Tag Archives: BDSM

September 1, 2020 · 12:01 pm

Do You Want to Play?

by Rich Moreland, September 2020

Once again, I’ve taken the opportunity to review a Jac Avila film. His newest offering is the first in a series starring Dani Borda.

Photos are courtesy of Jac Avila and Red Feline.

*          *          *

The blurb that accompanies the latest Red Feline offering, CruXtreme I, states in part:

After a drink, a young woman visits her lover’s playroom and comments, “‘It is so medieval, like the Spanish Inquisition.’ ‘Do you want to play?’ He asks. ‘Yes’, she responds. Thus begins a night of extreme torture and terror.”

Lovely and Eager

Jac Avila’s reinvigoration of the Red Feline genre ensures another success with CruXtreme I (CX I). The film follows the time-tested erotic horror formula that built the Red Feline label and its loyal fan base. Central to Red Feline’s cinematic successes are the likes of the talented sisters Carmen and Veronica Paintoux, Mila Joya, Beatriz Rivera, and the dynamic Amy Hesketh, all of whom fans have come to adore for their willingness to suffer.

Now we have Daniela Borda and she is sensational. Dani is lovely, nicely put together from a physical standpoint and overly eager to please. Her personality is bright with abounding smiles. From what this writer sees in her CX I performance, should this dark and alluring girl decide to continue with Red Feline and give Jac more opportunities to explore her likes and limits, she may very well eclipse her predecessors in her performances.

Incidentally, this is not Dani’s first Jac Avila shoot. She broke into the erotic horror genre with a role in Monxa Mala. In that film she is his beloved, a role reprised in CX I. Incidentally, Dani has a history with Red Feline before her role in Monxa, something I discovered when corresponding with Jac.

“Yes, Dani’s first film with me is Monxa Mala,” he says, “but we did a lot of work prior to that film, some of which is good enough to be released as rehearsal movies.”

Hopefully that is in the works soon!

Before we delve into CX I, a helpful comment is appropriate. As a veteran scribe of the adult film industry, I can attest that commercialized pornography revolves around two film variations: the feature and the vignette. With their erotic horror offerings, Jac Avila and Amy Hesketh have created memorable feature films such as the acclaimed Dead But Dreaming and Justine. Productions like these require scripts, substantial budgets, location shooting, and a cast and crew. On the other hand, vignettes are compact and can work without the above. This is the case with CX I.

We’ll talk more about that later. For now, here’s quick run through of the what you will see on-screen.

The Playroom

The opening scene is shot in the bedroom of the male protagonist (Jac Avila). He has a female guest (Dani Borda) and serves her a drink. They’re apparently lovers. At one point, she tells him, “I like to do lots of things,” and inquires as to what he has in mind that might satisfy her. He suggests “Monopoly,” but that is of no interest to her. She says she is “awful” at that game. That settles everything and he lets her in on his ploy: his playroom. She responds hungrily. “I want to see it!”

“Do you like scary?” he asks.

“Yeah, I like it a lot!” she smiles.

And so, the stage is set for Dani’s coming tribulations fueled by the erotic taste of the macabre that thrives at the end of a whip.

The Wheel

The entire film is set around a wheel that is an ominous relic of the Middle Ages. Dani is coy and demure while excitedly open to anything. It’s a delightful combination that sells this movie. She examines the device with carnal fascination . . . or might we suggest loving masochism. When she agrees to be attached to it face down with arms outstretched, her ordeal begins.

With the first blows of the riding crop, Jac asks “Do you like it?”

She answers with a definitive, yet cautious, “yes.”

But as we know in these kinds of Red Feline scenarios, her painful cries will soon overwhelm her enthusiasm, or so we are led to believe. When the intensity builds, she will protest with “It hurts!” and “Okay, stop it!” — words that will invigorate BDSM fans who relish the helpless, punished female. But the certainty of her pleas is somewhat in doubt. Dani is into this.

