The one and only XXX take-off of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, courtesy of the prolific pornmeister Shaun Costello (credited as “Amanda Barton”). It’s become pretty obscure nowadays, but THE PASSIONS OF CAROL did at least aim higher than most 1970s porn features, and is said to have been a success during its initial NYC run.
On Christmas Eve Carol Scrooge (Merrie Melodie), of the female oriented porn outfit Beaver Publications, is chewing out an underling, one Bob Hatchett (Jamie Gillis), for featuring limp penises in an X-rated calendar. Following this Carol and a secretary elect to jointly “audition” a horned-up male model, scored by a rockified rendition of “Tubular Bells.”
That night Carol is visited by the ghost of Lance (Marc Stevens), a former partner who “died at my desk with a hard-on.” He laments that “there’s nobody that gives good blow jobs in Heaven,” and informs Carol that she’ll be visited by three spirits—the first of which, the Ghost of Christmas Past, promptly turns up and whisks her away to a spectral landscape. There she views a scene from her “childhood,” with the “kids” played by grown-ups who strip down and do naughty things.
Next she’s visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present, a flamboyant fellow with a blue afro. Aiming to show her how Christmas is celebrated by those less fortunate than herself, this ghost takes Carol to the home of Bob Hatchett, who’s seen talking with his wife (Kim Pope) about his employment, which concludes with—you guessed it—a tryst, set to renditions of several iconic Christmas tunes.
The Spirit of Christmas-Yet-to-Come, a hooded creep who doesn’t speak, turns up next. This personage takes Carol to NYC’s 42nd Street in its sleazy heyday, and zeroes in on a hooker who happens to be a future incarnation of Carol. As such she enthusiastically services a John, who she sees off with the refrain “You know honey, you’re a rotten fuck!” This scares the here-and-now Carol into promising that “I’ll be the best person I can possibly be…I’ll never be mean again!”
That Shaun Costello, working from what he claimed was his first-ever finished script, had pretentions to art (or artiness) is evident in the dissolve-heavy opening credits sequence and assorted visual quirks (distorted mirror reflections, etc.). There are some genuinely affecting elements, such as the pornographic wallpaper to which Costello cuts during the Ghost of Christmas Past sequence, and the hotel room lit by flashing neon that figures in the haunting climax.
The script, which Costello claims was the first he managed to finish, offers up some imaginative wrinkles on Charles Dickens’ iconic tale, though not nearly enough for my tastes. The film, in short, is above average in the porno field but far below in just about every other.
Vital Statistics
THE PASSIONS OF CAROL
Ambar Productions
Director/Screenplay/Editing: “Amanda Barton” (Shaun Costello)
Cinematography: David Measles
Cast: Merrie Melodie, Kim Pope, Jamie Gillis, Arturo Millhouse, Kevin Andre, Helmuth Richler, Rose Cranston, Daniela Di Orici, Angela Dermer, Marc Stevens, Sonny Landham, Alan Barow, Stuart Dickerson, Alan Grodin