Movie review - "Fantasm" (1976) **

The opening credits roll over the image of a naked woman masturbating – as she builds to a climax a European professor (John Bluthal) walks in the room and starts spurting gibberish. Australia’s most famous soft-core porn film places the same importance on humour as the ocker sex comedies. The professor takes the audience through a number of female sex fantasies, introducing each one with a lecture delivered in a humorous way.

There are ten segments: beauty parlour sex, group sex, food sex (courtesy of none other than John Holmes), rape (by a black boxer – the most unfortunate sequence), lesbian sex (the most genuinely erotic sequence), role reversal, teacher sex, invest, exhibitionism and sex with monk sex. Lack of willing actresses forced the filmmakers to shoot in Los Angeles, though it was made with Australian money and key creatives: producer Anthony I Ginnane, DOP Vince Monton, writer Ross Dimsey and director Richard Franklin. Very profitable on release.

The DVD includes some hugely entertaining DVD special features such as a featurette and commentary (!) from Ginnane.