Dog Walker (1994)

One of the most legendary companies in adult film, VCA released many a classic throughout the 80's and 90's. From 1988 to 1994, VCA was the home of actor turned director John Leslie, releasing many of his finest directorial efforts. VCA was also the distributor for the films of Stephen Sayadian (Rinse Dream), having released Cafe Flesh (1982), Nightdreams 2 and 3 (1991) and Party Doll a Go-Go! (1991) as well as the main distributor for Gregory Dark until 1995, so clearly VCA we open to releasing films that strayed from the norms and conventions of adult films. Several of Leslie's films during this period do just that. With outlandish plots that often strayed into surreal and horror territory, films like The Catwoman (1988), Mad Love (1989), The Chameleon (1989), Curse of the Catwoman (1991), Laying the Ghost (1991) and Chameleons (1992) are all decidedly different from standard adult fare. Even Leslie's more straightforward films like Goin' Down Slow (1988), Second Skin (1989), The Tease (1990), Anything that Moves (1992) and Bad Habits (1994) have far more thought put into them than other narrative based hardcore features. Nevertheless, when Leslie proposed his idea for 1994's Dog Walker, it proved to be far too out there for VCA, leading Leslie to secure financing from Evil Angel to shoot and release Dog Walker, his magum opus and one of the best films of the 90's.

Dog Walker is a film very much in the vein of films like Andrzej Zulawski's Possession (1981) or David Lynch's Lost Highway (1997) in the way it goes about its business. Much like Zulawski and Lynch's films, the way Leslie has the elliptical narrative play out defies any attempt to neatly summarize it. The films centerpiece is Tito (Steven St. Croix), a gangster who runs afoul of the organization he's working for after demanding immediate payment for a diamond robbery. Shortly afterward Tito is accosted in an alleyway by a mysterious man (Leslie, credited as the “Fortune Teller”) who claims Tito's life going to become a living hell. Prior to that moment the film had been set-up like a fairly typical mob/crime story, but following the Fortune Teller's warning to Tito the films tone is drastically altered. The cliché way of describing Dog Walker would be “dreamlike” but a more accurate description would be that the film is taking place in the time period in-between wakefulness and sleep. The setting of the film resembles Los Angeles circa 1994, but something is always slightly eschewed as Tito tries to adjust to his new life with the sword of Damocles hovering over his head. Leslie never quite lets it be known until the very end if all of Tito's encounters throughout the film are happening in reality or some form of fantasy, even the sex scenes begin to take on a hallucinatory quality much like the film as a whole the further it goes on.

In a way Dog Walker feels like the film Leslie was building up towards since he made the transition from acting to directing. While Leslie already had a consistent track record of great films, Dog Walker feels like the culmination, fusing the crime and thriller aspects of films like Goin' Down Slow and Second Skin with the more otherworldly and strange elements of the Catwoman and Chameleon films as well as the supernaturally plotted Mad Love and Laying the Ghost. Leslie had shown his penchant for bizarre films fairly early on in his directorial career, but what sets Dog Walker apart from his previous films is the sheer inexplicably, for instance the multiple instances of Leslie cutting away from the LA setting to scenes taking place in the country with a western theme, or Tito's meetings with his mysterious boss played by Jamie Gillis which feel oddly intimidating, again very evocative of Lynch. Dog Walker is also Leslie's most explicitly noir inspired work, not simply in style with it's dimly lit shady, smokey alleys and seedy city streets but most importantly in the way the titular “dog walker” (Christina Angel) Tito keeps encountering is presented. Like so much of the film, exactly what she is or what she represents is rather ambiguous until the very end, though like so many femme fatales in the classic noir fashion, she has the aura of a specter of death and what Leslie does with her and Tito near the end of the film is quite fascinating.

Reflecting upon the film, Evil Angel head and longtime friend of Leslie's John Stagliano recalled that the title of the film and what it might entail was the first thing that made VCA nervous, despite nothing resembling their concerns being in the film. VCA were also uncomfortable with the violence and fight scenes in the film which was somewhat more understandable to do the various legal issues VCA president Russ Hampshire faced over the years. Leslie himself produced the film under his “John Leslie Productions” banner while Staglinao financed the film with Leslie paying him back residuals and Evil Angel became Leslie's main distributor until his death in 2010. Dog Walker was also shot on film and at the 1995 AVN Awards, coincidentally hosted by St. Croix, Leslie won in both the film and video categories for best director for Dog Walker and Bad Habits, his final movie for VCA. The film also racked up two more awards from AVN, best screenplay and cinematography and it was awarded best film at the XRCO Awards where Leslie nabbed another best director win. Leslie was to make one more narrative feature the following year with Fresh Meat: A Ghost Story (1995) before taking the gonzo route which again, makes Dog Walker seem like an apex of sorts. The film is hands down Leslie's masterpiece and a film that set a new benchmark for its genre.

