Produced and directed by Cecil Howard; written by Anne Randall; starring Angel, Jerry Butler, Chelsea Manchester, Colleen Brennan, Taija Rae, Ron Jeremy, Tammy Lamb, Marita Ekberg, Frank Serrone and Jose Duval. Running time: 84 minutes.
Only a fistful of adult-film makers can be counted on to consistently produce high-quality, visually exciting movies that throb with sexual intensity. Cecil Howard is definitely one of them. Howard’s films always give the viewers more than they’re used to getting from other, conventional, XXX-directors: superb cinematography and editing, richly textured stories peopled with multi-faceted characters, a camera that does more than merely record sex scenes, and riveting acting performances. His latest release. Star Angel, is no exception.
In the opening scene we meet Lola Rain (Chelsea Manchester), a fucked-up rock star who has ruined her career with drugs and booze. Her manager/husband, Luke (Jerry Buder), can no longer get her a booking because of her no-show reputation. Staring his own ruined career in the face, he gives the strung-out Lola downers and whiskey, then an emotional goodbye fuck. When he comes, she’s gone.
Thanks to the publicity accompanying the investigation of her death, Luke becomes a celebrity and, over the years, a highly successful music-biz promoter. But he’s not home free. Though absolved of blame for Lola’s murder, Luke is tortured by her memory and wakes up screaming from continous nightmares.
Returning from a concert, Luke picks up and brings home Terry (Angel), a stunningly beautiful hitchhiker, in whom he sees the ghost of Lola. Haunted by his now-frequent visions of Lola, Luke’s mental deterioration rapidly moves into high gear.
After a powerful-and wonderfully edited-fuck between Luke and his girlfriend (Colleen Brennan), in which he’s unable to exorcise his dead wife, he plans a party, hoping to protect himself by surrounding himself “with living people.” Plagued by images of party guests screwing Lolain an incredible foursome reminiscent of the famous Firestorm cluster-fuck-Luke’s mind snaps. Leading Terry into the bedroom, he fucks the delighted girl with a demonic frenzy. Terry’s delight turns to terror, however, when Luke, over the edge, tries to force her to swallow sleeping pills in a bizarre re-enactment of his wife’s murder.
The ending’s not upbeat, but you’ll certainly never forget it.
Butler and Brennan turn in excellent performances-even Angel does an admirable job with her role. Sexwise, Star AngeFs combination of emotion-packed fuck scenes and playful, teasingly sensuous encounters (such as that of Taija Rae and Ron Jeremy) give it a variety of sexuality missing from most of today’s X-rated fare. Star Angel is drama at its best, and a welcome alternative to the mindless fluff that seems to have become the mainstay of porn.