Tag Archives: Allie Haze

Allie Haze: Beautifully Draining

by Rich Moreland, April 2016

Our talk with Allie Haze continues. Here she elaborates on her sexuality and getting into porn.

As in the previous installment of Allie’s interview, photos are courtesy of @teamalliehaze. Credits are watermarked.

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Working as a bartender at the time of the auto accident, Allie Haze recalls those days as “a rough time.”

“I ended up in the hospital for a week. I couldn’t feel my legs.” Not good.

Top off a failed marriage with a serious mishap that bordered on the catastrophic and the wheels of self-analysis start to turn.

Allie remembers thinking, “I’m really upset about what’s happening in my life. I got some crazy stuff going on! Me, getting a DUI? Oh my goodness, this is not who I am!”

It was an epiphany that led to a new, unexpected direction for her future.

“It’s funny, it [was] my wake-up call [because] I ended up here [in the porn business], which is great. It was the ‘Aha’ moment to myself.”

ByapItKCcAAtR7YHow did that happen?

“I had a weird conversation with a friend of mine who said, ‘Well, you’re super into chicks. Have you ever thought about porn?’” Allie recalls.

Though the suggestion seemed incredulous, the tall brunette did know something about sex films but had never seen any, much less think about performing in one.

The male friend mentioned she’d get paid for putting herself out there on film and that sounded appealing. Allie shrugged and said, “I guess” which turned into the equivalent of “why not?”

“At that point I was thinking it was a job and I can still go to school. I can make my own schedule, so ‘Ok!’ It was making sense.”

Boobs?

From there Allie did a girl/girl shoot for Homegrown Video. The director complimented her performance with “‘You know, you’re really good at this.’”

“‘Good at this?’ I don’t understand. I’m having sex. I’m confused. I didn’t know there was a ‘good at this,’” Allie amusingly remembers.

The director offered that she might consider turning sex on film into a full-time job and asked, “‘Do you know anything about the porn business?’”

Surprised, Allie replied, “‘Wait, you can make a career out this?’ I was so intrigued.”

She inquired about agents then did her online research. “I found all the best agents and interviewed with each of them.”

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The seductive lass ended up with OC Modeling but has since become a free agent which means she books her own gigs.

At this point in our interview, Allie pauses to relate a story that summarizes what new girls always ask about the business.

“On the way to interview with these agents, I stopped at a plastic surgeon’s office to get an estimate for boobs,” she begins. A smart move, Allie surmised, because she could tell the agents that she had “an appointment to get my boobs done.”

The response amazed her. Aware that the business was touting the “natural” girl, “They were like, ‘No! Don’t do it!” Allie remembers.

It turned out to be sage advice because like any newbie Allie figured that augmentation was one of the keys to success. She readily admits her “perception of porn” was “something completely different” from its reality.

She’s glad things ended up the way they did. “I thank my lucky stars they told me not to.”

Hook up with Girls

At age twenty-two Allie Haze began her adult career. Her reason for entering porn other than money . . . it was a way to meet girls.

B3H6YijCIAEsa6QThis is where the bartending gig factors into the Allie Haze story. It was a convenient way to scope out other women, but that had its drawbacks. Girls make out with other girls in bars to impress the guys, Allie mentions, not because they actually want to land a chick. Unfortunately, she sometimes misread the situation. In her mind, girls were hitting on her and Allie’s inclination was to invite them to her house.

“They’d come on over,” she says, “then I’d try to have sex with them and scare them away.”

Frustrated, Allie realized the adult film world offered her the perfect solution: the girl/girl shoot. In fact, she looked at porn as “a fun way to hook up with girls,” then clarifies, “I was a lesbian before I became bisexual.”

In June of 2009, the year she entered the business, Allie spread her porn wings and did her first boy/girl. A good move, she declares, that “put me on the map a little more.” A star was born who is today a widely respected veteran.

Candy and Hugs

“All the young girls ask me, ‘How have you been in for so long? How do you do it?’” Allie says.

“I don’t know how to explain it to them. It just happened naturally.”

But it is more than that, really. Allie occupies emotional solid ground as a result of her experiences with the church and its community. She was schooled in responsibility and commitment that benefits a person independently of any moral judgment that might come from a religious upbringing.

Allie reflects her roots when she says, “I always stick with my choices. That’s why I say that my background is a big piece of who I am.”

Allie taking time out of her busy day to chat with me.

Allie taking time out of her busy day to chat with me.

As she always does, the future AVN Hall of Famer smiles broadly.

“I always stand strong. If I wasn’t ready to do something or if I didn’t find it appealing at that point in my life, no career move was worth that.”

By the way, Allie is moving her dancing career forward with the same determination characteristic of her porn shoots. Girls in the biz know that dancing complements a resume built in front of the camera and expands a fan base. It’s all about personality and effort.

“I understand that this job [adult entertainment] is more than just a job because what I’m selling is myself.” That’s hard work, “exhausting” is how she puts it and compares herself with a mainstream actress when it comes to the demands of the business.

“What you’re putting out there is you, your heart, your soul. Even at these conventions I’m happy to get all the hugs, all the candy, all the fun stuff all day. I love it.”

“By the time I get home at the end of the day,” Allie declares, “it is exhausting, but totally worth it!”

Pausing for a moment, she concludes, “It’s beautifully draining.”

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Now you know how a religious upbringing helps an adult film star maintain her performances, her image, and her fan base.

Allie Haze is the consummate example of what writing in this business has revealed to me. The courage to put one’s sexuality out there for all to see is a rare trait that separates the few from the many. Too often we let our culturally dictated moral views divert us from accepting a fundamental part of our humanity.

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At the Adult Entertainment Expo, everyone, be they performer, studio, or press is harried and hurried. As I mentioned earlier, etiquette, defined as respecting everyone’s personal space and time, allows fifteen minutes for an interview and I always let the performer determine the time he or she gives me.

Allie granted me over a half hour. Moreover, she even helped us find a quiet spot to talk, something she did not have to do. Allie Haze is a special person with a work ethic that is a credit to the adult film industry. But then her fans know that already.

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Allie Haze: Growing Up Religious

by Rich Moreland, April 2016

At this year’s Adult Entertainment Expo I caught up with one of porn’s most popular veterans, Allie Haze.

Finding a quiet spot away from the convention floor, we put aside press etiquette (the normal trade show interview runs about fifteen minutes) for a longer talk.

At the outset of our conversation, I asked about the consent issue that is prevalent in the biz today. Her remarks are covered in another post on this blog.

For this Allie Haze installment, we’re looking at her life before porn.

All photos are courtesy of Allie’s twitter fan site. Credits are watermarked.

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How I was Raised

A Southern California girl who now lives in Las Vegas, Allie Haze’s adolescence was wrapped up in the church. It’s a subject I wanted to explore because of my own background.

“I grew up really religious,” she begins. “My family worked together to make sure all the kids went to church. It was how I was raised.”

Quite unexpectedly, her commitment to the faith shaped an early marriage.

“In junior high I started going to a missionary Baptist church. Between junior high and high school I was good friends with this guy who I eventually married.”

Her husband was a preacher at eighteen, something that seems an anomaly to most people.

Allie explains that in the missionary branch of the Baptist church, responsibility to administer the faith is divided between two individuals. The pastor is in charge of the congregation, whereas “the preacher gives the message.”

When a young man is called by God, he goes to seminary, which Allie’s future husband did at sixteen. In fact, their church was “also a certified seminary school,” she says, making everything convenient. As his wife-to-be, Allie also attended.

“It was a really cool experience,” the twenty-eight year old says, “because I learned a lot and it’s shaped me into who I was and I would never take that away.”

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Not Supposed to Screw Up

That part of her past causes Allie to reflect on how aging gives us a broader perspective on who we become. In her case, it’s about being an adult entertainer.

“Looking back now I’m ten years older than most girls starting out in the business,” she says.

To her, they are so young and are not giving themselves room to grow into adulthood. But Allie is quick to state that her own decisions at that age were not much different.

