Dark Dreams was made in 1971 and is, therefore, a touch older than I am. It's not a particularly well known film, but it does star Darby Lloyd Rains. For our younger readers, Darby was one of the most prolific adult stars of the 70's and 80's. Dark Dreams is, according to IMDB, her first ever feature and yes, I am enough of a porn geek to track down an obscure film because it's the first appearance of a major star.
Tina Russell was the star of this feature alongside a very hairy Harry Reems (another major star of the 70s). Darby is credited in this as "young witch". There were about a dozen women who could have been described as young witches in this supernatural, occult-themed porn, so it took a fair bit of searching before I could work out just which young witch she was.
Researching old porn is always faintly depressing. You either find out that the nubile young thing you watched having her brains fucked out, is now a few years older than your mother, or they died tragically. In this case, Tina drank herself to death aged 31, and the amazingly hirsute Harry is now married to a Mormon and selling real estate in Utah (I'm not kidding. He really is). I'm not sure which is the more tragic story.
Dark Dreams was billed as a supernatural, horror porn. Supernatural I can see but horror? No. Harry and Tina star as a newly-wed couple driving to their honeymoon. Harry is desperate to get it on with his new bride but prudish Tina won't even let him feel her up in the car. To be honest, Harry behaves like such a dickhead, it's a wonder Tina agreed to marry him. But anyway, in a scene very reminiscent of the Rocky Horror Show, their car gets a flat tyre and they seek refuge in an old house. The scene is so similar to Rocky Horror (even down to the person watching them from an upstairs window, but minus the rain...and the singing) that I suspect Richard O'Brien may have seen this and decided to pinch it. The old house is, naturally, the haunt of a coven of witches, who drug the unsuspecting couple with a strange herbal tea. Then the fun begins. For Harry anyway. He proceeds to fuck a bevy of nubile young witches while Tina prudishly fights off the attentions of a couple of occult gentlemen and a very enthusiastic Darby Lloyd Rains. Eventually, the whole thing is revealed to be just a dream... or was it...
This was your typical 70's porn. All big bushes and amazing chest hair (and several frightening shots of Hairy Harry's scary ball sack). The one thing you don't see is cumshots. There weren't any. Not one. The sex scenes were generally pretty short but showed a lot of foreplay (including a big bowl of whipped cream) which is something you see in older porn but don't seem to see much any more, which is a pity. There was also a topless belly dancing scene (I don't know why, it bore no relation to the plot, it was just there). Let me tell you, I am now a big fan of the topless belly dance. It's a lovely thing to watch. I'm dropping very unsubtle hints to Mrs Dave right now... "Oh look... an ad in the local paper for belly dancing classes... gee... I think you could probably do that...". So far no luck, but I live in hope.
This one isn't a keeper (except for the belly dancing scene) but it was worth a watch.
