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EMANUELLE IN AMERICA

Although the Italians got the ball rolling in 1969 with the first adaptation of Emmanuelle Arson's autobiographical novel Emmanuelle, it was Just Jaeckin's 1974 French adaptation that really hit it big. No one could have expected the deluge of films that followed. The template for all those horrible softcore sex flicks that make up 70% of Cinemax's late night line-up, EMMANUELLE was a one-note film, following a bored, sexually frustrated housewife through a series of random sexual encounters. I won't deny the pud-pulling possibilities that Sylvia Kristel and company provide but overall the film was polished but boring, erotic but not exciting. The flood of imitators that followed featured characters such as Vanessa, Melody, Emily, and Julia, all indulging in two-somes, three-somes, and four-somes in a variety of interesting and beautiful locations. But the most successful of imitators was Emanuelle.

Dropping a M from the name to avoid lawsuits, the Italians gave birth to Emanuelle, a woman with zero inhibitions and a limitless libido, played most memorably by Laura Gemser in a slew of films with titles like BLACK EMANUELLE, BLACK EMANUELLE GOES EAST, EMANUELLE AROUND THE WORLD and, not surprisingly, EMANUELLE AND THE LAST CANNIBALS. But for many, the best, and definitely the most extreme, of these films was Joe D'Amato's 1976 entry EMANUELLE IN AMERICA.

D'Amato, never a stranger to the more extreme side of both sexuality and violence, managed to create a film that mixes both well. In fact, despite all its inherent weirdness, continuity errors, and overall ick factor, EMANUELLE IN AMERICA might just be his best film.

Laura Gemser's Emanuelle is making her living as a photographer. When she's not taking nude photos, she's out looking for a scoop. On her way out of the studio one day she's held at gunpoint by the boyfriend of one of her models. He plans on killing her because she has corrupted his girlfriend. How does Emanuelle get out of this? She sucks him off. Yep, it's that kind of movie. Gemser never did any hardcore scenes in her films and the sex in the first third of the film is all Cinemax quality softcore with lots of moaning and rubbing of breasts, bare butts undulating and overacted orgasms. But things will get harder. And more disturbing. In fact, it's better to view this as three distinct films or, even better, chapters, instead of a continuous whole. Better because it makes for easier discussion and better because it allows the viewer to overlook some rather large, gaping plot holes. So we'll do that.

The first chapter of the movie, as I noted above, is pure and simple softcore. In fact, it never rises above that, in either construction or motivation. Some people might be tempted to turn the film off after a half hour or so of this stuff but those who continue will be treated to one of the strangest examples of D'Amato eroticism ever. Emanuelle is on the tail of a supposed arms dealer who is putting together a harem at his estate. Branded Virgo, she wanders around the estate, snapping photos with her skillfully hidden mini-camera and having some girl-on-girl action in the pool. She gets laid and gets her evidence. The most interesting scene occurs near the end of this piece and acts as a bridge between this and the next chapter. The millionaire arms dealer invites everyone to view some rather interesting entertainment. As they peer in through the windows of a stable, we get to watch, in rather explicit detail, a member of his harem masturbating a horse. Shocking and repulsive, this scene alone helped make EMANUELLE IN AMERICA a rather controversial and notorious film. While it does not carry the scene to its conclusion, a fact I'm thankful for, its brief appearance is enough to leave quite an impression. This is one of those scenes that will either make you laugh your ass off or throw up.

Now we've turned the page and are into chapter two. After a brief interlude with a rich Italian aristocrat and his wife, complete with a girl in a cake and a brief on-screen blowjob, Emanuelle is off on assignment again, this time to the Caribbean. As she makes her way around an island resort full of copulating people, she snaps more pictures and we, the viewer, are treated to a bit more hardcore action, including a rather unattractive couple playing Tarzan and Jane and an interracial threesome. But it also marks the appearance of something completely unexpected. Peering through the door at a couple making love, Emanuelle hears the whirr of a film projector. Then she sees what they are watching. On the small screen are scenes of women being beaten and raped by a group of men in a dingy room, breasts being burned with a blowtorch, people being branded. She snaps a picture of the film being played and sneaks off. When she's discovered and held captive by a female manager, how does she escape? Take a guess.