“We were young,” she begins. “I had my engagement ring my senior year.”

As often happens with teenage love, fate was not to favor the couple.

“It ended up not working out, unfortunately. He got into a bad car accident and the prescription pills . . . It was too much. It changed who he was.”

I didn’t ask for details about the mishap or the drugs, preferring to let Allie stay in her comfort zone.

“Around twenty I decided I needed to get divorced. No matter how much we tried, it just wasn’t going to work.”

It was a difficult resolution because her conservative upbringing dictated that marriage was “the one thing I’m not supposed to screw up. It’s supposed to be in my blood to be a wife,” Allie says.

A sense of failure permeated her thinking. “It was a real big struggle I went through,” she comments.

CcQG-zhXIAAEQoXGive Allie credit for handling this dilemma with grace and open-mindedness. It explains a lot about who she is today. The strength and resiliency she carried at a tender age has served her well in a business that can grind away the hardiest of souls.

However, despite all the stress, the end of the marriage brought opportunity and Allie stepped forward.

“During that time I decided to go back to school to be a firefighter which was originally what I wanted to do. I was halfway through the program when I got into a bad car accident.”

As happened with her ex-husband, an automobile wreck changed the direction of her life and led to the performer we know today.

The next post reveals how Allie Haze’s fondness for girls got her into porn.

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Check out the news about Allie Haze on twitter @teamalliehaze. This is a fan site.

 

 

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The Meaning of Consent: Allie Haze

by Rich Moreland, February 2016

Adult film has it’s stars, and then it has it’s superstars. Allie Haze is one of the latter and destined for the AVN Hall of Fame. During the recent Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, she gave me some of her valuable time. We found a quiet spot beyond the bustle of the convention for a lengthy interview that was a pure delight.

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My impression of Allie Haze is strength, self-assurance, and a sweetness that escapes description. What’s more, she understands the business of adult film.

“This is more than just a job because I’m selling myself. What you’re putting out there is you, your heart and your soul.”

Considering that statement, let’s delve into things that can happen on the set that might not always go down to everyone’s liking.

Allie Haze Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Allie Haze
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

The Sinkhole

Like others I have talked with, Allie does not believe consent issues pervade the industry, but she does recognize they affect the business with a collective concern.

She characterizes the James Deen/Stoya incident as “a sinkhole within us. It’s a very small part of a very big world that just happened to fall in.”

Having said that, the native Californian concedes that the allegations and resulting opinions are evolving into “a monster that is damaging our community.”

Essentially, James and Stoya, are “two powerhouse individuals” who have shaped the modern porn landscape, Allie says. They are among “those top twenty people” the public regards as important adult film voices, “the people who make the difference, the ones the media actually gets to hear.”

So, are there real issues with consent in porn?

For some people, yes. But, Allie believes, “it’s a case by case basis.” In other words, it differs based on personal preferences and the ability to understand the demands of porn.

“I could be twenty-five and be super manipulative or I could be eighteen and be smarter than the twenty-five year old,” she explains. “It has nothing to do with age. It has to do with your maturity level and there is no way to determine that.”

Photo courtesy of Allie Haze Twitter

Photo courtesy of Allie Haze Twitter

Know the Rules

Though she has a history of “good choices,” Allie supports mentoring performers because entering porn can be scary.

For example, she says, just getting started is challenging. Flying in from out of town and meeting an agent for the first time is often a bewildering and anxiety-producing “life changing event.”

Throw in that first day on the set with its consent issues, and a girl can fall into more than she expected. So it’s important to ask, “What are the rules of what you are getting into?” she says.

What’s more, the award-winning actress warns anyone thinking about shooting porn that “in less than six months your whole family” will know what you’re doing and you should understand the possible consequences of your decision.

Are there ways to guide newbies, particularly if they are having problems?

“I hope the older generation [of performers] would take them under their wing,” Allies replies.

But there is another vital point the stunning brunette wants to make.

Allie recalls her first job in fast food and the “food workers card” she secured after taking an eight-hour class. She endorses a similar practice for adult because performers do not have a union to address these concerns. The closest organization available is APAC (Adult Performer Advocacy Committee).

In her view, it would work like this. “When we have our I.D. [for age purposes] and [blood] test [results] we also need our permit card. No matter at what age you enter the business, you should have to go through a class, learn about your body and what you can say ‘no’ to.”

The former minister’s wife completes her thought with a strong affirmation about the process. “It also has to be industry funded.”

Teamwork

Allie Haze is not gun shy and it works to her advantage.

Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

“I’m a little feisty and I never felt like I could not say no.” However, she is familiar with “meek, beautiful, and intelligent women” who have shared stories in which it was “more of a hassle to say ‘no'” than to just go along.

Nevertheless, Allie believes, the onus is on the performer to speak up. “No one is at fault because you made that decision [to say nothing]. If you had enough time to think of all of that, you had enough time to say ‘no.'”

The multi-talented performer shared a personal experience.

Once during a rough scene, a male model spit in her face “in the heat of the moment.” Allie stopped the shoot. She didn’t mind the choking and the slapping, but spitting was out.

A newcomer at the time, Allie had discussed her limits before the scene began, but really couldn’t blame the guy because she forgot to mention that spitting was a ‘no.’

“As much as I was frustrated and really offended, I told him that I know I didn’t say it and we’re not going to stop the shoot. Don’t lose your mojo, just don’t do it again.”

She apologized to the director and he said, “No, you’re good.”

Allie advises female performers to act with care. By screaming at the guy, his arousal level is crushed. “Now it’s his fault and nobody gets a paycheck and we have to come back the next day.”

“Although you’re entitled to an uproar, this is a career so there’s a professional way to handle those bad situations. You’re working as a team.”

Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Photo courtesy of Smash Pictures

A Way Out

Allie comments that Kink.com, where she has completed some twenty BDSM shoots, can create stressful situations. Safe words are important on their sets.

Her personal Kink anxiety centers on electricity.

“I wanted to challenge myself so I did their electrosluts site. My fear of electricity made me cry. I was gagged. I wasn’t in pain. Nothing was wrong. But once I started crying they cut the camera.”

An important lesson was learned.

Girls can communicate when fears are aroused. At Kink, crying, which is usually not related to physical discomfort, is a way to stop a scene.

It’s a matter of figuring out what behaviors companies consider sensitive.

“If you know what the rules are when cut happens” you’re on top of things, Allie declares. But always remember that “stop or cut” means lost footage. So a degree of common sense kicks in.

Having said that, Allie is adamant about feeling safe.

“No one should be in that situation where they feel like they need to find an escape or a way out. That’s what breaks my heart, that’s what makes me sad.”

In the middle of a hectic day, Allie is still cheerful and willing to chat

In the middle of a hectic day, Allie is still cheerful and willing to chat.

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Through it all, Allie realized that when the James Deen/Stoya incident got out, women in porn were going to be portrayed as victims.

She wants everyone to know she is not a victim even though she’s “done a lot of interviews where they think that.”

Well, this is not one of them, I’m delighted to say.

For her final thought, Allie Haze proclaims with sharp certitude, “I’m happily a seven-year veteran and still going strong. I would never change it for the world.”

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Making the Decision

by Rich Moreland, August 2015

Mercy West talks race and her first on-screen penetration.

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Getting into adult film is a process. No one recommends jumping into hardcore without preparation. Some performers and agents suggest taking it slowly. Begin by doing a little research to get a handle on what is expected. Next go with nude modeling, progress to web camming and follow that with some girl-on-girl before taking the step into hardcore.

Some girl/girl camming Photo courtesy of Mercy West

Some girl/girl camming
Photo courtesy of Mercy West

The watchword in the business is to always hold something back. Don’t take on everything at once because it short changes the future. In Mercy’s case she wasn’t reticent about BDSM because it is a natural for her. Right now, her hold back is anal which she may put off for some time to come.

Then there is interracial. Needless to say, some models have careers that never include anal or interracial. Others have no problem with it, but like to delay their first IR shoot until their fans demand something new.

