a good transfer? Does it have subtitles? I read on their website and the vhs they offer has foreign subtitles, which doesn't really make me want to get the dvd, because I have an old vhs tape that's pretty good quality and has subtitles, so I'd only update if there's a reason to.

[scott favareille]

I have glanced at the DVD boxsets(The first sets I got had defective DVDs, I have since gotten replacement sets--I also recommend reading the "Story of Joanna" thread for more details on getting some of the DVDs to play).

The "Waterpower" on the DVD does have German subtitles and appears to be from a tape source. If I were you, if that is the only reason to get the set, I'd hold off on it. I will be doing more detailed reviews on these sets in the near future.

[Jason W]

Thanks for the info. Scott, I will hold off on this purchase for now and hope someone releases this film in a good quality dvd in the future. I picked up Dominatrix Without Mercy and I discovered S&M isn't really for me, although I do admit it was a good movie if you really enjoy that kind of film. And from what I understand the other Shaun Costello films are much the same.

[Mike P]

I'm actually looking for a DVD-R of Angel Above, Devil Below. This my friends, was the very first adult movie I ever saw, and to this day, just the pictures that remain in my head make me chuckle.

[Jason W]

Hey Mike Angel Above, Devil Below is available on vhs, but I couldn't find it from anywhere on DVD-R, or DVD. The trailer for it looks like it could be pretty good, kind of scary, but funny as well.

[Mike P]

Its hillarious. I saw that it was on VHS on that site, but i ordered Hardgore from them in the past on VHS, and it wasnt the greatest VHS i had, so im trying to get a VHS to dvdr dub of it.

[scott favareille]

First review of a film on the Avon Collection--Shaun Costello DVD

Forced Entry(AB has it as 1971, Casey Scott of DVDDrive-In says 1975, I say 1972)--The earliest film in the collection and one of the better known ones. Harry Reems(billed here as Tim Holt and with no mustache) plays a Vietnam vet who works at a gas station and who winds up following his female customers home, where he sexually abuses them before knifing them to death. Pretty potent film that plays more like a film with sex thrown in. Good use of "Nam flashbacks as well. The source is a VHS(one scene has severe dropouts where the screen briefly goes black) and dark scenes are hard to see, but overall, it is quite viewable. (Note:The opening has a newspaper headline from July of 1972 about the plight of Vietnam vets and then a quote from an author--This is from when Sherpix handled this film for national distribution in late 1972 and 1973--I have an ad when this ran at San Jose's Towne theater in May 1973 and they handled a lot of Sherpix product as well. It was likely added to show "redeeming social value" to avoid an obscenity bust. And the San Jose Mercury ad only listed the title due to the "graphic nature of the film") This film is on DVD number 3.

[Chris Jefferys]

Originally Posted by scott favareille

The "Waterpower" on the DVD does have German subtitles and appears to be from a tape source. If I were you, if that is the only reason to get the set, I'd hold off on it. I will be doing more detailed reviews on these sets in the near future.

Is an uncut print even still available anywhere other than this subtitled foreign source print? I have a unsubbed VHS that seems to be taken from a paritally cut, very early US prerecord. Although it still contains subject matter that would have problems these days, there is definitely footage missing (eg. enema expulsions).