The one thing that these two new shot-on-video Gourmet offerings have in common is the overall improvement of tape quality. Increasing their production values considerably, these new hour-long featurettes boast clear reproductions, sharp color contrasts and refined camerawork.

Unfortunately, the actual sex scenes in both cassettes do not live up to some of Gourmet's past achievements; most notably Women's Fantasies and this year's Valley Vixens. Shana Grant, the strawberry-blonde featured in Party Stripper, has a gorgeous body and performs her sexual interludes with a real enthusiasm rarely found, even with the young sex starlets. She's a real doll, handling her one extended sex scene with Eric Edwards masterfully. On the waterbed, he fondles her body parts with the greatest of ease and her orgasms seem natural. Let's face facts; Shana is a newcomer that will turn on even the most conservative viewer.

There's a side-story to this cassette; one that detracts from Shana Grant's sensuous presence. As a birthday gift for Edwards, Shana gets her friend Kimberly, a stripper, to perform an erotic strip-tease for him. Now this bleach blonde, who talks to her body parts while masturbating and chews on her own wet panties, is not the sexual dynamo that Grant is and her sex scene with Edwards at the close doesn't compare. The ménage-a-trois scene that seems a natural never does materialize.

Yet, Party Stripper, interestingly enough, reverses the common strategy of tease, arousal and then, pay-off. It starts out with a rather hot sex scene, settles into some extended teasing via the strip-tease, and finishes with more hardcore action.

Bizarre Women is more outrageous when you hear about it than when you watch. The star is a wooden dummy named Mr. Short Stud, who has no private parts, but who provides amusement for roommates Cara Lott and Dominique.

Lo and behind, Mr. Short Stud comes to lifein a fantasy sequence that gives no indication that it's a fantasy sequence. This midget has fun in some two and three way encounters. Unfortunately, Louis Short Stud, who's kind of chubby anyway, has some problems maintaining his wooden third leg. What starts out as a novelty, ends up a bore.

More interesting, though, is the fairly hot lesbian scene with Dominique and Cara Lott. They talk a lot, mostly about positions and shaving pubic hair. What did ya' think, El Salvador? But they shut-up enough to lick each other into ecstasy. It's a good, long encounter that foreshadows an arousing hour, but the scenes with stud kind of clog the middle.

The cassette ends with a nice group lesbian scene with plenty more conversation, but enough varied positions and encounters to keep up interested. (Note in passing: The only complaint I have with the women in these cassettes is the excessive use of make-up, which detracts from the overall naturalness of the performances. Shana Grant can come into my living room anytime, sans the heavy lipstick and blush.