In Casey Calvert’s career, she built her brand before doing her first IR gangbang and superstar Allie Haze did her first anal scene after years in the business. The pre-shoot hype guaranteed fan interest.

Allie Haze Photo courtesy of Naughty America

Allie Haze
Photo courtesy of Naughty America

It’s marketing, pure and simple.

Men of Color

However, when it comes to men of color, the story is a bit different.

For Mercy, performing with African-Americans is seamless and she is perplexed about the never-ending dust-up over race in the industry.

Before her Hardtied shoot, Mercy mentions that Jack Hammer, an African-American performer who works the site, will take her on. “Everything is coming up roses and the thorns feel lovely,” is her response to the prospect.

Later, she adds with anticipation, “Feeling really tense / nervous / excited about my shoot with Jack Hammer tomorrow. I think it’s going to go really well. I’m just not exactly sure what he has in store. All I know is that it’s probably going to be one of the most intense fucking things I ever do.”

Then race creeps into the conversation and Mercy remembers talking with some industry people.

“I was abruptly informed in a dressing room one day that not only was I making the decision to have sex with a big cock and a kinky cock… But I was also making the decision to sleep with a black man. It honestly never crossed my mind when I was considering Hardtied.”

With America’s demographic shift creating a more multicultural nation, Mercy’s naivete reveals something important. Young people are rewriting a portion of the American saga in which acceptance of differences is broader than ever before.

“I didn’t even realize that interracial was still a thing! I get the feeling that it’s one of those ‘that’s the way it has always been, so no one really talks about it,’” Mercy says. “Interracial is a genre and as a phone sex operator I learned quickly that taboos are usually the things that really get people off.”

Despite the no-no attached to black/white sex, Mercy doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about. “It’s kind of crazy that white girls and black guys or vice-versa is still somewhat considered a taboo.” Then, she adds, cryptically. “While working on the phone I realized it’s mainly a taboo for middle-aged conservative straight guys.”

There you have it.

Excellent Chemistry

Mercy describes her first on-screen penetration.

“I was up on a pedestal with my legs in the butterfly position and my arms in strappado.”

Mercy and Jack Photo courtesy of Intersec

Mercy and Jack
Photo courtesy of Intersec

Oral preceded it, she says, but it was awkward, not because of the bondage tie, but because of her limitations. “I was suspended from the ceiling on my stomach [which was positioned] on a box.” I had my arms tied behind me and my legs in a hog tie.”

Visually, Mercy doesn’t feel the oral went well. “I’m not really into deep throating . . . I have a tiny mouth and I felt he was a little frustrated after while.” She performed fine, Mercy says, but “it just didn’t go down my throat . . . I don’t have that much mouth.” And, Jack is not small.

Incidentally, the sex isn’t the highlight of most BDSM shoots because it’s the fetish that brings in the customer dollars. Mercy remarks, “I feel like the website doesn’t focus much on the sex, it is more on the rope.” In other words, in her first boy/girl, the sex was secondary and fit in with what she’s accustomed to doing.

“I liked it a lot, actually. It wasn’t far from things that I would do in my real life with someone who is topping me with rope. That’s why I picked this shoot, it was wonderful. I truly, truly enjoyed it.”

The diminutive bondage wench comments on a part of the shoot she believes came out artistically well. Jack was behind her, crouching over with the ever reliable Hitachi and grabbing her hair.

Hitachi at work (slightly out of view) Photo courtesy of Intersec

Hitachi at work (slightly out of view)
Photo courtesy of Intersec

“It looked really nice because he is a giant human being compared to me. It was visually very pleasing. I hope to work with him again, we had excellent chemistry.”

Scream, Curse, and Cry

Crying is normal for Mercy. “It doesn’t take that much for me to cry and I think that is why BDSM people like dealing with me.” She good with pain and can take the marks.

“There was lots of caning,” she says with a smile. “Jack lifted my legs up and caned me quite a bit. That is where the worst marks were, on the back of my thighs, those soft, tender, mushy parts that sadists really love.”

Mercy just let everything flow. “I know I’m in an environment where I am able to twitch, scream, curse, cry, do whatever. I feel like I can take what is given me and deal with it.”

Like all bondage performers, Mercy appreciates the safety of the set. Her personal life offers challenges on two levels that the studio avoids. “I can’t be too loud because my neighbors will hear me. I can’t squirm too much because the restraints will come loose.” Intersec’s warehouse, like Kink.com’s Armory, takes care of that.

Tears in her TopGirl shoot with Bella Rossi Photo courtesy of Intersec

Tears in her TopGirl shoot with Bella Rossi
Photo courtesy of Intersec

“I can react any way that I want and it’s all right and I can be as loud as I want and thrash and do whatever. I can just put up with it [the pain] and feel really good about it after it is done.”

Summing up, Mercy says the intensity turns her on. “Not having to hold back makes me want to be pushed even further.”

Of course, as with all BDSMers, she faces the ultimate moment. She wants to know “how intense my reactions can be before I call red.”

Who knows at this time? One thing, though, our cutie is headed to Kink.com one of these days and will gain more knowledge about her personal limits.

Aftercare

A final comment is due on Mercy West. She confesses that playing in the BDSM scene is emotional. “I get to a certain point when I’m worn down and tired and in a lot of pain.” The thoughts that flood her mind are not the best, she admits, though she is doing exactly what she wants and loving it. Yet, she is “emotionally raw” which leaves her vulnerable.

Aftercare in her Pain Toy shoot Photo courtesy of Pain Toy

Aftercare
Photo courtesy of Mercy West

That is “my pleasure and my ecstasy,” she says, and she knows she can handle it. “It’s all fun times. It’s good stuff.”

However, there is a vital ingredient in the BDSM community that submissives appreciate, aftercare. It means everything to Mercy.

“You know someone is there to be nice and cuddle me and make me tea afterward. So, it’s great, it’s perfect. I get to feel emotional release and sexual release and all that good stuff wrapped up into one.”

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Just a Dirty Girl

by Rich Moreland, January 2013

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A reluctant burglar, phone sex, a murder and a girl who prefers to knit sounds like a super plot any Hollywood writer would love.

These explosive elements are part of four vignettes Girlfriends Films (GFF) has turned into a steamy little number called “Bad Lesbian” and it’s worth a good look.

Waiting in the Shadows

In the first narrative, Dillion Harper is the thief who’d rather not and Cassandra Nix is her partner who resorts to cheap tricks to keep the lovely bandit’s body close to hers. Pretending she’s been knocked round after getting nabbed purloining, Cassandra convinces her reluctant pal to soothe her wounds.

In short order, she turns the tables on a surprised and sympathetic Dillion.

Cassandra Nix and Dillion Harper Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

Cassandra Nix and Dillion Harper
Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

 “If you hadn’t left me there, this wouldn’t have happened,” Cassandra says. It seems Dillion ran and now it’s time for another trip, the one over guilt.

To preserve their mutual thieving agreement, Cassandra waxes tender. After the kiss, the sex is underway.

In classic GFF manner, the predator takes over and “runs the fuck,” as the old saying goes. There is a smidgen of revenge in Cassandra’s plan. She grabs Dillion’s hair and grinds her crotch against the weaker girl’s face and playfully slaps the sweet little brunette, a statement of who is in control. The tatted Cassandra Nix is a veteran of Kink.com. It’s all been done to her and now it’s a lesson in rough love for Dillion.

Crime and dominating sex is also the theme of the fourth and final vignette. Natalie Heart is the abused and desperate daughter; Allie Haze, her new found tomboi friend. Allie’s switchblade dispenses with the inappropriately horny dad while the compliant Natalie waits in the shadows.

Natalie Heart and Allie Haze Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

Natalie Heart and Allie Haze
Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

“There’s no turning back,” the street tough Allie tells Natalie, who hides her timidity behind a smile. A double meaning is in play here because Allie will possess the meek brunette for her own pleasure. Natalie’s choices are non-existent.

