SCORE UNCENSORED VERSION (Blu-ray)

by Jason 

 SCORE was originally a hit play on Broadway in 1971 before Radley Metzger turned it into an early piece of “high class erotica”. It’s the story of swinging married couple Elvira (Claire Wilbur, reprising her role from Score’s original Broadway production) and Jack (Gerald Grant, Eaten Alive)who are bored with their usual hookups and casual encounters. Looking for a challenge, they decide to try and seduce Betsy (Lynn Lowry of THE CRAZIES, and SUGAR COOKIES) and Eddie (Calvin Culver, BOYS IN THE SAND) an innocent younger couple and make a bet out of it. Betsy grew up going to Catholic school and is extremely naïve about everything around her, while her husband Jack more emotionally confused.

The two couples get together for a nice dinner which Jack and Elvira have planned in order to start their same-sex conquests. The first part in the corruption of Betsy an dEddie is to get them to loosen up and relax with some pot. Betsy has never done any drugs and naively keeps asking “Are we stoned yet?” With inhibitions lowered, a costume trunk is brought out and Jack starts discussing how he wishes he could have been a sailor,deceptively getting Betsey to reveal she’d like to be a model and Eddie to reveal how he wishes he could’ve been a cowboy. The trunks opened and Jack dons a sailor suit, Betsy is convinced to put on a piece of sexy black lingerie and Eddie convinced to put on a pair of jeans and a cowboy hat. Elvira leaves briefly and comes back wearing a revealing nun outfit.

The second act of corruption begins with getting Eddie and Betsey to split up with Elvira taking Betsy upstairs and Jack and Eddie going out and later returning to hang out down stairs. Jack calls Elvira from downstairs reminding her that it’s nearing midnight and if they’re going to score they have to do so before then or one of them will lose their bet. Elvira and Jack both tell their captivated guests a similar story. Elvira tells Betsy how before they were married, Jack once told her “I’d climb aboard a porcupine if it struck my fancy.” and Jack tells Eddie howElvira once said “I’d hop in the sack with a porcupine if itstruck my fancy.” It doesn’t take long before both Jack and Elvira bring out Amyl Nitrate and both score.

SCORE is an amusing movie with humorous campy dialog and an undeniably 70's look and sound. The acting is well done with a few stiffly delivered lines here and there. The erotic aspects of the Uncensored Version are a bit on the uneven side due to hostility between the 2 lead actresses off camera. It is revealed by Lynn Lowry in her interview the hostility was her own fault because she discussed her salary on the plane ride to Croatia with the other actors, and she later found out she was making more than all of them. The sexual scenes of the women together are never more explicit than a softcore skin flick with mirrors often being used to distort and hide parts of the picture. However the male sex scenes are highly explicit and very much in your face. There are no doubts about what is happening on screen as the 2 male actors are engaging in actual felatio and more. If you have qualms about seeing such things, then you might prefer to see the Theatrical version of the film which Cult Epics is releasing on DVD and Blu-Ray on October 26^th,2010. I’m unsure if all the feilatio is cut, but I do not have acopy of the film to compare. This release by Cult Epics is the first time the film has been made available uncropped and fully uncut.

The Blu-Ray presentation of SCORE is visually acceptable with fine film grain appearing throughout themovie. It doesn’t appear there was any major digital clean up doneto the picture which means there is dirt, hairs, and marks that popup on the screen from time to time, but none of it is too distracting. The picture isn’t super sharp and there are not a ton of fine little details popping off the screen which leads me to believe the DVD may be a good enough viewing experience for the average viewer. There is only 1 audio option which is a regular Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono track instead of a lossless master audio track. The Dolby 2.0 audio is clear and the dialog is perfectly audible at all times, so you won’t have to worry about constantly adjusting the volume. Unfortunately there are no subtitle options available. The Blu-Ray is recommended to media enthusiasts or those with larger TV screens.

The extras for SCORE consist of a commentary track with director Radley Metzger and film historian Michael Bowen. I did not have the chance to listen to it entirely, but it sounded more like an interview than a normal commentary. “On the Set of Score” is a semi-documentary about the filming of Score comprised of behind the scenes footage from the movie shoot. It has a voice over narration discussing the actors, filming locations i nCroatia, Radley Metzger’s handling of multiple duties for the film, and provides information on some of the cast since filming. “Keeping Score with Lynn Lowry” is a new interview with Lynn where she discusses her previous film Sugar Cookies as well as Score and her memories of her co-stars, about filming, and the rift between her and Claire Wilbur. The only other extras are a trailer for Score and 2 other trailers for upcoming Radley Metzger titles from Cult Epics, Camille 2000 and The Lickerish Quartet.

Without the slipcover on the Uncensored Version of SCORE, the front cover appears to be identical to the Theatrical Version. The only way to tell what version you have is by looking in the Special Features section on the back cover. The Uncensored Version will say “Never before released Uncensored, Uncut version” “Includes 7 minutes of additional adult scenes. ”The disc does say Uncensored Version under the title if you’re looking at buying an open or previously viewed copy. Overall Cult Epics has done a fine job putting together a package for Radley Metzger’s Score that fans of vintage erotica will want to checkout.

SCORE is now released and available in DVD and BD and available on Amazon. The theatrical release is also currently available in DVD and BD. For more information, visit Cult Epics website.