Candy Cottage and The Harward Girls Review

Candy Cottage

A few months ago I reviewed a book by Kojo Black which contained two stories Candy Cottage and The Harward Girls. The book is unusual in several respects. The care with which it is written, the illustrations which are explicit without being lurid and the fact that the stories are mirrored in two R18 DVDs. The production of these DVDs is described within the book, after each story.

This all combines to make the book an interesting as well as arousing read.

So when we met the author at a trade show in July this year we were thrilled to get hold of a copy of each of the films – Candy Cottage and The Harward Girls.

The films have been available for some time and in the world of porn where new movies are emerging every week you might think that is a bad thing. However these DVDs are like the book, different from the mainstream and so stand somewhat apart from the rest of the offerings on the sex shop shelves.

I’ll begin with Candy Cottage, which describes the goings on within a house of decadent pleasures. Each scene follows the events depicted in the book and is narrated every step of the way with passages from it. The style of the production could be described as a little naïve. Production values are not super-high, but it shares that characteristic with a lot of porn. The direction is good, but falters occasionally, as does the lighting and camera work. These are not in themselves criticisms as I never found the occasional badly lit shot or inappropriate angle jarring, they merely added to the sense that you were watching something that didn’t conform to what most of the industry regards as the norm.

Candy cottage is an OK movie. Maybe be cause it’s a few years old, or maybe because the team behind it were just finding their feet it feels like a film with a much better movie trying to get out. The performers are refreshingly unconventional and not your usual porn movie fodder, seeming more natural and therefore adding quite a voyeuristic element to the DVD. Personally I preferred the written version of the Candy Cottage to the DVD, but I did enjoy the movie all the same just not as much as I had hoped.

The Harward Girls is a movie about a mysterious academy/finishing school for girls with a musical bent. And with a Head Mistress with an authoritarian streak, a fact which helps develop the student’s sexual repertoire as they study. Whereas the Candy Cottage falls a little short in execution despite its refreshingly independent approach The Harward Girls is a movie which more successfully conveys the atmosphere of the book.

Yes the movie has its faults but they are minor. Throughout the film the sense of discovery felt by the new student at the academy is successfully conveyed. I don’t ever expect a porn movie to incorporate a totally compelling narrative that sweeps me along and forces me to study every frame of the film. The sex will do that all on its own. However in The Harward Girls the narration, similar to that in Candy Cottage does go part way to creating a believable if fantastical plot which enhances your viewing pleasure.

Emphasising the female aspect of sexuality, discovery and a little discipline and domination (in the mildest sense) this film takes you to surprising places and is one that’s well worth watching if you are looking for something different from the carbon copy porn so widely available yet still want full-on hardcore sex.

Porn star spotters will notice a young Alicia Rhodes and Tony DeSergio in these two films.

If you read the book, you can now see the films. Certainly get hold of The Harward Girls if you can, as for Candy Cottage, well, it’s an interesting watch but not quite up to the standard of the Harward Girls. And beware, the DVD versions available online may be the softer 18 certificate, not the full-fat R18 so choose carefully when ordering.

Candy Cottage and The Harward Girls Review, Kojo Black, Sweatmeats,Jo Mason, Majella, Kylie-Baby, Taylor, Faith, Linda Murray, Dominique, Pete LeMeat, Tony Desergio, Storm, Alan Nielson, Lee, Lucy Law, Kelle Marie, Starr, Teonna, Karen Wood, Amelia, Jamie Woods, Liberty, Alicia Rhodes, Mark Stevens