Dildo Heaven, which just screened at Fantastic Fest is a restoration of the “Queen of Sexploitation” Doris Wishman’s (A Night to Dismember), charming penultimate “Nudie Cutie” (All top, no bottoms) romp, which she shot when she was in her late 80s and living in Miami, Florida working at a sex shop. That finished film would then premiere at the New York Underground Film Festival, just months before her passing due to lymphoma and be released posthumously on video in 2002. Given this is a restoration of a SOV film from original masters, Zach Clark who did the restoration is very quick to put away any AI talk, with a titlecard before the film that reads:
This new digital restoration of Dildo Heaven was reconstructed in 2K from its two Betacam SP tape masters. No AI technology was used in its creation.
There’s a lot to unpack here, I mean other than Muscle Distribution letting folks know they didn’t fuck with AI, which was honestly my first thought when I heard this was going to be a “restoration”. Instead of using the algorithm to smooth every piece of analog static out, they are embracing the limitations and imperfections of the dated technology and the patina tape puts on an image. It’s a very purist philosophy and one given the countless garish and super slick AI upscales I’ve seen online, one that I agree with 110%. By using AI on a restoration such as this, not only are you doing something to the film that the director didn’t cosign, but the limitations of the format is part of its charm and what makes this such a welcome oddity given hard-core was the norm at the time.
Now to the film, from the one minute opening theme song, about you guessed it – dildos – with the hum dinger of a line “it’s HIV Negative”, which plays against the same four second tilt shot of the sky over and over, Dildo Heaven feels channeled from another time. The 79 minute film follows three female roommates (no busty blondes here!) Beth, Lisa and Tess – all out to seduce their bosses and their misadventures. We also have their horny neighbor Billy, a harmless peeper, who gives Doris the ability to randomly insert loops from other films into her own, as Billy goes a peepin’. Everything is played very playful, comedic and surprisingly tame and transpires to a bopping sixties soundtrack. The title of the film comes from the women’s good ol’ fallback, which we see as more of a gag here and not in practice, since there’s no penetration.
While the performances are what you’d expect from the sub-genre, without getting too egregious, the narrative works for the most part – and the camp on top is the spoon full of sugar that makes this quirky little oddity as fun as it is. This paired with its “awe shucks” 50’s dialog and blue “dad jokes”, which are definitely from a different time, but not in that weird creepy racist uncle kind of way – offer up a swinging good time that’s careful not to overstay its welcome. The restoration here works to present not only the best possible version of the film, but to highlight its midcentury sensibilities trapped within its gonzo 2000’s VHS timecapsule. So if you’re a fan of the tamer, yet saucy fare from 42nd, this is definitely a guilt free treat worth seeking out.
