Product Description

Director Tony Marsiglia and acclaimed erotica actress Misty Mundae team up again to deliver a harrowing remake of the shocking cult oddity from 1968. Chantal has just arrived in California to become a movie star. Beautiful, naïve and dangerously delusional, she wanders the boulevards looking for her first big break. There she meets Tracy, an actress-turned-prostitute, and the two of them begin an uneasy intimate relationship. Tracy warns of the harsh realities lurking beyond the glamorous façade of Hollywood, but Chantal s innocence makes her easy prey for monsters that inhabit the dark underbelly of the film business.


DVD Extras: Making of Chantal documentary; commentary with director and producer; commentary with director and star Misty Mundae; Misty Mundae Trailer Vault; Bonus feature film 1968 version of Chantal; commentary for 1968 version with Nick Philips and 42nd Street Pete; Nick Philips interview; Bonus featurette: These Girls are Fools (1956); Nick Philips Trailer VaultStarring Seduction Cinema icon Misty Mundae (SpiderBabe Cinemax, Bravo TV s 100 Scariest Movie Moments)Starring B Film and Penthouse Legend Julie Strain (Heavy Metal 2000, Black Dahlia Movie) Double Feature DVD Collection: Commentary, Interviews and More!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49067 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-11-13
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 240 minutes

Customer Reviews

Stars In Her eyes
Here's a DVD that's been `coming soon' for about three years. Thankfully, it's been well worth the wait because Seduction Cinema have put together a superb package. The main event is a remake of Nick Phillips' late 1960s "Chantal" and this 2-disc set has that original feature on its second DVD along with an interview with the director and an audio commentary with Phillips and 42nd Street Pete. There's also a short film called `These Girls Are Fools'.

The main course, though, is Tony Marsiglia's stunning remake which features an utterly superb central performance from Misty Mundae as the innocent, wide-eyed titular character who dreams of becoming a movie star. However, she soon finds that far from being laced with tinsel, Hollywood is loaded with manipulative predators all too eager to lend a helping hand.

In some ways, this is Marsiglia's most straightforward film in terms of storytelling. There's none of the confusing narrative that characterized his previous release, Sinful, or the more dreamlike sequences in the excellent Lust for Dracula (Director's Cut). However, there are one or two moments of weirdness. For example, having been turned away from her first port of call, Chantal decides to lower her sights and enters the bowels of a decrepit hotel presided over by the creepy Pablo (Tony Marsiglia). On finding that she doesn't have enough money for a room even in this hell-hole, Pablo offers her a deal: he'll keep her suitcase and belongings with him, but he'll allow her to take two items with her. "Not the pink ones," he rasps excitedly like an obscene phone caller in imminent danger of a heart attack.

There are fine performances from the supporting cast. Darian Caine as an aggressive lesbian photographer gives perhaps her best performance to date with Marsiglia favorite, Andrea Davis, as her co-defiler. They subject the witless Chantal to their forceful attentions in a powerful scene that is harrowing to watch. Julian Wells also turns in a fine performance. Here, she plays an actress wannabe who's already been put through the wringer and is now reduced to turning tricks on the street.

Also present on the DVD are a behind the scenes featurette and an interesting audio commentary from Marsiglia and producer, Michael Raso. However, the icing on the cake is a fascinating, separate audio commentary from Tony Marsiglia and Misty Mundae. Aside from the business of `Chantal', Misty speaks about her decision to stop making softcore films. She admits with refreshing honesty that since making Masters of Horror: Lucky McKee - Sick Girl, offers of acting work that she's been willing to undertake have not been numerous.

At one point, Marsiglia asks Misty about how she and her fellow actresses prepare for sex scenes and in a delightfully catty aside she mentions an actress whose name has been partially removed from the soundtrack:

Misty: Working with [this actress], she'd be like `oh no, I don't wanna do it that way. I have to be atop, I can't be abottom, and let's do the scissor thing because then we look really good. And make sure that you hold under my boob to cover my scar.'
Marsiglia: What did the director say?
Misty: Oh, pssh! The director of that movie? Not much!
Marsiglia: I don't think I've seen this one.
Misty: Good!

I think Misty is talking about The Erotic Mirror which, in my opinion, is not a bad piece of softcore entertainment. And the "scissor thing" does look good.

`Chantal', for me is a four star film, but the extra features give this package a five star rating. Misty Mundae fans should consider it a must-have.

Not your typical Misty Mundae flick
This is one of Misty Mundae's last exploitation skin flicks. Unlike most of her work, which is a lot of fun, her work with Tony Marsiglia is always more thoughtful. This film was made immediately after "Lust for Dracula". That movie was very confusing. This one makes much more sense, and I felt that I was watching an actual movie, only one with a lots of beautiful, naked women in it. That's very good. What kept this from being a five star film is that it is just such a downer, it kills the eroticism. There is a rape scene, where Andrea Davis rapes Misty while Darrian Caine gets the whole thing on film. In a standard Misty movie, all the above would happen without the rape, and it would be very hot. Instead, it's just painful to watch. Probably the best acting I've seen from Misty, she carries the movie on her slim shoulders. If you always wondered if Misty can act convincingly, this movie answers the question with a definite yes. If you enjoy seeing Misty kiss a bunch of hot naked women, trust me, that's not what this movie is about. Most of all, it made me sad that she has left this genre. She was the best there ever was.

good, but not worth $20+.
You should go into this movie realizeing what this movie is, an over the top exageration of an "innocent girl in the big cruel city" movie. Here is an example of the exageration. Early in the movie Mysti Mundae goes to what is supposed to be a swank hotel and tells the desk attendant that she wants a room for a week. The desk attendant tells her "that'll be 4k please", to which Mundae puts $4 down on the counter and closes her eyes and puts her hands out expecting the to get her room key, instead that attendant put a condemn on her hands.

After leaving the swank hotel, she goes to a sleazy hotel and meets up with a desk attendant who, I'm not sure how to describe this, acts like someone is standing on his oxygen tube. The cost of the room is $200. Mundae only has $122. So the attendant takes her $100 and also takes her bag of clothes (he does allow her to keep two articles of clothing), and tells her she has the room for 5 days. Latter in the movie after her 5 days are up, and someone else has moved into her room and she is outside the room crying while huddled on the floor, the new occupant of the room (a man) urinates on her.

Every scene in this movie is like what I just described. Everywhere Mudae turns, there are some new people there to use and abuse her and treat her like she dirt. It's no wonder that the poor innocennt girl does what she does at the end of the movie. Not to spoil the ending for you, but the ending involves an airplane.

I bought this movie because of the good review on this web site, and because of the bondage picture on the back of the dvd case. However, I spent $20+ on this and I think the price isn't correct for what you get. Granted, the second disc in this set has the original b&w Chantal movie (which I haven't watched yet), but this movie should sell from $10-$15. For $19.99 I was expecting something extraordinary. Of all this things this movie is, extraordinary is one of them.