A couple of years before bringing the (grind) house down with horror classics like Maniac and Vigilante, William Lustig (under the pseudonym Billy Bagg) was paying his dues in adult cinema while learning his craft. Hot Honey would be Lustig’s second and last adult film, before focusing on the flicks he truly wanted to do — which, to be fair, are a lot better.

Unlike his first movie, The Violation of Claudia, Hot Honey doesn’t present much of a plot and it’s significantly less developed. Having said that, the sex scenes are also longer and represent a much bigger chunk of the film. It really depends on where you stand on the whole plot vs. more sex argument.

Colleen Anderson (then being introduced as Heather Young) plays Honey, a young virginal girl who rejects most of her douche-y boyfriend’s advances. Tired of repeated refusals — and looking for anyone else who might be willing — the guy dumps her.

Life at home isn’t any easier for Honey. She lives with her angry and handicapped older brother Michael (Jamie Gillis), who’s not a fan of her coming back home past her curfew, and communicates that violently.

Needing a helping hand and some advice, Honey visits her friend Sara (Lisa Marks), who suggests a woman’s touch might be exactly what she needs. The lesbian experience somehow ignites an insatiable lust that manages to oddly hit just as she walks in on her brother and his nurse, for a very strange and incestuous deflowering/threesome — as an extra visual detail that may not be for everybody, we actually see the blood all over Gillis’ dick.

The overall acting isn’t especially good, not even for the usually great Gillis, whose role was a bit limited — the story could have used more of him and less of Anderson, who wasn’t exactly known for her dramatic skills. The production was clearly rushed; it took barely three days in total, which is also evident in several clear and basic technical errors that are not really consistent with Lustig’s other work.

The exterior shots of Manhattan and the various porn theaters on 42nd Street are a nice touch, though, as they serve as a small window to the director’s own hangout spots.

The Violation of Claudia is clearly the best of Lustig’s porn films. What you can get on Hot Honey, you could probably find in many other movies of the time. Unless you’re a huge Colleen Anderson fan or a Lustig completist, skipping it won’t be the end of the world.