Over the course of the film, Dani’s naked body is put into four different positions and thoroughly worked over to the viewer’s delight. Her performance reflects touches of Amy’s Red Feline resume. Lots of crying out and then passing out which allows her to be repositioned for the next scene. Best of all, there are no loin cloths to conceal her tender parts, evident when Jac secures her ankles with a homemade spreader bar that reveals all. (Note: Like Jac’s other cinematic victims, Dani is not completely shaved which retains a touch modesty that may disappoint some fans.)

The hallmark of a Red Feline production is the “interlude” when the camera lingers on the tortured motionless body each time the victim succumbs to unconsciousness. The silence during these scenes is deafening. There are long pauses (in literature they are known as frozen moments) while the viewer watches her servile and submissive breathing that assures the anticipation of the next whipping. As if in a painting, the pauses are an artistic rendering of an avenue of female sexuality that has a BDSM niche appeal.

Similar to the quiet moments in Justine when Amy goes under from the whip, splashes of water do the trick and Dani is revived so her tribulation (or should we say “fun”) can continue.

It’s worth a note that when Dani is face up on the wheel, the medieval flavor of the dungeon playroom is reinforced with a spiked belt attachment that secures her waist to increase her pain and eliminate writhing.

Body Art

By the way, Dani Borda is tattooed and pierced. Her body art fits well with the contemporary “outre” female who is perfect for these films. Call it kinky or quirky, no matter. Everything comes together with Dani and her fans—no pun intended, of course.

Speaking of the erotic element, there is frequent kissing during Dani’s trials. It’s a celebration, really, of her beauty and willingness to endure. Never once in the film did this reviewer get the impression that she was not enjoying herself or pleased with her performance. The tone of Dani’s on-screen presence will remind Red Feline aficionados of their past sweethearts (mentioned above) who have endured Jac Avila’s torments.

Before we examine the film’s cinematography in the next post, there is this:

Jac and Dani appear to make love as the final moments of the opening scene transition into their visit to his playroom. Keep that in mind because there is a surprise ending that raises questions about what is really going on in this film: reality or fantasy or flashback? You decide.

*          *          *

To download Cruxtreme I or order it in a DVD format, head to Vermeerworks.

If you have not yet purchased the tortured female BDSM horror classics Jac mentions here, scroll through the Vermeerworks catalogue for ordering.

And, if you are so inclined, reviews of other Jac and Amy’s feature films appear in the archives of this blog.

 

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May 7, 2019 · 9:07 am

Emori Pleezer: Princess in Training, Part Two

by Rich Moreland

This is the second installment of our interview with Emori Pleezer. She is with Foxxx Modeling. Her model page can be found here.

Photos are credited to Kevin Sayers and Emori Pleezer.

*          *          *

Parties and Porn

As a lifestyle couple, Emori and her Dom attend private BDSM parties, most of them at private residences. However, Emori is reluctant to play out scenes at these gatherings because she is shy, she says.

The bondage newbie offers this insight.

Compared with shooting porn, “being beat in front of people [in a BDSM setting] is way different than just fucking on a set, you know?”

Understandable. A room filled with onlookers is a time warp apart from a film set where actors, directors and crew have professional responsibilities.

Porn, after all, is a business and film shoots don’t admit the curious to gawk at the action.

As we’ve established, Emori Pleezer is relatively new to the “whips and chains” kink and is navigating her way along its learning curve.

Of her Dom, she says, “He’s actually the only top I’ve played with. I had one of my friends tie me up. But other than that, I don’t play with anyone else. He’s the only one I trust, so far. It’s like marking my body, you know? He knows how to control it.”

Emori comments that scening with other Doms at a BDSM gathering is a hassle. She’d have to become familiar with the guy so he’d understand that if she has a porn shoot coming up marks are verboden. That’s “way too much work and I’m not gonna deal with it,” she says.

