Director: Christopher Rage
Videography: Frank Ross; Gary Jacinto
Digital Remastering & Expanded Edit by Gary Carlton
Year: 1983 (orginal), 2005 (expanded edit)
Length: 55 Minutes (orginal cut) 92 minutes (expanded edit)
Condoms: No

From the SPUNK Video valuts comes the original gay group sex video, now digitally remastered and presented on DVD. Christopher Rage's Orgy remains a pioneering work, and served as the inspiration for many party videos that came well after it.

Here's how the original press release decribed the video --

"Christopher Rage's ORGY is a descent into the fantasy-filled world of orgiastic sex. It is a seemingly endless tangle of arms and legs, cocks and asses, with an extraordinary variety of attractive men. Each of the performers was extremely excited at the prospect of joining eight of the hottest men in the world for several hours of uninhibited lovemaking, and the excitement fills the videotape from beginning to end. The video techniques involved are unlike any that have ever been released and the incredible life-like quality of video lends an authenticity to Christopher Rage's ORGY that enhances the eroticism enormously."

In January 1983, Christopher Rage was at the beginning of his pornmaking career. ORGY, his sixth film, was also his most experimental to date, getting out of the sex club or bar (or most frequently, out of Rage's apartment!) and making use of a traditional soundstage studio, two cameras, and modern real-time editing equipment. It is that editing equipment, in retrospect perhaps overly utilized, that caused the greatest criticism of ORGY, as the film tends to jump from scene to scene, mixing up portions, and seemingly interspersing footage from one scene to another. Only after reviewing the source footage did it become apparent that scenes were intentionally interspersed - -and in one case, two scenes filmed simultaneously, making an interesting use of the two-camera shoot.

Rage was the first gay pornographer to use modern video technology, in this case, videotape and the online editing booth. His cuts were sometimes quick, sometimes slow, sometimes well-timed and at other times (well, charitably) out of place. In particular, the wipe, a technique widely used in film but a transition that took years to reach television, was clearly one of his favorite transitions. Rage's edit was experimental and revolutionary for porn. He later said, "It's really the editing that gives them their shape and form and any concept." Impressive, given that ORGY was taped in a single evening, with only mere seconds of on-the-street footage shot at a later date edited in.

ORGY was also one of the first films Rage made and licensed certain rights to. In particular, the most popularly-distributed (first on Beta, then on VHS) version of ORGY is widely criticized as being cut up, the best parts removed, and generally, butchered. This restoration is of Rage's original cut, with specific elements replicated exactly as they appeared on the versions Rage himself sold. The source footage contained extensive additional material, and even an exterior shot of Colon Topor on a Manhattan rooftop looking over the city, used in the commercial edit, but omitted here simply because Rage did not use it in his "personal" version.

The expanded edit, then, makes use of the additional and extensive footage that never made it into either Rage's edit, nor the commercial edit sold throughout the 80's and 90's. In creating the expanded edit, it was as though looking through a lens at the scenes captured more than 20 years ago, but with today's eye for transition and flow. The real time edits that Rage made were cemented into the source footage, and were both difficult to work around, and at the same time, pleasing to work into a longer version. In researching ORGY, I quickly realized Rage's use of video technology which I initially found annoying and disconcerting ultimately won him great praise and accolades. More than that: Rage gave definition to a whole genre of porn.

It was - and is - those wipes, cuts and jumping from scene to scene that give ORGY the feel of an orgy. It's not all smooth fucking and sucking; in real life, there are stops and starts, fits of peak and moments of sheer boredom. Rage summed up his approach to ORGY saying, "The real good sex performers, as far as I'm concerned, are people who really want to do something. And the ones I connect to best are the ones who want to do something a little different than they can do [in West Coast porn] - whatever that is! ...It's the performers' desires that start the piece." However, it's the director's desires that bring it all together and finish it, transforming it into porn - and not just a collection of disjointed clips and writhing bodies. And that is something.

I don't really know where to begin with this film. Let me retract that statement, I will begin with an apology. I must apologize to the readers of this review because I have no idea who is who in this film. Unlike films of today where a performer's name and image is usually given in the beginning or final credits, names of performers are all that is given in this film. Through internet research I have discovered who Colon Topar is, but for the rest of the cast I may as well play pin the name on the actor. So I apologize for not being able to use more than one name during this review.

Orgy was released back in 1983 and from the research I've done on this film many consider it a classic of gay porn. To be honest I was actually quite surprised by how much I enjoyed Orgy. As soon as I got home after being given Orgy to review the first thing I did was skim the film on fast-forward. Let's just say I wasn’t impressed with the little I saw. Now that I've watched the film in its entirety, what I enjoy most is the fact that it isn't as polished as porns made nowadays. The sex in this film is anything but continuous. There are pauses and awkward moments that are usually edited out of current films. This realness gives the film character and it's exciting to watch men have sex without the feeling that someone off screen is coaching them so that the action can continue smoothly. What's hotter than seeing men having real sex? Isn't that the reason we buy porn in the first place? I must also add that it's enjoyable to watch a condomless film where the sex is priority and not the cumshot.

All the performers are of thin physique. No one is overly worked out. Most have some facial hair and they're attractive in a very authenic way. The focal point of this movie is Colon Topar, who's a man's man if I ever saw one. He pretty much symbolizes the look of all the other men in the film and I'm not saying that because I don't know any of the other performers names. Topar is the most attractive and sexually aggressive of all the men in the bunch. Most of the men just stand there while getting their dicks sucked, but Topar places both hands on his partners head and thrusts his cock into their mouths.

As Topar fucks a masked man, director Christopher Rage keeps the focus on Topar's great ass. Rage uses close-ups very sparingly, which allows for a fuller view of all the action, though the camera work can be a little distracting as well. Scenes are spliced into something of a montage. While getting into one scene another scene all of a sudden cuts in, this continues even into the actual orgy itself. Some will find this annoying and distracting while others will chalk it up to realism, since, in a true orgy so much is going on it's hard to keep one's focus.

Orgy for the most part is a fun ride. Anyone into classic porn would surely enjoy this film.

Randy Stewart is a young professional who loves porn and loves sharing his ideas on porn. Throughout the years, he has collected an astounding 250+ porn titles. At the moment, he is trying his hand at writing fiction, primarily short stories. His other passions are cooking, shopping, tennis and drinking.