Pandora's Mirror (1981) User Reviews (4)

Costello's Masterpiece

[Nodriesrespect · 10/10 · 21 May 2006]

The best of Shaun Costello's comparatively big budget period (HOT DREAMS being the competition), PANDORA'S MIRROR also stands as the finest TWILIGHT ZONE type adult film ever made, achieving a sustained eeriness right from its opening frames through deliberate pacing, exceptionally beautiful cinematography (credited to "Paolo Coeli") and Costello's by now exceedingly familiar record collection (Bernard Herrmann's VERTIGO theme, a couple of Mike Oldfield tunes in addition to newer selections like Pino Donaggio's music from De Palma's CARRIE and the traditional "Woman of Ireland" made popular by Stanley Kubrick's BARRY LYNDON) plundered for soundtrack purposes.

To escape her nagging friend Liz (Sandra Hillman, also in Cecil Howard's FOXTROT), pretty and apparently well to do Pandora (Veronica Hart a/k/a Jane Hamilton, a genre legend who should need no further introduction) rushes into an antiques shop where she stumbles across a gorgeous standing mirror that immediately captures her interest. Though the shop owner (character actor Frederick Foster, who had a bit part in Costello's BEAUTY and whose slightly hammy style perfectly suits the material) tells her the looking glass is quite worthless and not even for sale, Pandora feels compelled to return on her own and gaze into the mirror as it magically reveals its history. A present by an elderly Civil War era nobleman (Foster plays small parts in each of the movie's erotic episodes) to his neglected young wife Lydia (Tiffany Clark, whose tan lines seem somewhat out of place for the period), with a frame carved from an oak struck by lightning (explaining its enchanted nature), the mirror inspires lustful intentions in all who look into it. For Clark that means a trio of drunk and horny soldiers (Roy Stuart, Rod Pierce and Marc Valentine) who give the wench the mauling she's been pining for.

1930's Hollywood is up next, with pampered screen diva Veronica Barrett (camp queen Marlene Willoughby in a riotously funny turn) initiating the new make-up girl (Lacey Smith) with the aid of her most recent fiancé (underrated Dave Ruby, so memorable in Ron Sullivan's unjustly overlooked NASTY GIRLS), Cuban butler (Jack Houston) and chauffeur (Bill McKean, the weaselly little guy who was elbow deep into Tiffany Clark in Gerard Damiano's SATISFIERS OF ALPHA BLUE). Broadway in the '70s provides the setting for naive Grand Rapids, Michigan resident Bonnie Lemay's (Hillary Summers, billed as "Heather Gordon", from Sullivan's BUDDING OF BRIE) "I'll do anything" audition for predatory producer Barbara Mellon (Celeste Bon) who tears into her lesbian lover (Kandi Barbour, the girl with the strangest looking breasts ever in porn) while Bonnie gets to strut her stuff on stage with matinée idol Bob Randall (Ron Hudd).

Finally, Foster takes his innocent wife Alice (ethereal Merle Michaels, looking the part), wearing white gloves and shoes, down to a very different kind of Wonderland, the notorious Hellfire Club. Michaels is fed to the wolves as an impromptu orgy gets underway, instigated by Queen Annie Sprinkle (who has never looked more stunning) and performed by the likes of Robin Sane (sporting a bizarre two-tone hairdo), Ron Jeremy, rotund filmmaker Carter Stevens and an appealing submissive credited as "Diane May", who played Bobby Astyr's dental assistant in Costello's AFTERNOON DELIGHTS. While Pandora's all caught up in the mirror's sexual history, her boyfriend Peter (Jamie Gillis) seeks solace with the conniving Liz for a scene that has her practically devouring him, one of the most astounding displays of pure animal lust this reviewer has ever witnessed. Pandora gets to fulfill her own fantasy with the bodybuilders (George Payne and Jerry Butler) she's been ogling on the rooftop across from her apartment while the looking glass does what its name implies, gazing back, waiting to pounce…

Not without its rough spots, like occasionally weak acting (Clark is particularly wooden), this haunting adult film remains one of the best to come out of the genre's Golden Age. Costello has taken the utmost care with every aspect of production. Film scholars should pay close attention to his exquisitely composed imagery, especially in the Hollywood and Hellfire Club sequences, enhancing the movie's downbeat mood with lighting and camera placement. His formal training as a filmmaker finally paid off and this sophisticated masterpiece is the culmination of a fine career. As if he realized this, he would call it quits after just a few more flicks, ending on a distinctly minor note with 1983's tired HEAVEN'S TOUCH.

