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Roger Watkins’ American Babylon Collection (Alpha Blue Archives) DVD Review

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    Ian Jane
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  • Roger Watkins’ American Babylon Collection (Alpha Blue Archives) DVD Review

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    Released by: Alpha Blue Archives
    Released on: April 16th, 2024.
    Director: Roger Watkins
    Cast: Tish Ambrose, Michael Gaunt, Bobby Astyr, Chelsea Blake, Taija Rae, George Payne
    Year: 1985/1988

    Roger Watkins’ American Babylon Collection – Movie Review:

    Alpha Blue Archives offers up two of the late Rogert Watkins’ adult features on DVD, 1985’s American Babylon and 1988’s Decadence. Best known in cult film circles for directing Last House On Dead End Street, Watkins’ adult films are definitely unique.

    American Babylon:

    The first film follows a man named Tom (Michael Gaunt) who lives an ordinary live in the home he shares with his domineering wife Mary (Chelsea Blake) next door to an oddball named Robert (Bobby Astyr), who constantly wears a camouflage parka and a motorcycle helmet, and his wife Joan (Tish Ambrose). Robert is obsessed with porno movies and watches them constantly while, more often than not, neglecting his wife. Regardless, Robert and Tom are good friends and generally get along just fine.

    Robert hopes to get Tom into sharing his obsession with XXX movies, slyly changing conversations to include his thoughts on some of the latest movies he’s watched, whether the conversation goes there naturally or not, enjoying it when those conversations lead to confessions of a sexual nature. Joan, needing some action in her life – she tries to get Robert’s attention by standing in front of the screen he’s projecting his latest stag movie onto and masturbating for him, but he tells her off. So, it’s understandable when Joan has a clandestine affair with Tom which leads to him being pulled into the drama that seems to stream without end from Robert’s home. Tom would prefer not to get involved with his neighbors’ nonsense, but once he starts screwing Joan, it’s too late.

    As the movie alternates between showing us Tom’s affair and his hanging out with Robert, we witness the banality of these characters’ existence which culminates in Joan trying to get Tom into a three-way with her and her friend Denise (Taija Rae) wherein he gets so put off by the strap on the girls are sharing that he’s basically told to go sit in the corner and pleasure himself, at which point Robert walks in on everything, more concerned with finding his helmet than his wife’s infidelity with his best friend and another woman.

    A strangely compelling mix of social criticism and explicit hardcore, American Babylon takes a few well-aimed potshots at the blasé state of the American middle class showcasing a gorgeous Taija Rae having rad lesbian sex. It’s a movie full of contradictions and contrast, not always erotic but always explicit, and loaded with intentionally dark comedic moments to oddest some of the heavier dramatic elements that Watkins gets out of his talented cast. There’s a strong element of social satire running through this, showcasing characters comfortable enough in their day-to-day existence that they’re not necessarily interested in passion or sex with their respective partners that, instead, seem only too happy to look outside their marriages for fulfillment. Is Watkins’ picture a critique of humdrum suburban existence? Loveless marriages? Sex without purpose or passion? All or none of the above? Yes.

    Production values are pretty decent across the board here. The cinematography is solid and the black and white ‘stag film’ inserts are convincing enough to work. The acting is good across the board, with Astyr frequently stealing the show with his comedic turn as a man completely out of touch with this wife and Michael Gaunt playing his conflicted, philandering character effectively. Chelsea Blake and Tish Ambrose both do solid work as their respective wives, while Taija Rae is just hotter than a three dollar pistol, which is enough to make her perfect in her role here.

    Note that the feature version of American Babylon runs sixty-three minutes.

    Roger Watkins’ American Babylon Collection – DVD Review:

    American Babylon is taken from a 4k scan of a rare 35mm print framed at 1.78.1 widescreen (looking fine for the most part, if ever so slightly tight in a few scenes). Despite the fact that the image is interlaced, this is a respectable standard definition presentation. Colors are a bit faded but generally look okay and there’s a bit of print damage here and there but nothing so distracting as to take you out of the movie. Detail is good, given the limitations of DVD (it’d be great if this would get a Blu-ray release at some point given that decent 35mm elements obviously exist!) and overall, this is pretty decent looking.

    The English language Dolby Digital Mono sound mixes are on par with the video presentation – it won’t blow you away, but it’ll do. Some hiss and background noise are omnipresent but that’s to be expected. Most of the time, the truly gripping dialogue is easy to understand and follow and the levels are fine. There aren’t any subtitles included here, but the plots are easy enough to follow so this isn’t a big deal.

    Extras include the complete seventy-nine-minute version of American Babylon taken from a VHS source. Also included on the disc is Decadence, a seventy-seven-minute feature that Watkins directed in 1988. The plot for this one revolves around a woman named Vanessa (Cassandra Leigh), an adult film star who wakes up naked, sprawled on a mattress. Her mind seems to have shattered in that she's no longer able to separate reality from what's going on in her hallucinatory imagination. It's almost as if she's suffering from amnesia of a sort and she's clearly very confused.

    Vanessa is driven around New York City by a chauffeur (Joey Silvera), who also happens to be her biggest fan. When he drops her off at a fancy mansion for her latest production, things go from strange to stranger, as the movie cuts back and forth between different parts of the story's timeline, frequently showing us images of a fire that Vanessa may or may not have been involved with.

    Meanwhile, a woman named Gloria (Tish Ambrose) is in charge of the shoot and seems to know a lot more about what's going on and what's happened to Vanessa than anyone else in the cast.

    A decidedly strange and intentionally obtuse movie, this shot on video epic (which is, obviously, transferred to this disc from a tape source) originally released by Vidco Entertainment recycles its two opening scenes, one with Lonnie Lee and George Payne and another with Taija Rae and Tish Ambrose, as well as its tenth scene, featuring Lonnie Lee and George Payne again, from American Babylon, but in the context of the surreal atmosphere that Watkins seems to be going for here, it works. The repetition of certain imagery, primarily the shot of Vanessa on the bed and the fire, adds to the strangeness and while the movie doesn’t really wind up making much sense, it’s never dull. Like American Babylon, it isn’t always the sexist XXX movie ever made, but the cast, which also includes the likes of Dave Ruby, Carol Cross and Barbie Dahl in addition to the performers already mentioned, are engaging and interesting to watch.

    Additionally, Alpha Blue Archives includes a trailer for Watkins’ 1979 epic, Her Name Was Lisa.

    Roger Watkins’ American Babylon Collection - The Final Word:

    Alpha Blue Archives’ DVD release of Roger Watkins’ American Babylon Collection is definitely worth getting for fans of the director’s output. Both the feature attraction and Decadence are interesting, well-made movies with strong casts and intriguing stories and it’s nice to see the title film taken from a decent film source. Recommended!



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