PEEKARAMA BIG 2 UNIT SHOW!: PULSATING FLESH (1987)/SUPER SEX (1986)
Director: Carlos Tobalina
Vinegar Syndrome

More Tobalina from Vinegar Syndrome in their latest Peekarama double feature PULSATING FLESH and SUPER SEX.

With a title that Cronenberg might have used had he followed up SHIVERS and RABID with a hardcore porn film, PULSATING FLESH (complete with throbbing title card) is the story of schlubby Peter Longfellow (Ray Wells, V: THE HOT ONE) whose sperm is so strong that he cannot help but get his partners pregnant in spite of birth control, IUDs, and never appearing to "make a deposit" internally. When his latest girlfriend (Mindy Rae, CAMP BEVER LAKE: THE MOVIE) suggests that he go "into service" for women who want to get pregnant, he becomes an instant celebrity. Appearing on the "Joan Carson Show", he provides the hostess (Tamara Longley, LUST INFERNO) with clips of his exploits, including a husband's (Jay Serling, SIZZLING SUMMER) request to impregnate his wife (Renee Summers, BOUNCING BUNS) while he gets it on with the assistant. He also has professionally-filmed footage of his sugar mama's (Tess Ferre, ORIENTAL JADE) gift of a foursome with a duo of "high schoolers" (BLOND DESIRE's Bunny Bleu and INDECENT ITCH's Kathlyn Moore) which turns into a five-some with a special comeback appearance by milkman Harry Reems (ALTAR OF LUST). Carson is so turned on that she decides to have a go at him on live TV (in front of a live studio audience as well) which has vibrating lesbian due (LOOKING FOR MR. GOODSEX's Tess Ferre and ON THE WET SIDE's Tami Lee Curtis) calling in to sample his wares.

In SUPER SEX, Dr. Rosenberg (Robert Bullock, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE BAREST KIND) is having little success treating the sexual dissatisfactions of his patients and decides to take a vacation along with his receptionist. His temporary replacement Dr. Stein (Tobalina regular Jesse Eastern, (Jesse Eastern, the guy with the big birthmark on his ass from THE RIBALD TALES OF CANTERBURY and TASTY) and receptionist (Sheri St. Clair, SPANISH FLY) take a very hands-on approach to patient care, including a woman (Vanessa D'Oro, TO LUST IN L.A.) who dreams of her soul entering her girlfriend's (NIGHT NURSE's Nina Hartley) body to seduce the woman's husband (François, whose distinguishing feature according to iafd is the butterfly tattoo on his ass which is very visible here in HD), a woman who was apparently abused by both of her parents, and others who have only found sexual satisfaction in their dreams. When Dr. Rosenberg returns from vacation, he realizes that he has to get with the times and forms a partnership with Stein in which they continue to violate the ethics of their field and the doctor/patient relationship.

Allegedly scripted by actor Wells, PULSATING FLESH is at least has a sense of forward momentum (aided much by the enthusiasm of the performers in the sex scenes) so lacking in SUPER SEX, on the other hand, is super dull, super monotonous, and seems thrown together even by Tobalina's standards. As the only performer seemingly possessed of acting talent apart from Reems, Wells is at least amiable in the wraparounds if a little stiff (as an actor) during the sex scenes. The comedy is lame, but looks like high art next to SUPER SEX in which dialogue is as numbly delivered as the sex scenes are photographed (the way in which Tobalina usually shot his orgy scenes of which there surprisingly are none here). Although the cover advertises PULSATING FLESH as the A-feature supported by SUPER SEX, the selections are reversed on the main menu (and the latter is perhaps the best way to watch them in order to be less disappointed).

Scanned in 2K from original 35mm camera negatives, both PULSATING FLESH and SUPER SEX look as immaculate as Tobalina's cinematography allows. PULSATING FLESH has a few passages where the camera is just out of focus and where the exposure is a little off but is generally the sharper transfer while SUPER SEX has a number of filtered dream sequences that do not lend themselves to impressive sharpness in SD but still look crisp and colorful. The Dolby Digital 1.0 mono tracks are as clean as we have come to expect with only a trace of hiss that may have more to do with the original recording conditions or some minor aging. Both films are accompanied by trailers (3:43 and 4:30, respectively) with SUPER SEX badly narrated by Tobalina himself. (Eric Cotenas)

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