It has a plot! It has variety!

[Mentat-5 · 8/10 · 25 September 1999]

This film is one of the better adult films of any age. In it, Pandora becomes entranced with a mirror which displays the sexual activities of its past admirers. The acting is better than in many other adult films, and there are enough location shots to support the suspension of disbelief -- unlike most straight-to-video adult movies of more recent vintage. The different scenarios keep the action lively. My wife even enjoys this one!

Thumbs Up

[rmax304823 · 23 July 2003]

This one isn't bad as skin flicks go. The production values are high anyway. One of the actors even knows how to jump a horse over a low barrier. The plot is episodic -- aren't they all? -- but linked by a central theme, a mirror that was struck by lightning three hundred years ago or something and reflects some of the encounters of its previous owners.

The acting is what you'd expect. I can't identify most of the performers, and it's been a long time since I've seen it, but Veronica Hart wouldn't be entirely out of place in a part in a movie designed for a more general audience. And Hart's friend and rival has an appealing goofy quality and is given the best lines, including one that contains a reference to Olivia Newton John's gynecologist. Aside from her quirkiness, she's quite beautiful in a non-Hollywood way and constantly wears an expression that occupies some middle territory between pain and amusement.

Jamie Gillis is a zany laff riot. He can't act and looks like a schlub. I remember reading an interview in which he was asked what the rewards were for appearing in skin flicks and he was quite honest about the whole thing -- he got to make love to girls who were so beautiful they wouldn't look twice at him if they passed him on the street.

There's a gorgeous old Cadillac in the 1930s episode. The musical score, lifted from existing material, is outstanding. I don't know who chose it but he or she either looked hard for this stuff or has odd tastes. It begins with a beautiful, sad ballad on the Irish pipes and progresses through some appealing 1930s jazz to more ominous sounding modern pieces.

More thought (and money) has gone into this production than into most examples of the genre, but the genre itself is limited in what it can do, aesthetically speaking. Since it's a hardcore pornographic movie you must have explicit sexual encounters every few minutes. It would take a genius to make this format both physically stimulating and poetic, and the available geniuses were all on vacation when this was put together. The format suffers from the same limitations as an action movie or a war movie or a slasher movie or any other typical member of a well-known genre. The unavoidable question is: what do you fill in the gaps with, between sexual encounters, car chases, combat scenes, or horrifying murders? They're still working on the answers.

Reflections-

[melvelvit-1 · 10/10 · 22 May 2015]

Sultry Veronica Hart plays Pandora, a NYC gal who wanders into an East Village antique shop one afternoon and becomes mesmerized by an old mirror in which she sees sex acts taking place. She's gotta have it but the proprietor tells her it's not for sale ...although she can take it home for a day or two if she likes. Back at her apartment, Pandora watches the mirror's history unfold- it was carved during the American Revolution from an oak tree struck by lightning and she's nearly driven crazy from lust seeing its previous owners have sex through the centuries. Among the vignettes are one from the Revolution, one about a gangster, and another about an old-time Hollywood star. It's a high-end XXX film with a beautiful leading lady, impressive cinematography, a soundtrack that includes the VERTIGO score (as well as "Ommadawn Part One"), some highly-charged erotic action and, best of all, an eerie ending with Pandora getting "sucked" into the mirror to become its latest tale as it goes back on display in the antique shop. It's the perfect second feature for Jonas Middleton's XXX "porno chic" horror yarn, THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (1976).

I actually met the lady -briefly- back in the early '80s at a strip-mall opening of a video store when they were all the rage. I couldn't believe how petite she was and she looked gorgeous in a gold-glitter knit sweater and jeans that were spray-painted on like THE HITCHHIKER's. Ms. Hart was wide-eyed and bushy-tailed, darting here, there, and everywhere, tossing her curly dark mane about. She was definitely "on" and looked genuinely surprised when I told her why I loved PANDORA'S MIRROR but once it became clear I wasn't buying WANDA WHIPS WALL STREET (the VHS she was hawking), she didn't stick around me and my friend much longer. Before she signed photos for us and scampered off, she did say she studied acting in England and appeared on the London stage as "Randee Styles". The autographed pic ("To _____ , you make me hot and randy -keep it up! Love Veronica Hart xxx") hangs in my den to this day.