Fresh Meat: A Ghost Story (1995)

The 90's were very much a transitional period for film, American film in particular. By and large, the 90's were the last decade of diversity in terms of budget. While the decade had its share of massive blockbusters, those types of films didn't have the stranglehold they have over the modern film industry, leaving room for middle budget films to breath along with the plethora of films to come out of the 90's indie boom. The adult film industry was also going through something similar throughout the 90's. Although plotless gonzo movies had gobbled up the majority of the market since the video revolution in the 80's, there were still a select few left in the adult world at the dawn of the 90's still intent on producing something out of the ordinary, one of which was John Leslie. The actor turned director had been on a hot streak since 1988, churning out some of the best adult films in early 90's, culminating in his jump from VCA to Evil Angel with his masterpiece Dog Walker (1994). Leslie followed up Dog Walker with a transitional film of his own, Fresh Meat: A Ghost Story, his most bizarre and difficult work and a film that marked the end of an era of consistently fascinating and original narrative based features for Leslie while also signifying the path he would take until his passing in 2010.

Unlike Dog Walker which began on a somewhat traditional note before going into more stranger territory, with Fresh Meat Leslie tosses anything resembling traditional narrative out the window the moment the opening credits end. Leslie does the film somewhat of a narrative set-up around Danny (Joey Silvera) and his wife Julia (Krysti Lynn) along with their “pet” human moving into their new house, where the realtor informs them of a former resident of the house known as “The Butcher” who killed his wife before hanging himself in a meat locker. Anything that happens after is left up to interpretation as the film plays out like a hardcore predecessor to David Lynch's Inland Empire (2006) with Leslie directing Silvera, brilliantly perplexed from beginning to end, into one random scenario and sexual encounter after another, shifting perspectives and making any attempt at possible explanation the more futile as the film goes along. The film also finds itself at the end of the loose trilogy of Leslie films centered around the supernatural with the real estate angle returning from both Mad Love (1989) and Laying the Ghost (1991) while the sitcom style laugh track, lunatic sense of humor and various other eccentricities present in Laying the Ghost return in Fresh Meat, by far the most surreal and inaccessible of the three. Leslie takes the film into even more outlandish territory by breaking the fourth wall and showing the actual shooting of a scene featuring Jamie Gillis as a detective arresting actors who can't remember their lines.

The film also marked a stylistic transition for Leslie too. Leslie had shot the majority of his features on video, though managed to shoot three on 35mm, Chameleons (1992), Anything That Moves (1992) and Dog Walker. Despite the limitations of the medium, Leslie always managed to side-step the shortcomings and delivered some of the most stylish adult features of the time. Fresh Meat greatly differs in that it was lensed on a much more low quality of video giving the film an incredibly raw and personal feel very much like the gonzo movies Leslie would soon devote the rest of his career to and due to the opaque nature of the films plot, the sex scenes do tend to take up even more of an already extended amount of time, though much like Dog Walker, the drawn out nature and hallucinatory feel of the the scenarios begin to emit a hypnotic aura ensuring that anyone watching the film is put in the same dazed and confused headspace as Silvera. There are also several instances of black and white 8mm film spiced into the movie adding to the already rough tone. Leslie does inject many scenes with his unique sense of style though and the films costume design features a big focus on striking leather and PVC wear giving the film one foot in the fetish realm. Leslie does also push the boundaries in the bodily fluids department during an unforgettably odd sequence involving Silvera and his “pet”, a plot point played completely strait.

Either a creative choice or due to the economy of the adult industry of the time (and to this day by and large), following Fresh Meat: A Ghost Story Leslie's output consists of nearly all gonzo work. Ironically, Fresh Meat would go on to become a long running series, lasting a whopping 29 entries, although none are related to A Ghost Story. Leslie would also go on to create the first person Voyeur series which produced 36 entries. Other Leslie gonzo series include the cheekily titled Don't Make Me Beg, Ass Trap, Big Tit Crackers, Gobble the Goop and Crack Her Jack. Worlds removed from the likes of Leslie's earlier titles like The Catwoman (1988), Second Skin (1989), Chameleons and Anything That Movies. Interestingly, Leslie's career trajectory somewhat mirrors that of fellow adult legend José Bénazéraf who took a similar approach later in his career in the 80's. Leslie did direct the visually intriguing Drop Sex (1997) after A Ghost Story and managed to make one last narrative feature Brianna Love: Her Fine Sexy Self  (2007) (where he made a return in front of the camera as well) but Fresh Meat: A Ghost Story marked the end of era for Leslie and to a certain extent the adult industry as a whole with the film being one of the most original and surreal works to come out of the realm of adult film.