After the carcass is hidden away, Allie toys with Natalie’s sultry body. There’s lots of oral and finger banging, characteristic of each episode in the four-part package. Allie’s macho aggressiveness and Natalie’s natural assets add to the real attraction of this vignette: two emotional loners who have stumbled onto each other. When the scene concludes, the viewer is left wanting more.

Changing Plans

If parts one and four have a somber tone, two and three are lighter. When the predator girl is not at first obvious, the viewer needs only to find the boots. The pleasingly tatted Ash Holloway, the phone sex girl, wears them in the second narrative. This vignette is a charmer of opposites. Ash is the sexually charged college dropout and Kiera Winters the nerdy girl who is studying her life away.

Kiera spots Ash taking a call in her family’s backyard and investigates. The punkish looking blonde explains the walls in her house are “paper thin” and she wants to keep her $30-a-call gig from her mother. Kiera is curious and Ash suggests she change her plans, at least for the day.

“You’re about to spend four to six years of your young adult life buried in books,” Ash declares. “Have you ever done anything crazy?” Then she tells Kiera there is more fun to be had than just talking filthy on the phone.

Kiera Winters and Ash Holloway Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

Kiera Winters and Ash Holloway
Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

Kiera is game and this petite Bobbi Starr look alike sells this narrative. Girl-on-girl sex has a huge male audience and GFF fans will place themselves into the scene and consume the diminutive brunette. She is that sweet.

The episode has terrific girl/girl chemistry. Their mutual oral is superb. During the sex, Ash finger bangs Kiera and reinforces their dalliance with a smutty “Deep down, you’re just a dirty girl.”

Narrative three between adopted daughters is the hottest of the DVD. For sheer sexiness, Bailey Blue and Casey Calvert are hard to beat (though both take their share of blows at Kink.com, pun intended) Bailey is the aggressor (spot the boots) and the very submissive Casey is the girl who knits.

Casey is trying to maintain a self-imposed celibacy but her “sister” persuades the gorgeous brunette to drop the knitting needle and go out on the town. Later when the sex begins Casey’s facial expressions unveil the hesitancy she feels. Using her eyes to frame her emotions, the AVN nominee for starlet of the year (include Dillion Harper in that elite group, by the way) is outstanding in roles in which she plays the reluctant, unsure girl.

Bailey Blue and Casey Calvert Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

Bailey Blue and Casey Calvert
Photo courtesy of Girlfriends Films

Bailey portrays the spunky sibling to a tee. Their sex is hot and mutual without an aggressor, produced by two actresses who are building solid careers.

One more observation on Bailey and Casey, their scene has the highest degree of verisimilitude. In other words, two adopted daughters sexually involved with each other are quite believable in today’s world of blended families. As a result, the acting is carefully crafted to authenticate the situation. Bailey is appropriately petulant and Casey’s frail resistance tells the story. Kudos to both performers.

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In the pairings of each story, the performers create natural connections, a linchpin of Girlfriends Films. The power differences of actual lovers won’t work without real sex and reasons for the girls to dive into each other. In each episode, the girls are opposites of some variety, at first communicating their differences before yielding to the mutual chemistry that brings the contradictions together and initiates their erotic play.

The qualities of a Dan O’Connell production elevate porn to art. He uses three crew people and in most scenes, two major camera angles. Bodies are framed equally from there, minimizing the anatomy lesson of gonzo porn. Effective editing mixes shots that are sexual but not always graphic. The result is a sensuality characteristic of mainstream film with high priced talent.

This kind of movie magic doesn’t happen without planning and a carefully managed on set experience. Few studios do that better than GFF.

 

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Try Something New

by Rich Moreland, October, 2013

This the final installment of the Bound by Desire series. In order to appreciate its contribution to the new submission pornography genre, all three films should be viewed in their entirety.

BOUNDBYDESIRE3 DVD-f

Bound by Desire: A Property of Love, is the latest in a series of BDSM romances from Smash Pictures. Part of the rising “submission pornography” genre, this film is a cornucopia of bondage in a single sitting.

The lovely and hard bodied Casey Calvert is the film’s anchor. She’s her husband’s collared slave and they have a mutual admiration society, he wants her to have fun and she wants him to play with other sluts.

Strawberries and Wedded Bliss Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Strawberries and Wedded Bliss
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Enter Casey’s old friend Natasha Nice, a fresh possibility for Casey’s mate (Richie Calhoun) to expand his domming skills.

“You’ll have fun. I want you to try something new,” Casey assures Natasha.

As the film opens, Richie is seducing Natasha over a snack of strawberries. Casey kneels in front of them, offering her back as a human table. There’s a bit of drool leaking around the ball gag in her mouth, very cool. Casey Calvert, an enthusiastic and real life submissive, is at her best at this moment. Her sensual kinkiness will grace the film throughout.

The Table and the Gag. Photo courtesy of Smash Pictures

The Table, the Gag, and the Girl on her Knees
Photo courtesy of Smash Pictures

Everything in this film is mutual and consensual, as BDSM relationships should be. But a newbie requires a little prepping. Casey tells Natasha she and Richie are open minded. She is allowed to have other men if Richie approves. And there’s fairness. Since he “officially collared” her, Richie has abandoned his other subs.

This is marriage, BDSM style.

An uncertain Natasha is interested, but needs convincing. “He beats you and ties you up, and you like it?” she asks to Casey.

It’s all about giving him pleasure, a nonchalant Casey replies. Her satisfaction is in “giving up control.” Casey likes being flogged, the sensation is intoxicating and the sex afterward is “so much more intense.” Natasha’s expression reveals all. She’s stuck in a vanilla groove and the needle needs moving. Her last boyfriend was strictly “missionary,” she laments, and the prospects of something new are enticing.

The Conversation that Convinces Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

The Conversation that Convinces
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

But there is a small problem. “Aren’t these the type of things that can end marriages?” Natasha suggests.

Casey reassures her about trust and compliments Natasha’s sexiness, all designed to persuade her buxom friend to be a sub for a day.

So while Casey becomes walk away furniture, Richie invites Natasha to participate in a self-indulgent play scenario over strawberries. The amply endowed French actress is game and so is the viewer.

From there the first sex scene of the movie is ready to go. Natasha Nice is a beauty and submits superbly. There are a string of fetishes offered: spanking, blindfolds, rope, paddles, and a brief flash of suspension. Addressing him as “Sir,” Natasha begs for the sexual  intensity Casey craves.

When Natasha is released from her bonds and the sex moves to the bed, the rope marks on her wrists become that delightful touch BDSMers know well.

Four Women

This film accomplishes its task, show BDSM sex in a way couples and women want to see it and try it. Bound by Desire Three does not play to a particular performer though Casey Calvert carries the movie on her back (pun intended) as she demonstrates in the opening scene. Rather, the film plays to the fetish.

Central to Bound‘s meaning is a look at four women, all representing a different aspect of BDSM.

First there is the romantic couple who block out the rest of the world in their own playroom. Allie Haze is trusting and comfortable with her lover Ryan Driller. In one scene she is suspended, flogged, and nailed from the rear. By far the favorite of BDSM fans in this film, the scene alone is worth the price of the DVD.

Allie and Ryan Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Allie and Ryan
Photo Courtesy of Smash PicturesAllie

Then there is Casey, of course, a slave and the kinkiest of all film’s players. Unlike the other girls, the viewer gets the feeling that if her marriage did end, Casey would find another master.

Next is Natasha, the neophyte who is discovering the fetish. We are convinced she will be a convert. Lastly, there is the older woman dominatrix and younger male sub. Julia Ann and Logan Pierce fill this niche.

Of course, any submission porn film must have a contrasting vanilla scene to give the fetish its meaning. In this case, the beautiful Alexis Ford fulfills that role in a well-shot bedroom scene with Johnny Castle.

Alexis and Johnny Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Alexis and Johnny
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Ice Cubes and Riding Crops

“I’m kinky and it takes more to get me going, to satisfy me,” Casey says early in the narrative. She’s quite different from the other girls: Allie took her time getting into the fetish and Natasha, who might one day reach that point, is still a bondage rookie.

