Se7en Deadly Sins (Blu-ray)

Wicked Pictures

Genre: Vignette

Director: Jonathan Morgan

Cast: Kaylani Lei, Randy Spears, Rebeca Linares, Lee Stone, Eva Angelina, Tom Byron, Daisy Marie, Niko, Mikayla Mendez, Scott Styles, Alexis Texas, Derrick Pierce, Shyla Stylez, Mr. Pete

Length: 125:10 minutes

Date of Production: 4/18/2008

Extras: For most consumers, the best extra will be the bonus scene from Bad Girls between Mikayla Mendez and Justin Magnum. She's a curvy cutie and he is one of the fitter meat puppets in porn, making it a good pairing as I pointed out last year, the high definition upgrade making it even better. The 26:43 minute Behind the Scenes feature helped explain more of the conceptual ideas used in the movie, interspersed with photoshoots and clips from the scenes; making it well worth watching a time or two. There was a main photogallery and seven starlet driven galleries besides (for the ladies in the movie), as well as four trailers that were newer than the ones in the original release. I didn't miss the spam, Star Stats, or DVD ROM content and was happy that the basic body of extras was close enough this time to offering what the upgrade offered.

Condoms: None

Audio/Video Quality: Se7en Deadly Sins (Blu-ray) was presented in widescreen color as shot by director Jonathan Morgan for Wicked Pictures, this high definition version using a 1080i resolution under the VC-1 codec. The video bitrate was decent in most cases, clocking in around 21.6 Mbps most of the time I bothered with it, but the upgrade was yet again immediately noticeable in the movie, such things as the individual strands of hair on the ladies, the droplets of genetic juice on the gals' faces, or even on the background paneling of the walls (such as in Rebeca's scene). Still, there was some soft focus and visual effects employed that weakened some of the enhancements, the sex elements more important than the dialogue elements in the production this time. The lighting was moody and atmospheric too, a drastic change of pace for the comedian known as Jonathan and his works over the years, making me wonder if the company as a whole was moving towards darker imagery as a means of staying "cutting edge". The editing was again better for the story than the sex but the porn aspects of the movie were again downplayed as fans of the director will already understand. The fleshtones were accurate though and even in the night scenes, the contrast ratio was better thanks to the upgrade, allowing some of the scenes to work better than they had in the past. There was some grain in the darker scenes but it was less noticeable than on the SD version of the movie for those paying attention. The audio was presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital English with a 384 Kbps bitrate and 48 kHz sampling rate, all standard issue for whatever version of the movie. The music was at times bizarre and playful, the aural effects decent but the 5.1 surround effects were clearly added during post production. In short, the audio was the same as the original from what I could tell with no real upgrade.

Body of Review: Jonathan Morgan was once a performer in porn, moving up to become an award winning director for his comedies at Wicked Pictures. His best titles were always the larger budget releases using the company contract starlets (Serenity being the best example) though with budget cutbacks, his more modest efforts have often lacked the spark that made him such a force to be reckoned with (Brad and Stormy getting the big projects these days). Still, whenever I see his name attached to a movie, I know there will be something to enjoy about it, the man remembering his roots as a fan before joining the industry to begin with. The most recent title of his making it my way was Se7en Deadly Sins (Blu-ray), a flick I saw late last year when I was voting for the AVN Awards. While decidedly different from most of his past work, the movie gave me a new appreciation for his range as a director, the darker vignettes loosely tied together in the form of a story where the devil tempts a mortal with earthly pleasures in exchange for his immortal soul, the emphasis on the sex over story elements this time.

The back cover described the movie like this: "Sin (sins) Noun : An act, thought or way of behaving that goes against moral teachings. To knowingly commit a serious moral offense. Something that offends ethical principle. Join award winning director Jonathan Morgan as he explores the dark side of Sin with an all star line up of adult's biggest names. Kaylani Lei, Mikayla, Eva Angelina, Shyla Stylez, Alexis Texas, Daisy Marie and Rebecca Linares will each push the envelope as they commit shameful offenses for the entire world to see. Can humanity survive Wicked's Seven Deadly Sins? There's only one way to find out..." Okay, I've seen the movie before but only the movie as it was up for some awards, this being my first exposure to the entire package, particularly the high definition Blu-ray version. Like most such upgrades, the visual elements were the part most concentrated on (ie: the only part concentrated on) but for those of you into couples friendly sex with an all star cast, you really can't go wrong as long as your tastes are in line with the shorter, condom-clad scenes the company offers.

Rather than rehash a splooged by splooged accounting of the scenes as Ravyn did last year, I figured that I'd let all the pictures and links she offered along with her commentary to provide the basis for that portion of the review. I would have appreciated it more if the movie was remastered in full high definition (1080p) but in terms of the visual upgrade, a quick comparison to the original, SD version of the movie reminded me that while it looked good before, it looked better now. For me, that made it worthy of being Recommended despite the added cost of the Blu-ray version but I wouldn't suggest it as a double dip unless you have stacks of money to burn since the upgrade was not definitive and there were no unique extras to be had here.

Summary: Se7en Deadly Sins (Blu-ray) by director Jonathan Morgan for Wicked Pictures had healthy gals like Alexis Texas, Mikayla Mendez, Eva Angelina, and Kaylani Lei (among others) on hand to serve as the "Sins" and/or devil, As a result, the production was more interesting to a wider audience and merited being Recommended. I would still prefer to see the director given a chance at a larger budget comedy as he was in the past, but Se7en Deadly Sins (Blu-ray) taught me how he could handle other projects quite well too. If the company ever decides to embrace high definition rereleases in earnest, I suspect they will show up the rest of the market but until then, I welcome their upgrades for whatever boost in resolution I can get.