The Erotic Witch Project IV:Lust in Space

The Erotic Witch Project IV:Lust in Space
Release Date: 2005
Genre: Fantasy|Horror
Director(s): John Bacchus (Playmate of the Apes)
Writer(s): John Bacchus (Vampire Vixens) & Michael Raso
Starring: Darian Caine, AJ Kahn, Jackie Stevens, Bethany Lott

“Okay, this is getting stupid!”
- AJ Kahn about fifty minutes into Lust in Space.

John Bacchus has directed almost twenty features for Seduction Cinema in less than a decade. Known as a man who can get the job done regardless of budgetary concerns, Bacchus has an eccentric sense of humor that has come into play during such films as Playmate of the Apes and Vampire Vixens. After splitting from Seduction for a year or two to form his own production company under his real name, Bacchus returned last year to shoot the fourth and final (?) film in the Erotic Witch Project series. Since there isn’t much of a market for Blair Witch spoofs these days, the film is being released under the title Lust in Space in two weeks. Like so many of his films, Lust in Space is a dirt-cheap softcore comedy that only manages to be funny half the time. It does, however, deliver plentifully on the softcore front.

Many years in the future, Colonel AJ Kahn and Captain Darian Caine (yes, Bacchus seriously calls them by their real names) travel back in time to Bacchusville, NJ in order to dispense the cure to the Erotic Witch virus that essentially destroyed the world. After a bout of sex, they land on Earth in 1999, but unfortunately they’re a few miles away from Bacchusville.

The rest of the film is hodgepodge of ideas that run the gamut of good, bad, and awful. Depending on your perception, the inclusion of new girl Alexia Moore, and her gigantic fake breasts, may be a good thing. This is a huge reprieve from Seduction’s time-honored belief that their actresses shouldn’t be surgically enhanced. Breasts are breasts, though, so I can’t really place this is bad or awful. What’s bad is Zombiez director Zachary Winston Snygg playing a crazy redneck. In films like Erotic Witch Project and Vampire Vixens, the character was kept to a minimal, but here, it’s on screen way too long. Thankfully, the awesomeness of John Fedele and the inoffensiveness of Duane Polcou (who does the on-set photography for Seduction) balance it out.

Then there’s the awfulness. Traditionally, EI’s sexy comedies have kept themselves girl-girl and left it at that. Why John Bacchus decided to incorporate an FBI agent, played by some random NYC area Guido-type, is beyond me. He gets not one, but two sex scenes in Lust in Space. When you consider that I typically fast forward through the sex scenes in these movies, it’s not the sex that bothers me. What bothers me is that the guy has no comedic talent, so it’s not like the shift to heterosexual sex was paid off with anything remotely entertaining.

Lust in Space is a disappointment, but what should raise your hopes is that Kinky Kong, Bacchus’ third movie back with the company, should be one of his best. Did I mention I have a part in it?
DVD: A behind the scenes featurette, an informative interview with Michael Raso, and an ‘Intimate Interview’ with Jackie Stevens and Alexia Moore that leads to a random sex scene. I have no idea what the point of this is, as it looks like Stevens and Moore were in town for an extra day and Bacchus decided to shoot a short with them.