In the dining room scene, Natasha and Casey are bound spread-eagled at opposite ends of the table, ball gags an added touch. Richie and Johnny will drink a little wine and play with the submissives using ice cubes on nipples and belly along with deftly placed strikes of riding crops.

Two on the Table Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Two on the Table
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Casey Calvert’s reactions are authentic, not scripted. She arches her back wantonly with each blow, an energy that signals her satisfaction. Natasha is more subdued. This is a vital contrast in the film; it shows the viewer the difference between a true kinkster and a girl just getting started in BDSM and maybe not sure where it will go.

Later when her turn finally comes to show her sexual skills, Casey concludes the film with its hottest sex scene. She’s a screamer and Johnny Castle will accommodate her with deep penetration. Once again Director Jim Powers gives the viewer rope marks on Casey’s ankles and wrists. He lets BDSMers know he understands their fetish and tells vanilla viewers that a few marks are expected and cherished.

The sex scenes in this film are all good. Allie Haze and Casey Calvert standout with their oral skills, Julia Ann is the perfect MILF, Natasha and Alexis are veterans who know how to frame their bodies for the camera.

But it’s the kink that’s the heart of the matter.

A Muse and a Messenger

Going over the Script: Casey, Richie, and Natasha Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Going over the Script: Casey, Richie, and Natasha
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Good fortune came my way when I had the opportunity to chat with Casey Calvert about making this film. Being a part of the Bound by Desire series was “really a treat” for her.

When I mentioned the submission porn genre, Casey enthusiastically replied, “I loved the opportunity to act out a BDSM fantasy storyline.” She went on to praise the people at Smash for producing “a great series for couples curious about BDSM.”

“As a lifestyler,” Casey added, “I feel honored to be the one to introduce new people to the fetish world.”

In this writer’s view Casey Calvert was the perfect choice for this series. She’s the real deal, a gorgeous kinky performer who doesn’t get enough rough sex and bondage for those who like red marks with their porn. Hopefully, this will change going forward because Casey’s fans want to see her in the perils of bondage having one raging orgasm after another.

She’s the muse and the messenger for the new genre.

The Muse Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

The Muse of Submission Porn
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

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My Neighbor’s Wife?

by Rich Moreland, July 2013

This is the second installment of Bound by Desire from Smash Pictures. The films are best viewed as a package.

BOUNDBYDESIRE2 FT

Bound by Desire, Part 2 continues the tale of lust, love, and bondage presented in the original episode. The viewer meets three women whose friendships are bound up, pun intended, in a neighborly wife-swapping bondage club. The girls are the toys of their husbands and lovers, or so it seems, because these dominant/submissive relationships are not always what they appear to be.

Evan gets Elexis ready for some fun. Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Evan gets Elexis ready for some fun.
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

The story introduces Elexis Monroe and Chanel Preston, both connected to Evan Stone. Elexis is his slutty neighborhood playmate who, despite her resigning manner, enjoys his attention. Chanel is Evan’s demanding wife. She gets off watching hubby flog and skewer Elexis like a freight train racing through a tunnel. Though Chanel holds center stage among the guys, is she really the best whore in the cul-de-sac?

Next is Allie Haze. Though she’s out to remake her man into a less fetish-minded lover, she inevitably slips into the group’s bondage tentacles. Her man, Ryan Driller, wants to move their sexcapades into high gear via his personal netherworld of BDSM delights. Allie confesses to her friend and the third girl in this saga, Casey Calvert, that she’s scared. Whips and chains don’t do much for her, or do they?

Allie Haze Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Allie Haze
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Casey advises Allie to back off with Ryan, but it’s too late for that now. She’s already been seduced and is in too deep. “It’s weird,” Allie says, “but I want him to tie me up and have his way with me. . . I just don’t want any scars.”

In the fetish community she means “marks,” but despite that brief stumble, Allie reveals the film’s underlying mission: educate the viewer about the BDSM lifestyle. More on that shortly.

Casey’s desires are a swirl of confusion. Part One puts her on hold, but in this episode Casey upstages Chanel with a sex performance par excellence. A pile driving Evan works to keep up with this voracious tramp in the film’s conclusion. No wonder Casey Calvert is a hot commodity in porn today as is Chanel Preston, who is signed as a host for the upcoming 2014 Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas.

The Deal

Bound by Desire offers a sexual cornucopia that entertains on various levels. The film has none of the repetition of straight gonzo. The action is never a yawner because each scene offers a different interpretation of what it means to be sexual. Rather than rely on the standard porn formulas—girl/girl, anal, and DPs—the script maintains a couples-friendly mood with how-tos for bondage enthusiasts.

The hardcore fan will relish in the rough and tumble sex that spices up the film’s BDSM play. Exploring shadowy desires that are beyond “normal” can be daunting for bondage newbies, as Allie and Casey are destined to discover.

Casey's Wedding Picture. Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Casey’s Wedding Day.
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Self-deception is all over this film. Though Evan reminds a reluctant Casey, “Women need discipline,” it’s the neighborhood men who are obliging their housewives and lovers.

Casey wants love and trust but must prepare herself to please her husband, Richie Calhoun. Eventually she yields, devouring the carnality of ball gags and floggers with a vigor that is stunning. Is this really what she wants or is she fooling herself?

On the other hand, Allie is convinced Ryan is becoming more “normal” while she is unwittingly drifting in the opposite direction. Will she admit to herself that she loves the bondage scene?

Allie looks on as Ryan warms up Teal. Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Allie looks on as Ryan warms up Teal in the playroom.
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Meanwhile, the experienced Chanel is ever demanding, letting Evan know who is boss. “I really enjoy watching you beat these women for me,” she tells him. But she’s a prisoner of her desire to self-pleasure. She loves watching tapes of her husband working over Elexis.

For Chanel's entertainemt and Elexis' fun. Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

For Chanel’s entertainemt and Elexis’ fun.
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Chanel later insists that Evan persuade Richie to tie her up and whip her. “Have him fuck me,” she insists, implying that she is short on patience. “I want you to do anything I tell you to do. That was the deal.”  Bottom line? Chanel cannot find gratification without Evan’s willingness to follow her orders.

But the triumph of this story is Casey. Her sex with Evan is the best in the film. Manhandled like a trussed-up rag doll, she’s a screamer who drives the scene. There is no doubt that Casey Calvert pushes down and dirty to a new level in the neighborhood.

Easier Said than Done

The story deconstructs myths surrounding the bondage fetish. In conversation with an emotionally stressed Casey, Chanel relates what all BDSMers know.

Chanel controls her submission for her pleasure. Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Chanel’s submission is for her pleasure.
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

“A dom is nothing without a good sub,” she says. The sub has the control and the power. “That’s what makes for a wonderful relationship.”

Chanel doesn’t stop there. The “façade” of BDSM play, she reminds Casey, is that the sub always dictates the show. It’s an applause moment for every BDSM aficionado who knows the game and a revelation for anyone contemplating a taste of ball gags and restrains in his or her personal life.

Casey’s education gets another lesson. The element of trust in a BDSM relationship is vital and Allie steps up to carry on the conversation. She tells Casey that the playroom scene will serve her needs and take care of her in a loving protective way. But good doms are rare, Allie implies, and submissives must trust another person completely because “our safety and well-being, physical and mental,” depend on it. Then you can “let yourself go” and enjoy your fun. But, Allie warns, “It’s easier said than done.”

Allie admits the play scene with Ryan is getting better because she is learning how to assume the role of his sub for her own pleasure. In allowing Ryan to flog her, Allie says in a voice over, she “became more aware of his need for my love.” In return, she’s found sexual excitement in the fetish, something they now share.

Bound by Desire communicates that BDSM is not violence and pain forced on helpless victims by sadistic perverts. It’s a consenting sexual experience. A dom’s task is to enhance the sub’s pleasure and the sub can always end an uncomfortable scene.

