DEPARTMENTS
5 EDITOR'S PIECE
7 FAN MALE
10 NEWSFLICKS
20 HERE COMES TROUBLE
BY WILL CLARK
See what kind of trouble SKINFLICKS' columnist Will Clark gets himself into.
46 CENTERPIECE
Argentinian stud puppy Javier Duran is the hottest thing to come out of Buenos
Aires since Evita. Photos by All Worlds Video.
60 VIRTUAL SEX WITH JIM BUCK
From the sleazy recesses of the 'Net, stud Jim Buck shows you where to get off!
86 CYBERGUIDE
Our handy bimonthly listing of porn star e-mail addresses and Web sites!
87 VIDEOGUIDE
Now you have no excuse not to buy the videos you like! VIDEO REVIEWS
12 SHOWCASE
Fallen Angel 2 by Titan Media FLICKS REVIEWS
22 HardBody 2000
by Odyssey Men Video
28 Sex Invaders
by Thor Productions
36 A Lesson Learned
by All Worlds Video
52 Time Cops
by Centaur Films
58 Powertool
by Catalina Video
66 Current Affairs
by Falcon Studios
74 Alex & His Buddies
by Marcostudio
79 QUICKFLICKS
Argentine Tangle (All Worlds); 101 Young Men (Bel Ami); "0" Is for Orgy
(Sex); "0" Is for Orgy: The Sequel (Sex); Aching for Punishment (Projex);
Bondage Buddie (Close Up); As Big As It Gets (West Hollywood); Blade's Real World:
The Men of Raleigh-Durham (Blade); The Big Thrill (Falcon); Three Brothers (New
Age); Straight White Male (All Worlds); Johan's Big Chance (Bel Ami); Four Card
Stud (Jocks); Impromptus (All Worlds); Swell (Titan); It's Raining Men (Studio
2000). SPECIAL STUFF
34 THE PROBIES
Catch the winners plus all the nominees of the 1998 Men in Video Awards.
42 PRODUCTION DIARY
Director Robert Kirsch takes you behind the scenes of Titan's Fallen Angel 2.
72 WEB EROTICA
Internet maven Butch Harris clicks around the Web in search of smut.
76 BEFORE THERE WAS LATEX...
Come with us as we revisit some classic videos from a more carefree time.
EDITOR'S PIECE
Here we are, wrapping up our 18th year. We've introduced a number of changes over
the year, but it wouldn't be complete without some kind of upheaval just to finish
things off. First, our long-time art director, Eddie Douglas, has decided to move
on. He leaves quite a legacy. Eddie singlehandedly turned SKINFLICKS from a simplistic,
one-picture-per-page picture book into a well designed, modern-looking magazine.
Although he will stick around to do a review or two in each issue, the demands
of maintaining a happy relationship keep him from continuing as art director.
We wish Eddie and his boyfriend, Helmut, the best of luck.
Coming in on his heels, however, are two new people. We have a new Editor, Freddie
Bob Andrews. Some of you may recognize the name from our other publication, HMR,
where Freddie Bob stepped in to give me a helping hand with his column, "Diary
of a Sex Fiend." Now more formally involved with the publications, Freddie
Bob will help turn my mutterings and ravings into delightful prose. Also joining
our ranks is Bertha Kuhl, our new art director. Bertha takes on the unenviable
task of making us look good. With her extensive background in art direction, we
can all look forward to a highly polished publication. Welcome aboard, Freddie
Bob and Bertha!
I received a video a few weeks ago that I was all set to review and print in this
issue. But after watching the video carefully (twice, actually) I became so angry
that I've decided not to review it but, instead, comment on it here. The movie
is Homogenized, and it was directed by Michael Zen. Why am I so disturbed? Because
of its horrible depiction of gay men, primarily. I've seen all of Zen's gay movies
(he also directs straight videos), and, in each of them, he depicts gays as severely
dysfunctional people. The first modern release was Bullseye, where the gay character
was a murderous cross-dressing psycho. This doesn't seem to be a very healthy
image. Still, we waited for his next release, Cockfight, where a homophobic gay
man kills another man because he has fallen in love with someone else. There's
nothing like the sight of blood to get me going. Continuing on, Matador was less
of a problem, although one of its characters was gored to death. This brings us
to Homogenized, where the character must be brainwashed into being gay a la A
Clockwork Orange, because — as we all know — no "sane" man
wants to be gay.
I find the imagery and depiction of gay men in Zen's movies to be appalling. Each
of his videos sends the message that being gay is wrong. Is Zen a self-loathing
homophobe himself who allows that to come through in his movies? I know from being
on his sets that he won't be in the same room as the cast when they are performing
sex; he often has others direct the sex scenes for him. This certainly sends another
disturbing message to me. The final thing that upsets me is that his own assistant
on the movie writes a column in a regional magazine (using another name) that
extols the virtues of Zen's production crew. Seems like a serious conflict of
interest to me. I noticed in a trailer for Homogenized that this same writer was
quoted as calling this the best movie he'd ever seen. Well, if I had worked on
the movie, I would probably say the same thing! In any case, although I haven't
reviewed Homogenized here, you can rest assured that it didn't rate very well
with me.
That aside, there are plenty of amazing movies in this issue. A case in point
is Titan Media's follow-up production, Fallen Angel 2: Descending, which showcases
some of the most amazing effects I've ever seen. Take a peek through the rest
of the issue, and you'll see: There's so much high-quality, positive entertainment
from which we can choose. Enjoy!