Anything That Moves (1992) / Bad Habits (1994)

When John Leslie made the transition from acting to directing in the late 80's, making history as one of the first adult performers to do so, he began a remarkable streak of consistency that lasted from 1988 until 1995 when, either by design or the economic demands of the adult industry, his focus turned from narrative features to plotless gonzo videos. Proving himself to be a genre aficionado, Leslie's output from that period could be divided into three categories. Firstly there were the lighter, more comedic efforts like Nightshift Nurses (1988), Top it Off (1990), Hot Scalding (1990) and Slick Honey (1991). Where Leslie really hit his stride however, was with several oddities that often crossed over into the surreal, bordering on the horror and fantastique genres with films like The Catwoman (1988) and its companion Curse of the Catwoman (1991), Mad Love (1989) and Laying the Ghost (1991), The Chameleon (1989) and Chameleons (1992), Dog Walker (1994) and Fresh Meat: A Ghost Story (1995). Leslie also proved to be very adept at crime based narratives early in his career with his second feature Goin' Down Slow (1988) and his love of noir was apparent in many of the previously mentioned titles and he would deliver two of his strongest films in this arena, 1992's Anything That Moves and 1994's Bad Habits, the later even marking a pivotal turning point in Leslie's career.

Told mostly through flashback via police interrogation, Anything That Moves centers around Lucky (Selena Steele), a streetwise stripper being questioned about the death of Joey, the abusive boyfriend of her best friend, fellow stripper Ronnie (Tracy Wynn). One of Leslie's most character driven films, Anything That Moves also happens to be one of the most involving thanks in part to how strongly the characters are developed and most importantly, the way in which Leslie has the story play out, cleverly placing certain things in the story out of linear order and constantly having the audience question how reliable a narrator Lucky is. By far though the films biggest strength is the friendship between Lucky and Ronnie, wonderfully portrayed by both Steele and Wynn with the former giving her finest performance for Leslie as the no-nonsense Lucky, almost a big sister to the more naive and trusting Wynn. It's really an endearing story that makes all the various twists pack more of a punch and gives the film something that barley any other film in its genre would even think of, heart. It's also notable in that, despite the story being grounded in reality, Leslie just can't help himself and serves up a few odd moments along the way, most notably a man just hanging out in the background of a sex scene playing solitaire (not a double entendre, he's literally just playing cards) and in a especially hilarious and random bit, a gang of rather large black henchwoman give Joey a nice beating.

Slightly smaller in scale but by no means less ambitious, quite the opposite in fact, is Bad Habits which focuses on Sean Grant (Deidre Holland), a successful novelist prone to nightly encounters with complete strangers. In an attempt to get a handle on her compulsion, Sean seeks help from therapist Dr. Fisher (Randy Spears), a con man who attempts to squeeze more money out of Sean utilizing the theory of past life regression with the aid of Jack (Mark Davis), a ex-con Fisher is threatening with blackmail. Although essentially telling three stories in one, Bad Habits is a remarkably focused film with each storyline effortlessly spring-boarding into the next before reaching a nicely wrapped up conclusion. Interestingly, considering his penchant for the unusual, Leslie only spends a short amount of time with the actual past life regression idea, though it does serve as a segue to a dreamy, soft-focus sex scene. Previously outshined by Ashlyn Genre in Chameleons, here Holland really gets to show off and it's her performance that really pushes the film to the upper echelons of Leslie's filmography as well as Spears who is delightfully scummy as Fisher. Like most of Leslie's shot-on-video output the film sidesteps all of the shortcomings of the format and is one of Leslie's most stylish with a brilliantly surreal scene taking place inside a tunnel early on. Bill Heid also delivers one of his best scores for Leslie with some wild free jazz moments that recall Chet Baker's work on José Bénazéraf's early films.

Anything That Moves has the distinction of being one of three films from this period that was shot on 35mm, which at that point was becoming a rarity in the adult industry. According to AVN, some of the film had to be re-shot after the sprinkler system accidentally went off where the film was being shot. The film was the eighth Leslie film to feature Selena Steele who actually made her debut in The Chameleon and would feature in Leslie's Hate to See You Go (1988), The Tease (1990), Playin' Dirty (1991), Oh, What a Night (1991) as well as Curse of the Catwoman and Slick Honey. Bad Habits is notable for being the last feature Leslie made for VCA who had produced and distributed all of Leslie's movies up to that point. Much like Gregory Dark did around the same time, Leslie would make the move to Evil Angel. At the 1995 AVN Awards, Leslie would take home both best director trophies in the “video” and “film” categories for Bad Habits and Dog Walker respectively. During his acceptance speech for Bad Habits Leslie joked that whenever VCA president Russ Hampshire was away on vacation they'd try “breakin' his balls” but nevertheless they made a good video. A great video, in fact and ultimately an important one as it signified a new beginning for Leslie who was about to realize his magnum opus.