Footprint 

A Jim Powers’ movie offers cinematic notables, artistic images that are as good as it gets in adult film.

In one scene, Richie flogs Teal Conrad, a willing sub Ryan offers him. She’s attached to a St. Andrew’s Cross in Ryan’s playroom.

Before they get into each other sexually, Richie releases her from her cuffs, something not all BDSMers would do, incidentally. As if intuitively knowing that, Teal quickly grabs the straps above her head, creating a visual simulation of restraint as Richie orally satisfies her. An overhead shot focuses on Teal’s ecstasy as she looks upward toward the camera.

Richie captures Teal's attention. Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Richie captures Teal’s attention.
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Powers is a master at capturing the female expression in the throes of frenzied pleasure, one of the reasons his work is so appealing. Once Richie digs into Teal’s body, there’s hair pulling and a flogger wrapped around Teals’ neck as a makeshift collar to control her, all effective BDSM elements that add an erotic touch.

The dinner table during a filming break. Clockwise beginning at lower left: Casey, Richie, Evan, and Chanel Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

The dinner table during a filming break. Clockwise beginning at lower left: Casey, Richie, Evan, and Chanel
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Two classic images standout in the film. First, a nude Casey is tied to her chair in the dining room while the others enjoy their meal. It’s a glimpse into her personal fantasy of where her desires are leading her. Nobody seems to notice her confinement because it’s a well-placed dream element. Of course, being bound and naked in front of a clothed audience is not unusual in BDSM play.

Casey's fantasy. No one seems to notice. Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Casey’s fantasy. No one seems to notice.
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

During Chanel’s masturbation scene, the computer screen showing Evan and Elexis sits on a table beside Casey who is tied spreadeagled to the bed. Chanel has slipped into her solo world, watching one woman being penetrated while fantasizing about the other.

But there is a twist here which Powers captures with a blended overlay of the three women. As Chanel vigorously stimulates herself, Elexis’s rapture on the computer screen appears behind her. The camera angle is from Casey’s perspective so that her cuffed foot becomes the predominant image in the montage. The cinematographic moment is Casey’s immobile foot covering Chanel’s crotch with her big toe solidly between Chanel’s boobs.

Casey watches while Chanel has fun. Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Casey watches while Chanel enjoys herself.
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

The image sends the message that Casey’s “footprint” is all over this story. Is she stamping out the competition for top community slut?

Normal will Bore You

For anyone who tries BDSM, he or she experiences the same excitement, fear, and enticement that characterize an adolescent’s sexual awakening. When relationships are formed, predictable results emerge.

Allie and Ryan cuddle, showing mutual respect with an almost sophomoric touch. Of course, sex compliments their affection but what if the sex revolves around a fetish? They appear to make it work, a valuable lesson for bondage neophytes.

Their scenes are a contrast to what the other couples offer. The internal cum shot, virtually unheard of in today’s pornography, is a nice touch for a woman-friendly film. Throw in a bit of nestling afterward and tenderness moves the moment.

Casey Calvert looking her best. Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Casey Calvert looking her best.
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Casey is much like a teenager falling in love for the first time with an older, more experienced boy. She is reticent and confused, not quite comfortable about love with Richie, trying to reconcile it with her expectations. As the movie winds down, Richie reveals the truth to Casey, “Normal would bore you and you’d be gone.” Is it a sign she’s into the scene? Can she meld her love for Richie with this newly discovered fondness for rough sex?

Chanel and Evan are in an older relationship that is a bit jaded, seeming at times more like an arrangement. Each uses the other for sexual variety especially when introducing like-minded friends into their playpen. What can we do when we get bored with each other? Put sex on tape, of course!

The conclusion of Part 2 dovetails back to the beginning of Part 1. The viewer senses there’s competition for the neighborhood’s hottest bondage tramp . As Evan pounds away at Casey in the final scene, the camera that recorded his previous adventures must be surreptitiously rolling in the background. Chanel will take a look at her rivals making Bound by Desire a film within a film.

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Her Trampy Best

by Rich Moreland, June 2013

Note: The history of BDSM porn dates to the “porno chic” era. Films like The Story of Joanna (1975) and A Coming of Angels (1977) are classics featuring the late Jaime Gillis who liked his women submissive. Hardcore sex is blended with bondage to titillate viewers whose taste ran in that direction.

Onto the soft-core scene came the French film The Story of O in 1975, a dark tale of submission based the novel of the same name. The film addresses deeply hidden taboos within polite culture at the time.

From the mid-1980s through much of the 1990s, the feds cracked down on pornographers and the worry over violence and penetrative sex on-screen took center stage. When whips and floggers are the basis for a film of that era, their use is fairly light and explicit sex is avoided. The work of filmmakers like Fred Lincoln, Ernest Green, and Bruce Seven was seductive at that time, but tame compared with today’s new horizons in the BDSM adult genre.

The new century is moving to the ultimate— heavy fetish mixed with acrobatic hardcore sex. The standard now emanates from San Francisco’s Kink.com. But not everyone is into Kink’s extreme filming. Roughing up women in an atmosphere of apparent humiliation is not on everyone’s viewing guide, especially couples who share their porn interests with each other.

With the film Bound by Desire, Smash Pictures is tinkering with a new formula for romance and flogging, kisses and ball gags, all complimented with penetrative sex. Perfect for the couples market, it presents women expressing their desires and facing the contradictions within them. A bit of character development emerges and gives reasons for the on-screen sex, a rarity to today’s gonzo porn market. In short, the old adage “You always hurt the one you love,” cannot be more intimate!

Bound By Desire Front

*          *          *          *          *

Degrees of Commitment

In the opening scene of Bound by Desire, Part 1: A Leap of Faith, Elexis Monroe is preparing to receive the attentions of Evan Stone.

She’ll be tied face down on a bed, flogged, and caressed. All the while, a mounted camera that is part of the cast is across the room picking up the action.

Who are Elexis and Evan—husband and wife, horny neighbors, members of a bondage club?

Elexis at first appears uneasy. “Let’s just do it,” she says to Evan, dropping her robe. The action accelerates and Elexis’ guilt-ridden ecstasy, simultaneously intriguing and troubling her, peeks through. Her sex with Evan is anticipation stroked by nagging doubts. Is she having too much fun in something that is over-the-top kinky?

As the scene heats up, the camera moves to Elexis’ face. Her wantonness draws the viewer into the authenticity of a BDSM encounter while posing the question that lies at the heart of this provocative film. Is a BDSM relationship normal?

For Elexis and Evan, apparently it is. Their hard sex establishes the tone of submission that is the centrality of this film. It will play out in the lives of three women, each with varying degrees of commitment to the BDSM fetish.

Let’s Go Play

The BDSM lifestyle involves giving oneself over to the fetish. It’s never an easy decision. Though a master-slave relationship can be sweetly and sexually tantalizing, red flags of fear and weirdness flutter in minds of all BDSMers. After all, they dwell on the margins of cultural acceptability. What would the neighbors think if they found out?

First, there is Chanel Preston, eager for discipline, punishment, and rough sex. She is Evan Stone’s wife and from the outset it’s evident that she is powerful, dictating to those around her. Chanel’s kitchen conversation with her husband establishes that they are in this together. As the viewer will see later, Evan does his wife’s bidding, a seeming contradiction to her role as the submissive in their relationship, but not an unusual circumstance in the world of tops and bottoms.

The Controller Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

The Powerful
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Over dinner with Evan, Richie Calhoun, and Casey Calvert, Chanel is haughty and mocking toward Casey, the second woman in this story. Chanel tells the shy, reticent girl that it’s exciting to be shared with other men when your master insists. Chanel teasingly asks Casey if she has ever been dommed by Ryan Driller, a man who “collects” women to punish.

“No, I never subbed for him,” she responses quietly, as if under an interrogation.

To stir the atmosphere, Chanel takes charge of the table conversation for Casey’s benefit and her own ultimate pleasure. Evan takes the hint. Turning to Richie, who is sitting next to Casey, he says,

“Sir, do me the honor of beating my wife.”

