{"id":54480,"date":"2026-08-09T17:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T21:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=54480"},"modified":"2026-08-09T17:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T21:22:10","slug":"paradise-bungalows-1987-mvd-blu-ray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2026\/08\/09\/paradise-bungalows-1987-mvd-blu-ray\/","title":{"rendered":"Paradise Bungalows [1987] [MVD Blu-Ray]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A young man enters into a bet to bed his crush in the lethargic sex \u201ccomedy\u201d Paradise Bungalows. Written and directed by Francesco Lucente, the 1987 film comes to Blu-ray via MVD this month.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Paradise Bungalows, to be direct, is not a good movie. I know you\u2019re thinking, “Here’s one I haven\u2019t heard about before”. Neither had I when the disc came in the mail to check out. But I\u2019m willing to watch whatever crosses my eyes, whether it be just watching it because I want to or via a provided screener or review copy. And no matter how it gets to me, I will give an honest assessment. And I generally like things; I come into everything with a desire to enjoy it, and even for things I don\u2019t like, I hope others do. I didn\u2019t like Paradise Bungalows, an 80s Canadian sex comedy, but I\u2019m glad I gave it a chance. For it\u2019s always nice to find a good thing that fell through the cracks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whole screed finished, I can\u2019t recommend seeking out Paradise Bungalows, or as it\u2019s listed on IMDb, \u201cThe Virgin Queen of St. Francis High.\u201d I\u2019m not going to be mean, but I am going to dig into why. But it\u2019s a painful, dull slog of a film. Awkward in execution with the blandest performers this side of the border. I\u2019m placing the blame on the writer-director, Francesco Lucente (MVD<\/a> also recently put out his other films: Badland and Starbright). Something like this could work, and has worked countless times. But bland direction, particularly in obviously not pushing the actors, sinks anything that might push past any skeeviness of the plot. The basis of the plot is the icky, but formerly commonplace, \u201crace to score\u201d as a pair of guys, one \u201cnice guy\u201d and one rich jerk, try to bed the alternate titular character at the listed titular location.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joseph R. Straface is our lead, Mike.\u00a0 He sounds like Rick Moranis crossed with early MST3k seasons Joel Hodgson, very sleepy.\u00a0 So low energy, heavy-lidded, talking with marbles in his mouth. This is where I mean \u201cthe direction is the trouble.\u201d I refuse to believe a director said MORE and this is the level he got. Because nearly everyone is working at this level. Like watching a filmed read-through. But even with energy, he\u2019d be a lot to try to root for, as the schemes he uses to date and get Diane, played by a bubbly standout Stacy Christensen, to the Bungalows, and once there, are so shallow and see-through, and wildly pushy. There\u2019s no way she\u2019d fall for anything he\u2019s trying, stretching any credibility and never making the audience root for Mike.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It goes the way one would expect: Mike makes moves, Diane\u2019s friends are stuck up and fight with Mike\u2019s friends, the bully does his bull. In an interesting touch, it\u2019s mixed with Christmas Story<\/a>-esque dream sequences where Mike pretends to be James Bond. It\u2019s a nice touch but doesn\u2019t do much, and Sraface\u2019s dull acting keeps it from doing something more. Trouble is, overall, for a sex comedy, it\u2019s not funny or anywhere near the outrageous of the sub-genre, and it’s very tame.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bit ugly in shot choice, and, as a sign of its budget \u2013 as this is a zero-budget Canadian film: the titular location is a run-down nothing, and the teen-filled swimming hole is a block of mud. But gotta do what you can with the budget. But I\u2019m going to stop here. As I said, I\u2019m not going to be mean, but honest.<\/span><\/p>\n

But I will say: I\u2019m glad for MVD<\/a> and other boutique labels<\/a> for pulling films out of obscurity and giving them a release in our age. Films become obscure and lost for various reasons: distribution issues, released at the wrong time. And every film is someone\u2019s favorite. There may be some folks out there who saw this when they were younger, and it bounced around in their brain. Maybe they\u2019ll find it and relive a good memory. Or even as an adult, it might work for you. I hope it does.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Packaging<\/strong><\/p>\n

MVD<\/a> puts Paradise Bungalows on a single disc. It\u2019s in a standard Blu-ray case with a single-sided sleeve with that title.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Presentation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Something like Paradise Bungalows isn\u2019t ever going to look great, but it looks as good as it can here. It\u2019s not washed out like transferring Vestron<\/a>‘s old VHS to a Blu-ray, but not wholly sharp either. For some reason it is in 4:3 full screen. In English, with English subtitles.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Features<\/strong><\/p>\n

The disc contains only a trailer. MVD has included a soundtrack CD. Not bad music, honestly.<\/span>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paradise Bungalows, or the Virgin Queen of St. Francis High, is interesting as a curio of a misfire of a well-trod but now-gone sub-genre. It didn\u2019t land well with me at all, outside of sitting agog at some of the choices. But others might be into it, or for people in my circles, want to see it because of my reasons for dislike. Whatever the reason, it\u2019s out there. Good for MVD to release very niche films like Lucente\u2019s output. MVD recently put out Teenage Lovedolls, a movie that strikes right into my way; it won’t for others. That’s how it goes. As for this specific release, including a soundtrack is a nice choice if no features can be sourced otherwise.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A young man enters into a bet to bed his crush in the lethargic sex \u201ccomedy\u201d Paradise Bungalows. Written and directed by Francesco Lucente, the 1987 film comes to Blu-ray via MVD this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,12],"tags":[219],"class_list":["post-54480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collectors-den","category-movie-reviews","tag-comedy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54480"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54486,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54480\/revisions\/54486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}