Second Skin (1989)

Along with being two of the most legendary figures and best actors from the golden age of the adult industry, having appeared together in films like Fiona on Fire (1978), Dracula Sucks (1978), and The Ecstasy Girls (1979), John Leslie and Jamie Gillis were also the best of friends. As wonderfully documented by The Rialto Report, Leslie and Gillis had a friendship of well over 30 years with Leslie's annual Easter egg hunt at his home being one of Gillis' favorite times of year. The two also had a great working relationship and not long after Leslie made the transition from acting to directing, Gillis would serve as the assistant director on many Leslie's features including some of his best like Chameleons (1992), Anything That Moves (1992), Bad Habits (1994), Dog Walker (1994) and Fresh Meat: A Ghost Story (1995). Gillis would make appearances in a few of those titles as well such as during the memorable opening scene of Curse of the Catwoman (1991) and his role in the aforementioned Dog Walker is rather substantial. Excellent casting was always one of the defining characteristics of Leslie's films and for 1989's Second Skin, one his earliest directorial efforts not to mention one of his most brilliantly crafted works, Leslie tagged his best friend Gillis for the leading role in what would become one of his finest and most villainous, yet strangely underseen performances.

While attending a dinner party at his friend Ross' house, Allen and his wife Suzanne are introduced to Vincent Dante (Gillis), an old colleague of Ross' along with Veronica (Ona Zee), Vincent's girlfriend and Johnny (Joey Silvera) and Gabe, two of Vincent's associates. Already a somewhat tense evening due to Johnny and Gabe's belligerent attitudes, things quickly take a turn for the worse during dinner when Allen takes issue with a snide comment from Johnny regarding Allen's chosen profession with Johnny pulling a gun on Allen in response, forcing Vincent to admit that he, along with Johnny and Gabe are diamond smugglers and that Ross previously worked for him and agreed to let Vincent hide out for the night. Vincent proceeds to hold the entire household hostage while various tensions, sexual and others, arise throughout the night.

With its crime scenario, enclosed setting, mounting sense of dread, smoldering eroticism and jazz score, Second Skin feels very much like a hardcore variation of one of José Bénazéraf's early black and white films, in particular La nuit la plus longue (1965) or Sexus. Whether it was intentional or not, Leslie channels Bénazéraf in more ways than one throughout Second Skin, especially as it relates to the characters. While Gillis and his two goons are clearly the defined villains, very few of the other characters could be described as classically “likable” making the hostage situation all the more tense and interesting with Leslie sustaining the moodiness throughout, ala Bénazéraf. Much like Goin' Down Slow (1988), Leslie's second feature, there are long stretches in Second Skin where Leslie seems to eschew the demands of the medium in which he's working, setting aside the sex to focus solely on the characters, Gillis of course taking center stage. Vincent Dante is certainty one of the more despicable personalities Gillis ever portrayed, yet because it's Gillis in the role there's an undeniable charm to Vincent even while he's gleefully tormenting the entire household. While Gillis is the biggest selling point of the film, the supporting cast are all terrific, Ona Zee especially as Vincent's long suffering alcoholic mistress who really delivers in the one of the films more uncomfortable moments. The film is also notable for the bizarre way Leslie wraps the film up, with a surreal twist that feels out of left field even for Leslie.

It's interesting that Gillis stars in a film such as Second Skin, a 1989 plot-driven feature as that was the same year Gillis revolutionized the adult industry with one of the first videos in what would become known as the “gonzo” genre, On the Prowl (1989). As Gillis related to AVN “I'd been in the business already for many years and I just said oh my god, they're so boring, these stupid movies with their stupid scripts. So I said let's just take a girl and bring her out and find somebody who wants to fuck her and is excited about it. I literally brought girls out to the public, and whoever came along, that's what we shot. Now that to me was fun because it meant that we didn't know exactly what was going to happen. I always liked reality. I hated the old moans and groans type of porn.” Interestingly enough, Leslie too would eventually bow out of narrative features after 1995 and focus almost entirely on plotless gonzo features as the economics of the adult industry dictated. Perhaps Gillis found the script for Second Skin at a much higher quality than most, which it most certainty is and the same could be said for all of Leslie's features from this period. Second Skin though stands out a bit more, a masterfully realized work from two of the industry's heaviest hitters.