Falcon Studios founder Chuck Holmes once notoriously declared that he wasn’t in the porn business, he was in the box cover business. Before the internet, the idealized-versions of the god-like stars on the covers of oversized VHS tape boxes would call out off the shelves of adult video stores, beckoning the consumer to take them home with them in the split-second they made eye contact.
This was before photoshop, too, so in many cases the photographs were physically retouched with actual airbrushes like they did with wedding portraits: eyes and teeth whitened, wrinkles and skin folds smoothed over and tattoos — considered too trashy at the time — were de facto removed. Case in point: Notice Joey Stefano’s skull tattoo is missing from his right arm on the cover of Falcon’s 1989 release Plunge, but is quite visibile in his scene with Lon Flexx.
Fast-forward to today, however, and a box cover is about as relevant as a fax machine. Fewer and fewer people are even buying porn — let alone on DVD — but when they do its usually online, and probably after getting to know the stars of the movie after following them on Twitter and reading their blogs and meeting up with them for a milkshake after finding their profile on Rentboy. 
Would Mike Branson be as hot if you saw a picture of the egg white omelet he ate every morning on Instagram? Would you still think Eric Hanson was a god if you had to hear him whine about every bad experience he had on @americanairlines? Would you still jerk off to Jeremy Penn if you had to read him Tweet about how excited he was whenever a new episode of True Blood was on?
Blame the economy or the changing landscape of porn consumption, but I used to get 10-15 DVD screeners in the mail per week. Now almost every studio has stopped sending them out in lieu of emailing bloggers .zip files of images, trailers, and FLV clips. I’m guess I’m kind of old-school about all this, but — even in today’s cash-strapped churn-’em-out-as-fast-as-you-can-so-you-can-start-on-the-next-one porn market — when a producer puts a little extra effort in their box covers, they get my attention (check out some faves of the last couple of years: Body Shop, In Yer Face, Picture Perfect, Wetter Than Ever).
Which brings us to StagHomme’s 15th DVD release, Spunk Rush. While I can hear Chuck Holmes spinning in his grave over a pink box cover, and Jessy Ares is covered with more oil than an entire troupe of Turkish wrestlers, the cover is 100% awesome (as are most of their box covers). The ever-charming Francesco posted a clip of the making of the box cover which you can watch here.
So, bottom line (if any porn producers are reading this far down): the extra effort you put into the box covers is still very much appreciated. Plus, it gives us something to write about.
RELATED:
FalconStudios.com
Watch vintage Falcon Studios porn on NakedSword
StagHomme.com
Buy StagHomme DVDs
