The appeal of feature-length adult films with actual characters and plot has shown no signs of waning recently, an understandable reaction to the glut of short-form, generic content that has flooded the marketplace at least since the '90s. That said, bona fide movies that can stand proud with the glory days of porno chic are still few and far between, which makes something like A Love Electric stand out even more from the pack. Billed as Australia's first genuine homegrown XXX film (sort of, though filmmakers like Davo Hardy have been nudging that way lately), it's a cheerful, pop art-style confection with some wicked costume and production design that make this a safe bet for couple's viewing if you're in the mood.

In the 23rd century, sexbots have become a reality-- which proves to be a complication when Lionel (Fontaine) orders a big box for delivery at home to dragged into the kitchen by his girlfriend, Erika (Fae). Inside it is his company's latest Adonis model (James), much to Erika's pleasant surprise when she gets carnally entertained when Lionel's stuck in traffic coming home for their anniversary. He isn't amused, even less so when work sends over a second unit, Tully Version 8 (Cortez), whom he's expected to test out. Soon the couple is being turned upside down by bots, their return and exchange programs, unsolicited robotic sex calls, and all the other problems you can imagine in a hi-tech society-- with the robots themselves evolving in unexpected ways.

With its upbeat tone, catchy synthwave soundtrack, and game performances (Fae, Fontaine, and Cortez in particular do the heaviest lifting here well), A Love Electric finds an endearing way of working the explicit material into the storyline in a way that feels organic a la the style of Henry Paris, plus an aesthetic more akin to '60s space age lounge kitsch. Erika's multiple mechanical obstacles are especially funny, and it's no surprise that multiple participants come from a burlesque background thanks to the glammed-out, energetically staged love scenes that imply as much as they show. It's definitely one of the cheerier depictions of a topic that's been more prevalent now than ever; try pairing it up with something like Black Eyed Susan if you really want to see you wide the spectrum with this subject matter can go.

Several years in the works with delays due to the pandemic, A Love Electric marks the inaugural release from Australian company Lickerish Way as either a Blu-ray (BD-R) or streaming option. Image quality is as sharp and slick as you'd expect, with a color palette that truly qualifies as eye candy. The Dolby Digital 2.0 English stereo track sounds fine, giving most channel separation to the music. An audio commentary by writer-director DC Xavier and producer-production designer Poppy Andromeda jams in pretty much anything you could want to know about the film including the initial idea, the limited cast and crew required for an adult film, their artistic inspirations (not surprisingly, Barbarella gets name dropped), the long gestation starting in 2019 with plans to shoot in L.A., the challenges of not having a real local sex film industry, the thought process behind the multiple split screen effects, and much more. (Note that the commentary isn't an option on the extras menu, so you just have to change the audio track with your remote when the movie's playing.) Also included are the trailer and an "Isla & Ryan Deleted Scene" (11m26s), which is a greatly extended and non-split-screen version of their longest sex scene together.

Reviewed on August 3, 2026

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