"Following a nuclear war, 99% of the population becomes violently ill if they even try to have sex. These Sex Negatives remember how wonderful sex was before the Nuclear Kiss and they still crave sex. Their frustration increases when, for their nightly entertainment, they go to clubs to see performances by those Sex Positives that have been rounded up by government enforcers. One of the most famous clubs on the sexual circuit is Café Flesh. It is owned by Moms, a former beautician. Its M.C. is Max Melodramatic, a two-bit Borscht Belt comic before World War III—he viciously mocks the pathetic audience."

This is the freak cinema of porn, set on the stage of a futuristic opera house. Sex negatives (peeps that can't fsck) watch as sex positives (duh!) boink on stage. The plot centers on a Sex Negative couple, Nick (Paul McGibboney) and Lana (Pia Snow, later the scream queen Michelle Bauer), who are addicted to the nightly shows at Cafe Flesh. Nick keeps trying to make love to Lana, but he gets violently sick. Lana fakes being ill -- unbeknownst to Nick, she's actually a Sex Positive who has stuck with him out of love. But she becomes increasingly lustful as the movie goes on; she knows she could join the Positives in their sex games if she wanted to, and she's starting to want to.

The sex however, isn't exactly something to envy. It's grotesque, mechincal and stoic, kinda like modern day porn, except in this case it's done on purpose and with a point. If you've even seen a few porn films, then you know how rare it is for a sexually explicit film to bother with such a thing as plot let alone a point, yet this one not only does both, but it does it really well.

The real winner, apart from the amazingly interesting story, is the look. The cinematography is genius; the sets (conceived as avant-garde theater) are comprised of giant pencils, a humanoid rat, horny secretaries and obvious nods to cinema lunatics such as Godard and Fassbinder. You must be thinking 'Are you fucking sure? In a porn film?" Well, you better believe it. This is the pornographic equivalent of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari on acid; with more emphasis on depravity, storyline and originality like nothing your likely to see in todays smut.

Cafe Flesh? APPROVED!!

Wow, a blast from the past. Café Flesh was actually one of the first XXX titles I ever watched. Not very strokeworthy, but the movie has other virtues. Memorable images galore! Definitely one of the movies meant to be watched while being high, or something.

Quote:

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This is the pornographic equivalent of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari on acid;

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Loopnode, you're probably aware of Stephen Sayadian's Dr. Caligari, aren't you?