The ’90s was a great time for seductive cinema at the video rental shop. These were movies that didn’t play your local multiplex against the latest hits from the major studios. They knew they had an audience in people who wanted a movie that was going to feature a cast fearless enough to lose their wardrobe, but not daring enough to do activities that would put them behind the beaded curtain of the Adults Only section. Or available at video stores that didn’t stock such films such as Phar-Mor. There was an eager crowd ready to rent a non-mainstream movie that promised a bit more skin than a Touchstone flick. SkinMax delivers a double feature of Different Strokes and Ultimate Taboo. These two films were constantly checked out during the glorious era.
Different Strokes (1996 – 88 minutes) was originally called The Story of Jack and Jill…and Jill until they landed a major star. I’m willing to admit that when Different Strokes came out, I rented the VHS on the first week it hit the shelf at West End Video. Why? Because it starred Dana Plato as a voracious vixen. She became a child star in 1978 when her series Diff’rent Stokes arrived in 1978. Plato played the daughter of a rich man who adopts the orphaned two sons (Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges) of his former employee. The kids come from a bad neighborhood so they deal with the culture shock of living in a penthouse. While she played the good daughter on screen, off the set she had her struggles. She posed for Playboy in June 1989 although she didn’t get the cover because Hefner’s future wife had to be promoted as Playmate for Life. The ’90s proved tough as she became part of getting arrested. But it seemed like she had gotten her life together with the leading role in Different Strokes.
Plato plays Jill Martin, an art director who is flying into Los Angeles to work with fashion photographer Jack (Death Train‘s Bentley Mitchum). Turns out he’s living with a woman also named Jill (Masseuse 2‘s Landon Hall). He thinks it’s cute to bring together the two Jills. Except it turns into a cute meet as his Jill opens up to the advances of Jill Martin. Can Jack really deal with the Jills exploring each other? Critics complained that there was barely any plot. Viewers were mainly upset if they rented the 75-minute cut that took out all the fun of what happened in the backyard pool and the bedroom. The DVD features the complete cut. Dana Plato doesn’t hold back when her character gets deep into being with Jill. This was not a goody girl performance. She seemed destined to find a place in the erotic home video world.
Ultimate Taboo (1995 – 88 minutes) starred Ginger Lynn Allen who had firmly established herself on the other side of the beaded curtain when she decided to get out of the adult video world. The film was directed by Paul Thomas who won several AVNs over the decades. The script was by Raven Touchstone, a screenwriter of adult content including several Ginger Lynn Allen movies. The trio seemed to be doing their best to make a movie that could be rented at Blockbuster instead of the Castle Video off the highway and not near any schools or churches.
Brad (The Sopranos‘ Al Sapienza) is a successful graphic artist with an actress girlfriend Shannon (The Devil’s Rejects‘ Ginger Lynn Allen). They should be so happy together except Brad has a dark secret. He’s addicted to hooking up with women. He cruises the bad neighborhoods for street walkers. He tries to control it by going to meetings. But it seems to just inspire him to find another easy score. Temptation comes his way in the form of Lorelei (Lap Dancing‘s Kim Dawson). She’s a rich married woman who already has a girlfriend on the side. Brad can’t get enough of her wicked ways. Things get twisted when she suggests he brings Shannon over for a threesome. What’s Lorelei really up with this debaucherously intriguing invitation?
While Ultimate Taboo appears to be a lurid tale of unfaithfulness, the last part of the movie turns into an erotic thriller. Paul Thomas, Ginger Lynn Allen and Raven Touchstone didn’t make an adult film and just merely cut out the naughtiest of parts to get it acceptable for late night cable TV such as Cinemax After Dark. This film works right for the genre.
Different Strokes and Ultimate Taboo works as a double feature since they star actresses trying to change their image in different directions. Dana Plato gets risqué as a character that wouldn’t be allowed on a family sitcom. Ginger Lynn Allen gets to show off her acting chops that normally get fast forwarded over in her previous career course. It’s a choice pairing from the ’90s.
The Video for both movies is 1.33:1 anamorphic. They were from the box TV era so this is their intended aspect ratio. The movies were edited on standard definition video. Both transfers from this tape source. They look like you’re watching them from a rental tape. The Audio of both films is Dolby Digital Stereo. Things sound clear enough to hear a zipper go down. The movies are subtitled so you can turn the volume and act like you don’t want to wake up your parents.
Trailers include Different Strokes, Forbidden Passions, Galaxy Girls, Lurid Tales of the Castle Queen, Midnight Temptations, Midnight Temptations 2, Petticoat Planet, Stripshow, Target of Seduction and Ultimate Taboo.
SkinMax presents Different Strokes & Ultimate Taboo. Directed by Michael Paul Girard & Paul Thomas. Screenplays by Michael Paul Girard & Raven Touchstone. Starring Dana Plato, Bentley Mitchum, Landon Hall, Al Sapienza, Ginger Lynn Allen, Kim Dawson, Paul Baumgartner & John Doman. Boxset Contents: 2 movies on 1 DVD. Rating: Rated R. Release Date: March 26, 2024.