Triumphant, Chanel responds enthusiastically, “Let’s go play!”

As the scene with Chanel cranks up, the punishment meted out is a BDSM delight. Evan binds his wife to the bed, applies a flogger to parts of her body, then pauses to watch Richie work on her with a riding crop. The red marks on Chanel blister the room with anticipation for the sex. Chanel’s oral performance on Richie is superb, and that’s for starters.

A licentious seductress who plays the males for her own pleasure, Chanel’s carnality feeds theirs. Her eyes exude raw sexuality. Like Elexis in the first sex scene, Chanel Preston is worth the price of this DVD.

Meek and Submissive

On the other hand, Casey’s situation plagues her with nagging uncertainty. Does she want the rough and tumble lifestyle with Richie? He’s collared her, an expression of affection among BDSMers, securing her devotion to do his bidding. Plans are validated that Casey is to be given to Richie’s friends so that they might sample what he experiences. But contradiction fills the air.

Meek and submissive, Casey is the perfect slave who is unconvinced of her part in her emotional bargain with Richie. An older and wiser Evan understands her emotional dilemma and knows how to heighten a woman’s sexual excitement. Sexuality is brain based, after all, and words fuel desire.

The Unconvinced Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

The Doubter
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

“Do you like the attention you get from your master by doing exactly what he tells you?” Evan asks Casey in the hallway outside the dining room.

“Yes,” she responds softly. Her slightly stooped shoulders are an open book of submission.

“Women need discipline,” he tells her with a firm, quiet voice, knowing that words that offend most women, excite slave sluts.

Casey’s is uneasy. Haunted by visions of what she perceives “normal” to be, a loving vanilla courtship, she has doubts about life with Richie. How can she reconcile these contradictory feelings?

Casey turns to the one friend she believes can reinforce her ideas of romance, a head-over-heels in love Allie Haze, who is absorbed in changing her dominant boyfriend, Ryan Driller.

Vanilla Flavored Bondage?

Enter girl number three. Allie Haze is enjoying lots of rollicking sex in Bound by Desire—the ice cream scene (vanilla flavored, of course) is not to be missed—but there are growing hints that her lover has not yet thrown off his BDSM urges. To complicate Allie’s feelings, one of Ryan’s subs, Teal Conrad, is strapped to a St. Andrew’s Cross and flogged, while Allie, bound to a spanking bench in the scene, looks on. Once again director Powers focuses on the expressions of both women. Watching Teal flinch under the flogger’s impact, Allie is not sure she’s reformed Ryan, or that she personally has parted ways with BDSM’s haunting allure.

The Reformer Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

The Reformer
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

To reinforce the cottage-in-the-country romance Casey thinks she wants, director Powers introduces Kimmy Olsen and Danny Wylde who perform run-of-the-mill boy/girl sex. Though not the hottest in the film, the scene does drive home the definition of “normal” and serves to move the story forward. By the way, Kimmy is cute as a button, pleasant on the eyes, and orally talented to boot.

The drama is now in focus. Casey’s thoughts drift into the wonderland of love that supposedly defines what a woman wants. But does it work for every woman? And, is it really for her?

Two Sexual Worlds

In a beautifully directed masturbation scene, Jim Powers captures the essence of Bound by Desire. Up to her neck in water, Casey relaxes in a bathtub and pleasures herself. As her arousal increases, Casey’s hips and body rise slowly above the waterline. This is a symbolic rebirth reminiscent of Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, a goddess emerging from the sea. Casey’s sexuality is “cumming” out again from the watery womb of its original being. This time she is destined to be swept into the whirlpool of dominance and submission where all is not what it seems to be.

This episode also speaks for the film’s women. They are re-energizing their own sexual experiences. Chanel relishes her journey; Allie believes she has found her way, while Casey takes hesitating steps.

Using her nasty submissiveness as female empowerment, Chanel calls the shots with Evan, getting what she wants. Allie’s gushing relationship with Ryan, fueled by school girl love, is headed for a BDSM train wreck she thinks she can negotiate. Casey’s doubts and fears conflict with her desires. She wants the love and trust she believes Allie has found. Unnerved by the prospect of being whored out by Richie and equally hesitant around Chanel, the conflicted Casey is drawn to both like a moth to light.

How best to cope? Pleasure yourself and prepare. As the film’s centerpiece, Casey symbolically teeters between two sexual worlds, vanilla and fetish, knowing that the latter’s seductive powers will likely win out.

Part Two will tell that tale. Will Allie, who is farthest from the BDSM fold, be secured into the fetish? Will Casey join Chanel’s commitment to submissive pleasures? And the camera, the sentinel that captures every encounter, what is it all about? Who is filming these scenes, an underground cult of sadists and masochists, the neighbors next door indulging their passions, or a curious Evan and Chanel?

Final Thoughts

The BDSM scenes presented in Bound by Desire include the interpersonal affections that BDSMers revere in their play. In the flogging scene with Teal, Ryan holds her hand briefly as he applies the leather to her butt; Evan caresses Elexis after spanking her; kissing is evident throughout all the scenes, despite the presence of an accoutrement BDSMers adore, ball gags. Followers of bondage and discipline express themselves emotionally in ways not always understood by mainstream culture, reminding the viewer that in vanilla adult film intimacy is not always assured.

On a technical note, the film’s BDSM rigging comes via the talented John Wilkes of John Wilkes Photography. His handiwork is precise and clean, adding an artistic touch to the production.

Finally, the women are superb; each is at her trampy best. Chanel Preston demonstrates why she has been selected as a host for the upcoming 2014 AVN Awards. Allie Haze, who won two best actress awards in 2013, is the perfect choice for the sweet girl who wants to reform her boyfriend and Kimmy Olsen fills the straight sex bill to a tee. To balance a youthful Kimmy, veteran Elexis Monroe gets this reviewer’s vote for the hottest, filthiest close-ups during a sex scene ever. Powers makes the viewer want to dive in on the action.

When Part 2 arrives, perhaps Casey Calvert will turn in a performance that tops them all.

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Where Every Woman Should Be: Smash Picture’s Fifty Shades

By Rich Moreland, September 2012

Courtesy of Smash Pictures

A blindfolded Anastasia Steele, gagged and strapped to a St. Andrew’s Cross, struggles against her bonds in the opening sequence of Smash Pictures’ Fifty Shades of Grey: A XXX Adaptation. Her voiceover asks, “How did I end up a sex slave?” and answers, “I met my fifty shades.” Two and one-half hours later, a bookend image of Anastasia lingers in the final moments of the film. Once again attached to that cross, she is smiling now, no gag, no blindfold. Anastasia’s voiceover tells us her “inner goddess is happy,” romping through the playroom. Ana is now “the center of attention where she should be,” she says, “where every woman should be.”  This story of how a virginal college student becomes a sensuous BDSM lover is a cinematic delight shot in HD by director Jim Powers.

The movie is terrific. Appealing to a female and couples audience, the sexual chemistry between Anastasia (Allie Haze) and Christian Grey (Ryan Driller) intensifies as the film follows his attempts to convince her that his lifestyle should become hers. Their sex scenes are gripping, far surpassing the formulaic action that can be a yawner in today’s porn. Much of their lovemaking, though Christian likes to think of it as ‘hard fucking,’ is missionary and only once does she pleasure him with oral sex. There are no DP’s, no anal (Haze doesn’t do them), no facials, limited close ups of the piston shot, and little acrobatic sex of any variety except in one dungeon scene I’ll get to later. Healthy doses of Christian orally pleasuring Anastasia make Powers’ directing female-friendly. Anastasia orgasms, bodies are sweaty, and there is post-climax cuddling sprinkled with conversation. By the way, early in the film Anastasia’s virginity demands a condom and Christian pulls one out when needed.

