NIGHT HUNGER (1983) 86 Minutes cut to 78 Minutes.
w/p/d – Gerard Damiano. Cast: Sharon Kane, Eric Edwards, Sharon Mitchell, Honey
Wilder, Laurien Dominique, Velvet Summers, Cheri Champagne, Michael Bruce, Nellie
Gold, Joey Silvera, Joey Santino, George Payne, Alan Adrian, Candida Royalle, Polly
Hampton, Veronica Vera, Dan Stephens, Jason Bucklee and Jerry Butler as Billy.
This film is perfect for the most discriminating and sophisticated adult film fans. From
the murky country road opening to the country bar atmosphere, Damiano has combined
poetic imagery with constant eroticism. Weary traveler Jerry Butler is entertained by huge
bartender Jason Bucklee, the film’s storyteller His story spans 70 years of the insatiable
Blair family, afflicted with satyriasis — an unquenched desire for sex.
Each of the three major segments is filled with what I call creeping eroticism. The segment
with Eric and his ladies was filmed in sepia tones, Sharon Mitchell appears in a black and
white segment that proves b&w can be very arousing as a change of pace, and Sharon
Kane (as Mary Lou the Slut Pig) was in full color — a sequence that demonstrates her
incredible sexual range. Eric is surprisingly good as Lucien, the turn of the century man
whose life revolves around the need for snatch. Sharon plays his daughter Lilith, a liberated
woman and a sexual dynamo before women’s lib came into vogue. Rock and roller Kane
provides sexual psychodrama of the highest order. The scene that was cut appears only in
theatrical versions and involves Sharon in a urination scene on herself.
Damiano has made artsy films before but nothing quite like this. There is a texture and
tone within NIGHT HUNGER that made it one of the more pleasant experiences I have ever
had while chronicling adult film history. A monumental hidden treasure that has only three
extended sex scenes but packs some superb eroticism into the mood of mystery surrounding
the whole brooding tale. Raincoaters beware.