Lust volcanoes (2009)

Directed by: Willem van Batenburg | 86 minutes | eroticism | Actors: Diana the King

Worldwide fame is – and was – not only there for Dutch filmmakers such as Paul Verhoeven, or actors such as Rutger Hauer. No, we have more heroes in our little country, and one of them is the master of the so-called “pornorotic” films, Willem van Batenburg. The first Dutch film in that genre – in fact porn films with a story – dates from 1982 and is by Van Batenburg, who is thus a pioneer in the (Dutch) porn genre. ‘Plum Blossom’ was the name of this instant classic, which was followed by the not much less successful ‘n Schot in de rose’. And now, for the real collector, a unique DVD has been released that collects the early films from before those long-playing successes on one disc. And although the narrative aspect and continuity, which so distinguished Van Batenburg’s famous films from the rest, are partly lacking because of the conciseness, the variety of the films also benefits the subject or genre. The quality, originality and the erotic content vary a lot between the films, but as a whole ‘Lustvolcanoes’ is certainly worth watching. If only for the curiosity value. Although these are short films, Van Batenburg nevertheless wanted to insert some sort of story in many films. However, one should not propose much of this, and moreover, the continuity leaves much to be desired. For example, in the film “Chesslust” it is not shown how a secret lover of a woman whose husband is playing chess in the living room with a friend, enters the house. That his presence must remain hidden is made unequivocally clear. He takes off his shoes as he follows the woman up the stairs and when he falls off the stairs as he leaves, the woman – after the man has left quickly – pretends to have fallen herself by lying on the floor for a moment, in front of him. in case the man comes to take a look. The sex scene on the top floor is less interesting. This has several reasons, which can also be found in the majority of the films on the DVD.

To start with, the films are clearly shot without (synchronous) sound and often no dialogue is added afterwards, which means that the usual moans and “dirty talk” are absent, which does detract somewhat from the experience. Especially when the images (nowadays) are not sufficiently stimulating on their own, with extreme close-ups of penetrations, ejaculations, with/in heavily hairy private parts, the lack of horny commentary or the obligatory “oh’s” and “ah’s” is a lack . It is also a pity that the sex scenes are often created clinically or clumsily, without any visible horniness on the part of those involved. There are hardly any teasing looks and exciting foreplay; usually there is some wriggling, the clothes are taken off halfway up the stairs, everyone walks dry looking ahead to the bedroom, and they mount each other, with a few successive positions and the final climax. The “believably horny” people mentioned in the summary are therefore not often seen. The “beauty” of many of the “actors” is also debatable, especially when it comes to the gentlemen. Old men with long beards, bad mustaches, and wrinkled scrotums are a regular feature, but the porn audience is of course mostly male, so that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Still, there are several films that are certainly successful, at least as a comedic tour de force. The feat of the DVD is the movie “Great, eager, and obliging”, in which a woman discovers her boyfriend/lover in bed with two other women, and then leaves because she does not want to share him with others. So she goes and masturbates against a tree in the woods, fantasizing aloud about the young man, while the viewer is alternately presented with images of her and the threesome in the bedroom. The best part, however, is that the whole thing is provided with dialogue and voice-over in German, which makes it a very wrong and very hilarious porn clip, which will do very well at (wrong) parties. It’s almost enough to justify purchasing the disc.

The DVD contains another movie with German commentary, called “Junge Mädchen, geile Verkauf” – about two women who seek out a man for a fun adventure – which is nice but doesn’t measure up to the aforementioned movie. Aesthetically interesting is the vignette “Beach pleasures”, in which a young man on the beach dreams about having sex with a beautiful young lady, when she passes him from a distance. In the first half of this, nothing explicit can be seen, but Van Batenburg uses fascinating (extreme) close-ups, which are reminiscent of Antonioni’s work, and the two are playfully flirting with each other and on the beach. frolic. The movie “House of Pleasure” then shows some creative positions – a young man being orally satisfied upside down on a stage, for example – where the viewer can sit up again. The biggest pluses of the DVD are the (unintentionally) humorous or clumsy moments. Stimulating, sexy scenes and story and continuity are unfortunately less well represented.