MERC: 2 Disc Set

Evil Angel Prime/Justin Slayer Productions

Genre: Feature

Director: Justin Slayer

Cast: Millian Blu, Justin Slayer, Roxy Reynolds, Nat Turnher, Melrose Foxxx, Joyce, Luana

Non-sex roles: Chyanne Jacobs, Cherokee D’Ass, Beauty Dior, Eva Monroe, Greedy

Length: 144:46 minutes

Date of Production: 7/20/2007

Millian Blu making her home sex tape.

Extras: The first disc had the weakest extras with the appreciated cast list, a photogallery, and my favorite of the bunch being the director’s audio commentary. Justin went to great lengths to discuss (maybe preach is a better word) what he was trying for, joined by HJ and Beauty Dior. I’m listening to it as I write this review up but even in places where I think he was flat out wrong about something, you can’t blame the guy for being tremendously focused on what he wanted to do. The second disc of the set was where the best extras came into play as far as I was concerned. The 26:58 minute Behind the Scenes had a lot more sex (including bonus blowjobs by the other gals), nudity, and some deleted scenes footage that might have been better as a separate extra. This was followed by the 22:53 minute long round of interviews where the ladies got their chance to explain where the movie was coming from for those of you that skip the commentary track. My favorite was the 21:04 minute teaser reel as the ladies all looked appealing when not having to act out in weird fashion, shaking their moneymakers very nicely indeed. Then there was the popshot recap from the movie, a huge volume of trailers to shows like Mami Culo Grande 4, Unleashed Vs. Freshly Slayed 2, Ass Everywhere, Big Booty Moms, Big Booty White Girls 1, Big Booty White Girls 2, Big Booty White Girls 3, Big Booty White Girls 4, Just Fuckin 1, Just Fuckin 2, Just Fuckin 3, Black Pipe Layers, Black Girls Get Nasty Too, and Big Booty White Moms, and there was a cardboard slipcase for the DVD that mirrored the cover on the case.

Condoms: None

Roxy Reynolds shown in lame lighting.

Audio/Video Quality: MERC was presented in an anamorphically enhanced 1.78:1 widescreen color as shot by director Justin Slayer for Evil Angel Prime under his Justin Slayer Productions label. Usually, when I think of Justin’s work, I think of hardcore gonzo that folks of all colors can bust a bunch of nuts to so seeing as how this was my first title in the “Prime Evil” line; I knew I was in for a treat when I saw that this was a feature fuck flick. Granted, there are few companies willing to do features worth a load these days (Wicked Pictures, some of the Vivid and related companies, and the odd title from Sex Z Pictures all coming to mind) but as a change of pace, I was willing to give a brother a chance. What I found was the potential for decent features, even if this one fell short in many ways on the technical matters. First off, the shooting style was inconsistent for a feature; unlike gonzo, features are not typically able to be fixed in post production all that much. The lighting was all over the place, causing grain, video noise, and an assortment of visual flaws like weird yellow tinting. Second, the composition of the shots was such that the sex scenes were handled pretty well as such but not as incorporated into the plotted portions of the movie. The women did not always look their best because of it but I have to admit that the sex was decently handled overall even as the feature parts were sometimes in need of polishing up. Major portions of the movie looked like rough drafts but I still think Justin came close to providing what he sought to offer up; the reach exceeding the grasp to some extent. If Justin applies himself, he may yet offer up a movie worthy of universal praise in the future; this just didn’t make the cut on the visual elements. The bit rate was in the mid 2 Mbps range most of the time I observed it, lending itself to the visual flaws like compression artifacts and aliasing; perhaps some of the second disc would have been better used for more of the movie. The audio was offered up with a choice of a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround English with a bitrate set at 384 Kbps or a 2.0 Dolby Digital English with a bitrate set at 192 Kbps. The surround track was what I spent most of my time listening too and while it was nothing great, it was a decided improvement in terms of the musical score’s clarity and separation. If Justin can do that much good for the vocal parts of his next movie, he will be in a small group of directors able to achieve that goal at this writing (because they were sure hollow this time).

Roxy giving a lap dance to Nat.

Body of Review: Justin Slayer is one of the most talented black directors at Evil Angel these days; his gonzo flicks providing a lot of tease, great booties, and the playful kind of interracial that makes people of all sexes appreciate it as something fresh. His latest title is a departure from his tried and true style of directing with MERC: 2 Disc Set; a feature fuck flick dealing with drugs, money, and fucking people over for personal gain in the “hood”. I know nothing of Justin’s street cred and having watched plenty of similar movies over the years, this was about as realistic as I would have come up with, my belief being that the sexual portions of the movie would weigh in heavily to save the day. Most feature porn shot these days either does a shitty job with the plot and dialogue or the sex suffers; rarely providing a balance where both are in tune with each other. If you’ve watched features as much as I have, you’ll know exactly what I mean when I say this, so I figured Justin would be better at providing the sex given his many movies to date. If you’re interested in the movie beyond this point, note that I tried to avoid plot spoilers as I described the scenes by cast and action, noting that no condoms were used:

Melrose Foxxx was aptly named!

