Erotikus: A History of the Gay Movie

The birth, maturation and eventual proliferation of gay erotic cinema is chronicled in this dated but interesting documentary narrated by superstar porn director Fred Halsted. The film explores the beginnings of gay erotica with physique magazines of the '50s and '60s and its evolution onto the big screen with the "innocent" bodybuilding films from Apollo and Guild Studios. The film's historical approach to the evolution of gay filmmaking goes from the suggestive to the explicit when the film segues into a sexual montage of highlights from several hard-core films of the 1970s. Halsted's humorous recounting of this "art form" keeps it compelling but unfortunately can't explore the explosion of male adult films into the '80s brought about by the home video revolution. De Simone made the film under the pseudonym L(ance) Brooks.