I think I've developed a really nice method of chosing vids when I'm in the store or online. The main thing of course is the reputation of the company. Vivid, VCA, and Wicked are definite no no's. Anabolic, Evil Angel, Diabolic, and Extreme warrant closer inspection.
Upon closer inspection, if the front of the box has a single female posing I go negative. If the back has more of the same and it's suppose to be an anal or oral flick I put the box down. With titles that promise anal and don't show all females listed in anal shots on the box I make my decision based on the number that do have anal shots and the reputation of the company.
Life is short and it's not always about the money you waste on bullshit video's but the time you could be spending in other pursuits. Like hiking, rollerblading, checkers or.....who am I kidding.....jerking off to much better quality porn. I can make more money, I can't get back the hour+ I spend watching POS porn.
Other companies with great reputations (In my opinion): - Seymore Butts - Redlight District (getting there) - WCP (Creepin' on a cum up) - Anything where Brandon Iron Is directing (mostly Legend) - Puaka (Gotta love those Germans: Keep the sperm cumming)
I choose by taking two main things into consideration: 1) The reputation of the company of course, just like RoccoFan. 2) The facial expressions on the girls in the fucking scenes on the back cover. That way one can avoid a lot of lukewarm crap.
I also think it is good to remember the director's name like the vastly overrated Mario Salieri for instance so that one doesn't get cheated twice.
Judging a book by its cover? Not really the best way to go. To me, it's Primarily all about the girls of course, then the chances of getting hot, exciting sex. Definitely company reputation - which should exclude Zane from any right-thinking persons wants list - but also director's rep and hey, some of these great reviews over here can help. But basically paying attention to what you like and going after that is my idea.
It's an interesting question, because going by front cover alone, Evil Angel videos, among others, always look interesting with bright,busy, arresting cover design. But Anabolic/Diabolic and now Red Light District (who have virtually identical cover styling) may use good still shots but their design values make it look like they have put zero effort into it. Which is not a good way to sell what are often superb videos. Guess they rely heavily on reputation, but I am not sure they'd make you grab one off the shelf.
Edited by - Gabriel Nine on Feb 24 2002
[Link]
spetz Deactivated User
The Netherlands 58 Posts 12/01
Posted - Feb 24 2002 : 7:24PM
I never select a movie going after the boxcover. What I would like to see more, are credible reviews of movies *** BEFORE *** they enter the market.
Fact is that you can not trust any reviewer, magazine (e.g. AVN) or film-studio when it comes to marketing, distribution and / or selling porno. They all have major interests in selling more and this leaves the truth about many movies in the background. One of my reviews proves that.
Unfortunately, WE, the customer always more or less is the loser. WE never know what is on the movie! WE never get an idea what the quality of the movie is...before WE already bought it and discover that it is not what WE expect it would be.
Let's be fair: You don't buy a car unless you know exactly if the motor is running well and the other features work. Problem with movies is that you have no idea what you buy until weeks or months later someone writes a review about it. Or worse...you have to discover yourself that the movie completely sucks, despite of all the good stories you heard about it. Stories told by people who have interest in selling the product and therefore can not be unbiased.
We can not trust our porn-stars, film-studios or bread-writers
as they are not unbiased. A "forum" of unbiased porn consumers should review a movie before it is officially released...that's the only way to get a clear and honest view of the product and this would be the best way to protect the interests of the porn consumer.
This could of course lead to some companies closing their doors once the media looses their grip.
Sorry this was just a dream as reality is way different!
I think you're both a little off the mark. The box cover is important when you're talking about an unknown company or a company you know that's promising something you're not used to getting from them.
Gabriel mentioned that he looks for the women on the box. To me this is very misleading. I've said before that I feel the male performers and the directors are often better indicators of the quality in the box.
Reviews are not always the best bet either. We all have varying tastes. For instance, I'm a raincoater, Gabriel appears to be into looks. I personaly don't care what the female looks like. To quote the immortal Andrew Dice Clay, "Two [real] tits a [few] hole[s] and a heartbeat baby!" Toss in a passion for sex and a willingness to get butt fucked by ten guy's with big dicks and we have the makings of a damn good video. If I have Gabriel reviewing the latest Mike John movie and all he talks about is Monika Sweetheart's makeup, his review is useless to me. He can go on for pages and without details about the duration of the anal scene, the amount and angle of the oral cumshot, and the depth of the cock sucking I've wasted my time reading his review.
You need a system that combines director reputation, studio reputation, box cover detail and male talent reputation. Reviews are good with a few grains of salt.
