The Zone (1997 Video) User Reviews (2)

In(side) the Kobe/zone

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 13 February 2023]

No pun(s) intended - and no relation to a Kobe Bryant (I assume strongly as to not use another .. hard pun). I did not expect to find a movie like this online - at a streaming site. Not a big name site that is, but still - I was caught by surprise. I did fast forward a bit - but not because of the explicit content, but because I wanted to watch a different movie alltogether.

Anyway, the movie that starts off with getting on and off ... and in and out ... well make no doubt about it, it does let you know early on, what is what ... and that is anything goes and anyone is going to do it with anyone. At least that is the feeling of it. And if you are in the zone, why wouldn't you? In the movie world and in the adult movie world even more, there are no restrictions and no illnesses or other things to think about.

Well apart from drug issues and all around bad guys trying to get you. But even that is more a side note. So after a quite ... well quick "encounter" to begin the movie with, we get to see a blonde who seems to like to watch other people climaxing - there is no other way of putting it. I assume you have not heard as much moaning as there is going on in the first 10 minutes of it - I also assume that you either have no issues with graphic depiction of people ... well doing it - if you do, better stop watching it. Even if you fast forward, you won't be able to escape the ... well sexy bits.

After the club scene we get introduced to the mentioned Kobe woman - I am guessing the Tai is a nod to her heritage/land of origin. Not subtle but then again, nothing about this movie is subtle. After she is being rescued, she watches her rescuer being orally ... well another woman is having fun with him - and not only is she not shocked, she does join the fun (as people do).

I mean I would talk about suspension of disbelief, but do I really need to? Also the version they had on was 80 minutes long and not 100 - still nothing softcore about it. While it may not be about the size (I've been told), there might be things missing in the version I saw ... I can't imagine what ... although it did feel like some story elements where a bit rushed ... couldn't tell if it was on purpose or if some things still needed ... filling! Sorry I had to - they made me do it ... not that. Although I wouldn't have ... let's not go down that (rabbit) hole though.

Ok enough puns - and make up your own if you want. This serves a purpose and I assume if you are into it, you will find a lot to be excited about ... come on, you know I had to do one more? If you didn't than you haven't read my reviews .. yet ... come enjoy (yes I did it again - much like everyone in this movie - but differently)

Ambitious melodrama

[lor_ · 17 October 2022]

An ambitious melodrama by Paul Thomas for Vivid, "The (Sex) Zone" is more laudable for what it attempts rather than what it achieves. Released in several contrasting versions it is definitely worth seeing in spite of obvious flaws and overreach.

Dyanna Lauren stars and is impressive, portraying a beautiful, successful woman who insists on her independence, preferring hanging out nightly in an extremely seedy sex club The Zone, indulging in decadent, any thing goes (and dangerous) sex rather than settling down with anyone for the so-called normal life. Much of the footage takes place at The Zone, a sort of lower depths where beauty mixes with scuzzy folk and the mood is oppressive as sex is depicted as something dirty (of course in porn terms that's a plus rather than turnoff, supposedly).

The far-fetched screenplay centers on three main characters who accidentally come into contact with each other: Lauren, a beautiful but forlorn drug addict played by contract star Kobe Tai, and Mickey G as a too good to be true hero who like Kobe is also down and out. The theme of their living a life of independence (clearly constrained by their bad choices and circumstances) is nicely contrasted with how fate throws them together, though Thomas fails to make their gradually becoming a "team" credible.

Singular villain is Steven St. Croix, a character way too broadly depicted, as rotten to the core and with his sleazy pair of minions giving the three principal characters a hard time. While it is the immersion scenes set in The Zone that get one's attention, it is the trio's personal travails that bring the movie to life.

At least three quite different versions of "The Zone" exist: a softcore version shown way back when by the Playboy Channel, with a dialogue plug even included in the script plugging Playboy TV (and I recall PT's movies being the best features shown on that soft-X cable outlet back in the '90s). The full-length XXX version which emphasizes the group sex The Zone segments, which oddly were sort of re-created in Kayden Kross's recent hit "Drive" with Angela White, and finally the chopped-up typical Vivid DVD reissue which puts the original movie's final scene at the beginning, and tacks on a quite poor phony "shocker" ending instead, while running half an hour shorter.