Scene One: Millian Blu, a curvy freak of a gal with a nicely shaped ass, was up first as she wanted a home video made of her sexual prowess to spark some interest in her career. The scene was shot as if with a low grade camera so the technical stuff was even worse than the rest of the movie but it did appear to look a lot like some of the lame celebrity tapes released of late, getting much better when Justin Slayer like HJ shoot it like a real scene. The sex was oral and vaginal only; the couple displaying chemistry even if the energy levels were not consistently working this time. The camera settings on the second half of the scene looked almost as if someone twisted the wrong knob or something too; either dropping frames or showing that someone messed with the motion. The hollow vocals were worse than later scenes too but Millian was built for comfort over speed so your mileage may vary as to how this effect looked on her. The scene ended in the bathroom with her taking the expected facial, a warmish scene overall.

Luana and Joyce showed their best assets.

Scene Two: Roxy Reynolds, a leaner gal with some thick curves too, was up next with Justin Slayer in a scene that took place mostly in the bed. Leaving aside the cameraman’s shadows for a moment, the lack of editing caused the weaker parts to overshadow the potential of the scene. The oral was minimal and the vaginal bouncing saved the day for the most part, the gal never stopping as she impaled herself on the cock. They screwed in numerous positions and the overall look of the action reminded me a lot of how Bryan Xin used to shot stuff (presumably when he was drunk or sleepy). The basic footage of the scene was captured well enough but again, it became clear that a lack of planning got in the way, the scene also ending with a facial as expected (the sunlight hitting her face in such a way that it almost made it look like a caricature).

Scene Three: Roxy Reynolds, up next as she stripped out of her gold bikini, gave muscular Nat Turnher some tease and a lapdance before slobbing his knob in search of population pudding. The hummer was solid enough as a combination of her mouth and hand working in conjunction with each other; the entire thing lasting for what seemed like forever before she mounted him for some active vaginal screwing. The pacing was nothing close to the type Justin’s movies provide in the gonzo titles but I again got the impression that this was the raw footage more than the finished product. Nat appeared to need a respite from the plowing routine so she took matters into her own hands by using a vibrator, getting all juiced up before Nat came back to finish what he had begun. He did her in a modified doggy style and rubbed out his load to her ass cheeks; the gal showing some ability to shake her booty above that of mortal women.

Scene Four: Melrose Foxxx, a gal with lightened hair and a sweet ass, was up next as the guys rolled their blunts and the narration made it clear what was going on in the story (a kind of confusing little bit if you don’t pay attention). She was initially being eaten by Justin Slayer as she rested on the sink, the guy propping her up to penetrate the pussy in what appeared to be a very uncomfortable position on her side. The camera kept losing focus and the framing was all wrong for the cramped quarters, made worse by the apparent lack of chemistry between them. He held her down as he fucked her cookie, weakening the scene for me until she was on top of him and practically jumping on his dick repeatedly in the bed. Sadly, that part did not last long as the joy juice flowed quickly into her hand and on her face.

Scene Five: Joyce and Luana, were up last with Justin Slayer and Nat Turnher, in the courtyard. The booty tease was pretty decent and rather than get into a generic gonzo scene, they started grinding and fucking in no time. The technical matters again hampered the action on the small screen, the blowjob shot with too much contrast so little could be seen. The gals were active riders and after a very slow start, the visual appeal improved greatly to allow for all the sex acts to be readily seen. The blowjobs were infrequent (serving mostly as PTM footage) and the vaginal screwing was done with a tremendous amount of booty shaking. The sex was less tied to the plot than other scenes and probably worked better because of it, but it ended too soon; just as a rhythm was reached by the quartet. The rubbed out load was played with by the gals and the scene ended to finish up the plot; of course amounting to one of those lame “to be continued” bits that most of us hate so much.

Summary: MERC by director Justin Slayer for the Evil Angel Prime label, was full of freshman mistakes in both the plot and sex portions of the movie but it did manage to show that some fine tuning could save his future efforts if he wanted to. If you’ve ever seen a movie that was close but no cigar in terms of certain elements, you’ll understand what I mean when I say that the more Justin strayed from his gonzo roots, the worse he did but technical flaws aside, the sex and extras was enough to warrant a rating of Rent It or better depending on how forgiving you are towards porn with huge rough edges that should have been caught in quality control. In short, the ingredients were present in the right amounts but MERC: 2 Disc Set reminded me of the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes. While Justin clearly has a better command of gonzo sex shooting, someone should have provided him advice on the dynamic of features, perhaps even pointing out that having a narrator tell the majority of the story is a bad idea unless used in very small doses. The end suggested that this was only the first part of the story so perhaps the follow up portions will be better but there was a lot wrong with this one that should have been caught so don’t expect too much.