So the third chapter begins. Emanuelle goes off to Washington on a tip from a friend and hooks up with an unnamed man I'll call The Senator. She plans on using him to get to the bottom of the truth behind that film she saw. After seducing him, they wind up in bed together. He puts on a stag film, but seeing how unimpressed she is, decides to switch it over to something a bit more extreme. What he puts on is a film similar to the one Emanuelle glimpsed in that room. It's shot in the same room with the same group of men, only this time it is much more brutal. A woman is raped with a large metal hook. Another is impaled on a large, barbed dildo. It only last for seconds but this scene is hard to take. When the film is over, Emanuelle decides to push for more. She proclaims the film exciting and her lover, aiming to please, offers to 'make her experience those fantasies'. Her puts LSD in her drink and she passes out. We are then treated to a rather delirious montage of Emanuelle and The Senator in a car, then in an airplane, then in Jeep driving through the jungle, then in a building. A man opens two small windows and Emanuelle and The Senator see what's going on inside. They are looking at the set of the snuff films and, inside, a new one is being made. This piece contains the roughest of the snuff footage and some of it is truly gag-worthy. The sight of a woman having her breasts cut off ends Emanuelle's trip and she wakes up in The Senator's bed. She asks if it was all a dream. He tells her it wasn't.

Back in New York, her editor has had the photos of her encounter at the resort developed. She feels she has a huge story. The people upstairs think otherwise. Her story exposing the snuff ring will not surface. Emanuelle quits, storms out and flies off with her boyfriend to an island, where they make out some more before being interrupted by a film crew.

Whew.

So what do we have here? Is this for the raincoat crowd? Or is it for the gore crowd? Well, both actually. Exploitation films, especially the Italian exploitation film, often mixed seemingly disparate elements together to create something that could be marketed and sold to as large a crowd as possible. EMANUELLE IN AMERICA is a good example of that. It's a film without any kind of solid construction or cohesion in its narrative so it doesn't matter how much you missed or when you came in. You're not going to miss anything important. Those people who crave the soft stuff have a full forty minutes to enjoy. The people who like things harder have their fun for another thirty before the gore crowd gets to have their time in the sun. Because of the way the film is seemingly compiled from three distinct ideas, it's never boring and there's always someone flashing their nipples every five minutes to keep you watching.

While the hardcore sex might be the ultimate draw for many, it's the snuff aspect that will bring in the horror crowd. While it is never really explored in much detail, what we see of it is truly horrifying. If a snuff film did surface, this is what I imagine it would look like. The footage in the film is very sloppily edited, obviously shot with multiple cameras and utterly beat to shit. While films like 8MM, EFFECTS, MY LITTLE EYE, THE LAST HOUSE ON DEAD END STREET and HARDCORE are all much better films on the subject, EMANUELLE IN AMERICA treats snuff in a way that those films don't or only hint at. When Emanuelle first encounters the snuff film, the couple watching it are making love. The only sound on the soundtrack is the sound of the film projector. As the film on the screen progresses, the sound of the projector is replaced by moans of ecstasy. Later, at the secret site of the films manufacturing, The Senator has sex with the drugged up Emanuelle as they watch the films being made. This connection between sex and snuff and its use as a possible source of sexual excitement is the most repulsive aspect of EMANUELLE IN AMERICA. I was reminded of Leonard Lake and Charles Ng and their secret torture chamber where they videotaped themselves raping and abusing their victims so they could enjoy it later. The idea that someone could be turned on by the sight of suffering, of murder, is so foreign to me that I have a hard time imagining it. However, I'm not naive enough to dismiss the possibility. John Fowles, whose novel The Collector helped inspire Lake to commit his atrocities, admitted that his novel was based on his own fantasies of imprisoning a student of his. We all turn our heads towards the accident on the side of te road. We eat up all the juicy, bloody details of murder cases. We satiate our bloodlusts safely. We're attracted to the carnage. But would we pay to see someone murdered on camera? Are we afraid that what we see will give us nightmares or taint our humanity?

Or are we afraid that we might like what we see? Maybe even be attracted to it?

Joe D'Amato is the most recognizable alias for Aristide Massaccesi, though he used many. The director of more than 150 films, D'Amato was also a cinematographer, lensing one of the best of the early giallos, SOLANGE, as well as numerous spaghetti westerns and sex comedies. When he had the crew, budget, time or inclination, D'Amato proved he could, in all actuality, shoot a film well. EMANUELLE IN AMERICA is one of those films. The film is beautifully shot, with a good sense of misc en scene that helps it rise above other similar films. As a writer, D'Amato didn't fare so well. Only PIECES, which he is credited only as a co-writer, and DEATH SMILES ON A MURDERER are really decent. While he isn't credited on EMANUELLE IN AMERICA, there's little doubt that he had his hand in the writing of the film. His tell-tale perverse touches pop up frequently enough to lead me to that conclusion.

If EMANUELLE IN AMERICA is anything, it is a true example of exploitation cinemas willingness to break taboos in order to sell tickets. It's irresponsible, brash, uncompromising, and utterly trashy. But it's also fun, quickly paced and well-made. While it may have lost a good bit of its power to shock over the years, it will definitely raise a few eyebrows and should be seen by any self-respecting fan of exploitation cinema.

Highly recommended.