Boat Drinks!!!
RoccoFan The Madman Cumeth!!
[Link]
spetz Deactivated User
The Netherlands 58 Posts 12/01
Posted - Feb 25 2002 : 5:59PM
Okay! I agree on certain points with you. For instance is my experience that "the glossier" the cover, the more efforts they made to make it look really tasty, the worse the movie gets. A good product doesn't need excessive advertising. Although in my view the reputation of a pornstar or a director's is no guarantee for a good product either. Too many of them solely made movies based on a good reputation and we follow them as lame (tame) sheep.
I have twelve movies (VHS and DVD) from Metro, Wicked, Vivid and Pleasure which ought to be very good productions. I totally believed in the reputation of the studio, the director, the top-porno-stars and also the enormous attention these movies got in the media. THis combination of positive news about the movie helped me to convince myself to buy them. Want to know how I think about these movies today? They are TRASH. Absolute junk! Believe it or not but some of these movies received several AVN Awards. Clearly a case of money under the table if you ask me...or in a more business-like manner:
The sum of advertising, you pay as a studio, helps to determine the winners and that's why I as a critic porn fan no longer see the need for these AVN Awards.
In fact the whole show is a joke. From a business standpoint, the winners are nothing more than the result of a business-transaction between some major studios and their number one in advertising. It's a known fact that the studios who pay the most for advertising win and many of the smaller studios are the losers because of this.
Doesn't that give you a bad taste?
Therefore: Just going after the rep of a studio, the number of Awards, stories the porn-stars tell you, and the rep, opinion of a director will get you nowhere.
After a few little - and one major disappointment, I don't believe the crap these people are telling anymore!
Instead of searching for the well-known studios I have discovered a few "newcomers" and made the experience that these very small production-companies make real porn. The big studios have no idea anymore what the audience likes. They only push their stars, or their stars push themselves into the spotlight and don't care about good quality porn.
As I said before: The US is losing ground in the international porn-market. European studios invest a lot of time and money these days in producing what I see as good adult-film.
Have you noticed how many Czech, Hungarian, German, Italian and French girls are working in American porn- films? Tell me...how many American girls work in Europe??? Espicially Europeans don't like American (overhyped) porn-stars, as they want real porn-sluts, who not only look beautiful but also know how to fuck. Porn is fucking! Not "posing" in front of a film-camera. As that's the way a lot of these new directors film their girls...as models. They are no models...they are people who fuck for a living.
Conclusion: What we need to determine...BEFORE a movie is RELEASED...to see if a film is good or not:
a) stills of the film that show us some real action. b) a few reviews written by people who have different tastes. c) a listing that shows us the director's reputation. d) we should not pay attention to what the cast or studio tells us as they will never be unbiased.
I find that Anabolic/Diabolic's covers are wonderful when it comes time for me to decide what to get when I go porn shopping. Sure, they might not be the best looking or all fancy but they do provide very graphic photos of all the action and they have never let me down. And besides, they produce the absolute BEST porn in the US that money can buy so its all good!
From Gabriel Nine:Trying to select DVD:s by looking at the still shots at the back of the cover is more like selecting a book by reading a few lines here and there before buying it.
I havent been able to bring myself to watch an elegant angel title for about 2 years now, I cant get past the boxcover, if they dont care what there art looks like, i cant see them caring what the movie is. How could they let their boxcovers get that bad?
Gabriel Nine and Asmodeus are right is all about the girls and Anabolic is the best Porn company when giving info about what the girls will do in the video,I mean if all I see on the box cover is Rocco fucking girls that don't appeal to me there is not way I'm going to get that video even if there is 10 reviews telling me how hot,how good is the movie...is all about the girls AND what they do (anal,dps in my case) .....Company reputation?? ..male performers and Directors indicator of the quality in the box?? ..that's is relative, ..if they don't show me the girls I like, getting fucked hard up the ass,...next!
how I buy: 1)i check new titles on online shops (mostly fivestar) as well as keep on eye on upcoming releases on studio sites (EvilA, Private). 2)based on the cover i'll make decision which ones might be interesting 3)i'll check your reviews guys (thanks!) & screenshots! in dvdempire must have plenty of anal, DP and no condoms if all! positive...I'll buy.
yes, cover is important but I'll never buy just because there are nice grls; got burnt several times, learned hard way;-)
Why can't porn producers always indicate AS A RULE, cast, director and crew (if relevant)? Why would a restaurant not want people to know their menus? Why would a store want to hide behind a tree? As usual many of them try to cater to the anonymous and invisible audience of occasional porn consumers and think that only a few freaks (I'm n°1) on newsgroups will actually care about the director in a skin flick. I've been buying or renting porn since '85, I almost own the complete collection of every video produced by a renown company from the North of Europe. Am I not contributing? Don't I have the right to know if a girl is actually in that video? And if the guy who directed it is the one who use stop-motion or bullet-time or whatever, or someone that I actually like?
