A Latin American erotic import from the early 1980s, Porno bills itself as “three incredible tales of five insatiable women,” and an “uncut, unbridled” film that it “beyond your wildest dreams.” In reality, it’s a meandering softcore triptych, in which much stuffy, didactic dialogue is laboriously worked through, with a few weird, gonzo flourishes tossed in for effect.

Co-directed by David Cardoso (who also costars), John Doo and Luiz Castellini, the film weaves together three thematically linked (one supposes) but otherwise discrete tales. The first is your fairly standard lesbian seduction/rebuffing, in which a pair of co-eds thumb through some erotic literature and magazines, and work their way, after a discussion of intact hymens, to the shower. The second involves a committed couple, shower voyeurism, and a nun’s habit. The final segment, easily the strangest, is a bizarre portrait of distorted desire that could easily stand to be (no pun intended) fleshed out to stand-alone feature-length, if only it were placed in better hands. In this portion, a man and woman — each with their own problems with intimacy — submit to some gameplay, which eventually includes a grasshopper. Yes, like… a living grasshopper. The guy places it on the woman’s stomach and close to her nether regions, which drives her wild. I like to imagine that this enormously befuddled some Brazilian teenagers who surreptitiously caught the film back in 1981.

Housed in a regular plastic Amaray case, Porno comes to DVD presented in its original full frame aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with a Portuguese language Dolby digital mono audio track and newly translated optional/removable English subtitles. The transfer here is solid, free from any edge enhancement or artifacting. The film is partitioned into 13 chapters, but otherwise has no special features. To purchase the DVD via Amazon, click here. D+ (Movie) D (Disc)