Lilith Likes to Watch - SexWorld

Title: SexWorld Year: 1978 Starring:  Lesllie Bovee, Kent Hall, Kay Parker, Desiree West, Annette Haven, John Leslie. Director: Anthony Spinelli Synopsis: A bus tour takes its passengers to a place called SexWorld where they can live out their most secret desires during a weekend. - Via IMDB Lilith's Notes: Porn debut of Kay Parker. Has a theme song which helped it win Best Musical Score at the '79 AFAA.

"SexWorld! Do what you will. SexWorld! Come have your fill..."

Ah, fantasies. We all have them, whether or not we indulge them. SexWorld is an interesting experience because while watching it, you can't help but ask yourself, "What would my SexWorld be?" Such a rare thing, a porno that makes the viewer think.

SexWorld is an obvious riff on the original 1973 film Westworld. Several vacationers, with their own reasons, hop aboard a bus to the titular SexWorld, where every fantasy is catered to. Hidden away from the guests is a control room where a cadre of scientists assess, organize, and make those fantasies a reality. From consensual non-consent, to threesomes, to re-enacting scenes from more famous films, SexWorld aims to scratch any itch.

All of the scenes are set nicely, or made purposefully tacky and audacious. The SexWorld employees and guests pay lip-service to the more taboo fantasies people hold, like incest, while not exactly exploring them on screen.

We follow several guests through their SexWorld experience. A couple with intimacy issues, a painter who's married but pines for the woman in her paintings, a racist who secretly wants to get with a black woman, a woman who wants it rough, and a few others.

It's a surprisingly frank movie, with no-frills depictions of phone sex and mutual masturbation, and it pokes at power dynamics between a racist and a seductive black woman who manages to take his poorly chosen words in stride while seducing him, while somehow not debasing herself. Even in scenes I didn't care for, or the personal psychodramas that were playing out onscreen, the sex scenes were quite exceptional and honest. There were some particularly enjoyable lesbian scenes and a fun, hot threesome.

Though it's a land of fantasy, SexWorld does have its rules. Guests are not supposed to talk about their fantasy sessions with their spouses or significant others, and guests are to go to their sessions alone.

Two of the guests are a couple who have fallen out of passion for each other. Her fantasy is to be raped. She's taken to a room and is smacked around and forcefully fucked by a man. However, her husband goes looking for her and sees her through a two-way mirror and watches her session, completely breaking the rules. Even the employees of SexWorld point out that he's not supposed to be there.

Here's the thing: I like me some good voyeurism. I do like to watch, after all. That's more than just a title for a blog. But the wife was sure her husband wasn't there and that he would never know what she wanted. She felt safe and secure exploring her fetishes. He wasn't supposed to be there and he wasn't supposed to see that. I don't care if it's "what he needed". She didn't consent to sharing this with him. It was a breach of boundaries and a literal breaking of the rules. It set a bad taste in my mouth and I didn't like it.

Speaking of liking to watch, before Lilith Likes to Watch was even a concept, I did watch porno, and I did like it. Most of it.

One I absolutely did not like was Behind the Green Door which is widely considered a classic porno. I hated it. It was too up it's own ass, too repetitive, and just boring. So when one of the guests of SexWorld, Lisa, wanted to re-enacted a scene from Behind the Green Door I groaned and looked at the screen askance. First the spying husband, now this?

To my surprise, the scene was really well done. A man walks in, dressed like the African Stud from Green Door (turns out it's the actual actor, Johnnie Keyes reprising the role), and they fuck. It doesn't overstay its welcome, it doesn't resort to cheesy psychedelia, nothing. And Lisa has some impressive skills and grace with her tongue. It was a better version of Behind the Green Door than Behind the Green Door!

In the end, it's time for everyone to go home, having learned something about themselves or received something they deeply desired or required. Once the guests board the bus to return to reality, everyone in the control booth freezes except for one scientist. Was this her own personal fantasy? To rule over SexWorld as a God? Or was it just another day on the job?

In closing, I'd like to ask again: What would your personal SexWorld be? Would yours even be possible? Mine would probably involve certain creatures of myth and maybe also gas masks. And plague doctor masks. Plague doctor masks everywhere. And fancy hats.

Because that's my aesthetic.


LILITH'S SCORE: 3.5/5 - A bit better than fine.

NEXT TIME: We jump over to The Autobiography of a Flea.