Fifty Shades is a romance. Each character tries to get inside the head of the other. He is as frightened of what his past forces him to deal with—no touching, no commitment—as she is fearful of the unexpected. Can Anastasia decide if there is a difference between being a sex slave, a term narrowly defined by BDSM lifestylers (which Christian appears to be), and a submissive? Is Christian Grey, despite his culturally redeeming first name, a sadist?

Lovemaking in the film focuses on her. Christian and Anastasia express an eroticism in their couplings that is not often seen in adult film. When they have sex, it is her experience more than his, at least early on, and the camera celebrates her as a lover, not a gonzo girl. When she ends her virginity, it is given, not taken, and Powers explores this highly complex and impassioned moment every woman faces with a series of scenes. The bathtub one is particularly dynamic. Christian introduces Ana to oral sex; she wants to accommodate his desires. She kneels in the water and the camera captures her look of wonderment and discovery. For a newbie, Anastasia is not shy and quite talented as she ‘learns’ this technique quickly and without hesitation. A porn veteran, Allie Haze must have found playing the scene naively a little difficult. When she gets into her skills the viewer’s imagination is stretched a wee bit to believe she is an oral novice. Nonetheless, Powers’ camera work is superb. There is a mirror at the foot of the tub and Powers frames the action so a rear view of Anastasia compliments her deep throat technique seen close up. It’s a complete picture, showing both sides of the erotic coin; the viewer is drawn into choices between participating and looking. Though the scene is primarily for male viewers, it doesn’t take away the connection Christian and Anastasia have with each other. Powers’ uses the shoots’ lyrical quality to deepen their bonding. It speaks of lovers getting to know each other and experimenting with their intimacy.

Courtesy of Smash Pictures

In the final sequence of Anastasia’s early education, the silver tie appears. Christian binds her hands. She is willing and allows her “dark knight” to take command of her sexual self-discovery. Ana intuitively knows her ‘training’ is beginning; her eroticism and carnality will be forever molded by his mind and hands. She playfully asks him later when their intimacy deepens, “Are you going to collar me?” He amusingly responds, “Is there somebody who’s been studying?” Yes, and she is succumbing to a sexual entanglement that will define her ecstasy.

Lovers who dabble in bondage for the first time often use neckties. In this movie his tie will restrict her physically while uniting them in love and lifestyle. It celebrates the double meaning of ‘the tie that binds’ and is the central image of the story.Powers’ artistry strikes a glorious intimate moment. Once again, safer sex demands a condom and Christian is prepared. But Ana’s journey will soon accelerate as the sex becomes more sophisticated. Christian introduces the next step to her. He takes a sip of wine and lets the fluid flow out of his mouth into hers as she is bound to the bedpost, her shirt pulled up over her eyes. She cannot see, only feel. The stream is the camera’s focus; it is a concluding statement. In the future, his fluid will flow directly into her, unseen by either of them.

Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Fifty Shades really has two audiences, the woman/couples friendly one and BDSM lifestylers who will take to this film, though they will encounter a little disappointment. First, the good part: Christian Grey has a dungeon in his home complete with standard BDSM equipment, best illustrated by his variety of whips, floggers and crops, and a four poster bed lovely for bondage and discipline. Despite a ragged start over a botched spanking, Christian eventually convinces Anastasia to familiarize herself with his pleasure room and what ‘play’ means in the lifestyle. The film gradually moves her deeper into the bondage toyshop where the ground rules of BDSM are enforced: safe words, hard limits, consent, and most important, trust. In the best and hottest BDSM scene in the movie, Christian attaches a spreader bar to Anastasia’s ankles and suspends her fully taut. His cropping leaves marks on her. For Ana it’s a turn on, not painful and repulsive like her first spanking, and the stimulus that leads both of them to perform an awkward rear penetration while she is hanging in suspension. This is acrobatic, but not foreign to true lifestylers. Incidentally, Allie Haze knows what submission is. She has shot several times for Kink.com, the fetish porn giant in San Francisco. Her bondage performances in Fifty Shades are genuine and add credibility to the film.

There is a second intensely erotic scene in the dungeon that begins with Anastasia on her knees in a Gorean slave position next to the four-poster. She ends up blindfolded and bound spread-eagled to the bed with Christian’s tongue licking her body. He pipes music into her brain to dull her awareness while heightening her senses. Once again Powers’ veteran directing holds the images beautifully.

My one letdown with the film will be appreciated by the BDSM crowd. Fault finding here is not what the script does, but what it leaves out. In a dream sequence, Anastasia is haunted by images of Leila, one of Christian’s former subs. Glimpses of Leila and Christian playing in the dungeon momentarily flicker through Ana’s mind and across the screen. A flashback here would help drive the story forward and explain Leila’s character. She appears unannounced in parking garage with a bloody bandage on her right wrist and later in Ana’s apartment with a gun. Stalker is written all over her, but everything stops there. What remains is her self-description. “I’m a nobody,” she laments, who is “just alone.”

Jaslene Jade as Leila
Courtesy of Smash Pictures

She tells Anastasia she and Christian just “whipped and fucked.” We never get to see this or to know her. In other words, why include the sensuous Jaslene Jade to play Leila and give her only a few lines of dialogue? She is never seen sexually except for those fleeting dream images and bondage lovers are denied a fabulous scene with Leila’s erotic submissiveness. I suspect her scene with Ryan Driller may have ended up on the cutting room floor due to time considerations. If so, it’s a tragedy. I might add there is brief hint of Christian’s submission to Mrs. Robinson, but it is also passed over and never contributes to our understanding of how his character came to be defined. A few minutes expended to play out this encounter would benefit the storyline. After all, we are like Anastasia. We seek an answer to the question with a double meaning that she asks Christian, “What made you like this?” She wants to understand him, but she also desires to see where she fits into the greater scheme of their relationship. Does she want to appreciate his lifestyle preferences or does she want her sexual personality to be more attuned to his?

Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Though a porn film, Fifty Shades is more than sex scenes maneuvered around a script, it is about relationships. Penetration is there but as a compliment to the film’s totality, not as a reason for it. Consequently, the sex between Christian and Anastasia is authentic. They sweat, they nestle, they talk; they relate to each other with intimate caresses. Their chemistry wraps around them.They communicate with their mutual gaze, looking inside each other. Incidentally, Christian forewarns her in the lipstick scene that it is not possible for her to see him intimately; a film sequence women will adore because it’s his barriers that eventually collapse.The power of her womanhood will sustain their intimacy; she becomes his partner. Their BDSM lovemaking is her gift to him, not his demand of her. This reality cracks the code that shields his tucked away soul.

The central question we are left with is even more profound. What drives the story, is it the adoration of lovers, or their affection for BDSM as a statement of their connection? If Christian were addicted to the BDSM scene alone he would have stayed with the other subs he put under contract. But with them communication was void and the arrangements short. Anastasia forces him to compromise, as she compromises, accepting sub status in the playroom in exchange for sharing his bed. Throughout the film, there are references to the contract Anastasia never gets around to signing. But there is a contract at the end. Is it negotiated through the BDSM lifestyle and is it sustainable? He accepts that she will play in the dungeon but she is not his submissive nor his slave in the sense the others were. That’s not her style. Can stopping short of total immersion into BDSM accommodate both of them? At one point, Anastasia questions the whole scene with him and asks, referring to Leila’s misery, “What if I end up like Leila, running around stalking the next girl that follows me?” Christian assures her otherwise and she says as the film ends, “We’ve come so far together. We have so far to go.” Perhaps a sequel can explore how far things must go. I’m not convinced the answers are simple and I know Jim Powers doesn’t want me to be.

The beauty of Fifty Shades is within Anastasia Steele. She remains her own person, growing from a girl into a woman. It is the joy of the film. Perhaps from the beginning Christian lured her into his web of bondage and hard sex, but in the end who captures whom, and who owns whom? Listen to Anastasia’s final thoughts as we see her fading image bound to the cross. “We were made for each other . . .  my sometimes dominant, my fifty shades.” But what or who is their true master? Love, or BDSM, or a game they play with each other? We are left wanting more . . . .

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