Black Emanuelle's Box (1976 - 1977) - DVD boxset review at Mondo Esoterica

Emmanuelle (1974) was a revolutionary film - eschewing sleaze and vulgarity it was instrumental in introducing sex films into mainstream cinemas, when for years they had been relegated to the XXX houses. The film proved massively sucessful in France and across Europe and soon fans were clamoring for more. Seeing an opening in the market, producer Mario Mariani snapped up actress Laura Gemser who had just appeared in Emmanuelle 2 (1975) and cast her in Emanuelle Nera (1975) - changing the name (one M) to avoid rights issues.

The film was a big sucess, and as Laura Gemser became a star, quick thinking producers began to market her other erotic films as Black Emanuelle sequels - even quicker thinking producers decided to cut out the middle man and wrote their own 'official' sequel Emaneulle in Bangkok (1976), bringing in director Joe D'Amato who had already filmed the unofficial Emanuelle's Revenge (1975). Again the film was a sucess and in 1977 he worked with Laura Gemser to film Emanuelle Around the World, Emanuelle in America and Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, and later Emanuelle and the White Slave Trade (1978), with ever increasing levels of sleaze and degredation, from gang rape to beastiality. The character would continue to crop up ino the early 1980s, including Violence in a Women's Prison (1982) and Emanuelle Escapes from Hell (1983) - entries to the newly popular Women in Prision genre. However, with Gemser aging and Euro-cult cinema in decline, these would be the last appearances of the character, and aside from a few cameos into the early 1990s for Joe D'Amato, Gemser slipped into retirement.

Anyone famous in it?	Laura Gemser stars in all three films and would become an erotic icon in Euro-cult cinema for many years. A few familiar Euro-cult faces crop up throughout the films, but there are no star names.
Who is it for?	Fans of the Black Emanuelle series will want this set in a heartbeat. It should appeal to anyone who enjoys their erotica a little on the sleazy side.

Visuals	All the films are presented in original aspect ratios and anamorphically enhanced. Print quality is generally good, with sharp prints and minimal grain, there is minor noticable speckling throughout most of the films. A revelation compared to the previous bootlegs and video copies of these films.
Audio	All three films include good English and Italian tracks, both sound find and the English dub is well done.
Subtitles	Optional English subtitles on all films based on the Italian audio.
Extras	The discs include: Interviews with director Joe D'Amato and composer Nico Fidenco plus deleted/alternative scenes for Sister Emanuelle. See individual reviews for more details. Original theatrical trailers for all three films. The set includes a bonus CD containing the soundtracks to Black Emanuelle (1975) [not part of this collection], Emanuelle in Bangkok (1976) and Emanuelle Around the World (1977). Recorded in stereo, the sound quality is superb and it comes with a postcard insert listing the track names. The boxset also includes 6 postcard size reproductions of the film's posters.
Packing/availability	The discs come in three standard Amaray cases (the CD is included in the Emanuelle Around the World case) within a box. The front of the box opens up to reveal a nude publicity shot of Laura Gemser.
Region	Region 0 (ALL) - NTSC
Other regions?	Some of the films are available elsewhere although generally not in such good quality or complete prints.
Cuts?	The cut status of the films vary. Emanuelle Around the World is presented here in its softcore version, a XXX hardcore edit was also filmed and has been released seperately on DVD by Severin [details]. Sister Emanuelle is missing a couple of scenes that are presented in other versions, these are presented on the disc as deleted scenes taken from a low quality source. See the individual disc reviews for more.

Black Emanuelle's Box (1976 - 1977)

Summary

The Films - links to individual DVD reviews.

The DVDs

Summary