From anal_fan:Ain't it the fucking truth. I just saw "Buttwoman iz Bella", and the boxcover was ok. The movie was a complete wast of talent. You could see soooo many great shots going to wast. Patrick Collins needs to be slapped and told to keep the camera on the fucking anal shots. THAT'S WHY YOU NAMED IT BUTTWOMAN and not breast, or tattoo, or tit woman!!!!!!!!
Sorry about the ranting but it really pissed me off.
From Wally:Rocco movies should be bought or rented on site without question or thought. Let's leave Rocco out of this completely. He has NEVER, NEVER, NEVER let his fans down. Some flicks might not have been as good as others, but even the not as good one's could kick the crap out of any Elegant Angel title.
From Sbando Boy:Someone mentioned earlier that Anabolic and Diabolic are great at letting the consumer know exactly what's on the tape. I'll never forget when Penetration #9 came out and it said plainly on the box that "a few" of the girls did anal. They didn't have to do it, but they had a repution to uphold and I respect that. Penetration was a series known for it's anal content so the could have danced around it but they didn't.
Come on! Roccofan take it easy I wasn't trying to put down Rocco in any way,it was just the first name that came to mind : ) ...now the way Morian described making his pick is the way all educated porn fan should make his choices, .. but honestly who the hell buy a porn movie just by looking the box cover (well besides those new to porn than don't know any better) ...but again there are exceptions like right now I'm anxiously waiting to buy a video in particular as soon as I see it in my local video shop without waiting to see screenshots or reviews the reason? this porn company makes a very good job of showing on the box a lot of euro babes I already know doing gangbang (they show almost every girl doing anal and dps) ..still there is a risk involve but I'm willing to take it 'cos all the information they are giving on the box,if I don't like it ..well.. I'll take it like is one for the team and make a review for rame.
Hey Wally! I'm very much the same way when I'm shopping around but obviously there have been times that I bought a movie that I totally disliked, even tho I thought the cover looked good. But that was a very long time ago and I definitely know better now! I only stick to reputable porn companies that I've come to know, love and trust such as Anabolic and Private to name a few. And I've done the same thing when you mention that you've anxiously waited to buy a certain title without ever seeing any reviews and/or screenshots on it - one of the most recent examples I bought was Ass Worship. Just from word of mouth I knew I had to get this DVD. And man, was it an excellent choice! My hand still hurts from all the times I've watched it...hehe
Speaking of which, now that I saw the cover to the new Ass Worship 2 DVD thats coming out in a few days, you can't believe how much I want to get my filthy hands on it! Looks like Jules Jordan is releasing yet another absolute masterpiece of hardcore anal erotica and then some! I just can't wait to see Aurora Snow and Belladonna get their sweet holes ripped apart...oh yeah!!!
From RoccoFan:Permit me to correct a couple of misconceptions. First, when I said "girls" I mean the PEOPLE. Their personality, their enthusiasm and so on, thus leading to my second point about the chances of hot sex. THIS elusive quality of "heat" is the crux of what I am looking for. For example, a woman like Catherine Count may not be the most super-model gorgeous, but I love to see her fuck because she obviously loves it.
In my reviews, I try to give you the juice on exactly what goes on. Yes, absolutely, passion for sex, but the rest of that part is where we differ, but each to his own. But you are right about different tastes, and to be honest I am getting bored of writing "blow by blow" reviews (and I am sure some are bored of reading them), and that's why I am sure any discerning customer wants to arm themselves with the best info possible, from a range of sources, to make informed choices.
Point well taken. I must say that I don't really read a lot of reviews. I know what I'll get way in advance. I just realized that I don't really venture out from what I usually get. Porn is like music, 99% of it is garbage. I get the directors and studios I've always gotten.
- Mike John - Jules Jordon - Brandon Iron - Vince Voyeur (Just recently. We'll see if he disappoints) - Rocco
You can match the studios with the directors and you get the picture. Box covers are good, but when it comes to my weekly viewing, I already know the path I'll walk. When it comes to venturing out, the pictures do tell the tale.
