These were the 1970's and free internet-porn of still science-fiction. Laura Gemser was still riding high on her "Black Emanuelle" films (playing an ever-promiscuous journalist travelling the world). However, good looks have always been a thin compensation for lack of acting skills and by 1977 the fans probably knew every line of her well-proportioned body by heart. The producers were hard-pressed to come up with ideas how to keep the moneymaking-machine "Black Emanuelle" rolling.

But as said: this were the 1970's and a "yes, we can"-spirit prevailed. Since softcore sex-scenes were no longer enough to push tickets into greasy hands, infamous sleaze director Joe D'Amato decided to add some more explicit, un-simulated sex-scenes. And, in case the "sexual aerobics" culled from unfinished porn-flicks wouldn't do the trick, D'Amato opted to include that infamous scene of a woman copulating with a stallion.

Still, D'Amato wanted to stay on the save side, knowing that un-simulated penetration, ejaculation, excessively hairy performers (and the infamous horse-scene) could only go so far. The rest of film still "only" featured Laura Gemser looking pretty as a picture, staring vacantly into the camera and holding endless, boring conversations that didn't lead the story anywhere.

"Snuff!" – The word must have hit D'Amato like a heaven-sent flash (or perhaps from somewhere a bit further south). Hence, the film would contain three rather short scenes of men torturing and eventually killing naked women in front of a camera, which eventually gave "Emanuelle in America" its notoriety. When I say notorious, I mean notorious as in the original "Snuff"-film; by today's (internet) standard they are rather obvious, yet obviously shot with dedication. Yes, we know they're bogus but the images, if not the idea alone, remain creepy, even 30 years down the road.

Need I mention that neither un-simulated sex nor fake snuff sequences make "Emanuelle in America" a good movie? Without said scenes the movies would be an extreme bore, about as entertaining as a 3rd graders school-play – containing said scenes, it remains a footnote in the film-records of gorehounds and porn-historians.

2 from 10 for the film itself, 2 more for soundtrack and creepiness of the snuff-scenes; makes 4 from 10, and more generous than that it doesn't get.