Japanese Shibari is popular with the fetish community and is revered for using bondage designs that turn live models into works of art. Is her rope artist friend versed in these techniques?

Apparently. “He’s the one who roped me up. It was a lot of fun. All the Doms and sadists had a lot of fun with that,” Emori says.

She recalls a particular pattern that “has knots all the way down and there was a knot right here.” Emori points to that tender spot between her legs. When the sadists pulled on it, she had an “instant orgasm.”

“They had a bunch of fun at that party. I had a lot of fun, but I think they had more,” she laughs.

Open Up and Let Go

Things are progressing in Emori’s world of submission. She has earned her collar.

How difficult was that?

“To be honest, I had to be myself. I had to open up, I had to let go of some things. I’m stubborn and so with him I had to let go of all that and not be passive aggressive or anything. We had to get to know each other, trust each other, kind of play a little bit to see if we bonded.”

As is common in the community, the Princess and her Dom have a contract which took a few months to settle. They went through it three times before Emori granted her approval. Patience is important when documenting expectations and limits.

It so happens, by the way, there is another sub involved with Emori’s Dom.

“He has two of us and me and her are really good friends, I love her to pieces,” Emori says.

How does all this factor in with her Dom?

“Basically, me and her will just like fuck around. [We’ll] start off with just us and he’ll be like ‘Okay, you guys, that’s unfair. I want love too,’” she smiles with delight.

“It’s like a triple relationship, you know? But the contract is just strictly me and him.”

Emori indicates that everything is coming together. “Yeah, it took a lot to get to where I am with this and I’m really happy with it to be honest.”

No Sex

Is she in a polyamorous arrangement with her Dom and the other sub?

“I’m in a relationship with them,” Emori says, “but I would never be with other people [sexually] other than for porn. I take relationships seriously and if they [her Dom and the other girl] wanted to go be with other people, I’m like ‘Okay be safe about it. Care about me.’”

Incidentally, her Dom has imposed a rule on her, Emori remarks. “I’m not allowed to have sex with anybody unless it’s for porn.”

There is a caveat, however, that includes his other sub.

“Yes, me and the girl can be with as many girls as we want,” Emori says before proclaiming, “All girls come to me please, ‘cause I love girls!”

If girls are okay for sex, men are not. . . at least in Emori’s private life.

“Yeah, no sex with other men. I’m strictly his,” she announces with pride.

Porn is another matter, as you might expect. It’s Emori’s profession so there was a meeting of the minds in that regard.

“Obviously I got into this (porn) way before I met him so he cannot tell me to not have sex with industry male talent. They are a part of my work which we have established he cannot infringe upon,” the collared sweetheart says.

“He cares about what I do and knows those males are acceptable to be with. So, no sex with guys unless they are male talent and I can sleep with all the girls I want.”

Seems to be a win-win for everyone.

Teach Me a Little

How did you discover the existence of BDSM communities?

“I didn’t actually start knowing anything about [BDSM] until March of 2017 when my roommate—she’s one of my best friends now—was like ‘Oh I’m into this, you know,’” Emori begins.

“I was like, ‘Oh that’s cool Can you teach me a little?’ We started going to these coffees and that’s how I met him (her Dom),” Emori says. The gatherings also benefited her friend who found her guy there, also.

Most importantly, Emori was emotionally primed to find her passion.

“It was amazing, an eye opener. And I was like, ‘Wow, learning so much more about myself that I didn’t know.’ I thought I was just some bossy girl. Turns out I’m just a princess,” she chuckles.

Are you a lifestyler?

“Yes. At first, I was like maybe I’ll dabble in it, go to some parties and stuff. But now I’m collared. I feel like this is a lifestyle choice.”

Do you think you may drift into shooting BDSM porn along with the vanilla stuff you’re doing now?

“I feel like I will get heavy into it but I’m still gonna be that half-half girl. I’ll work out the two because I like both of them.”

Congrats, Emori Pleezer! Relish your new-found love and we hope that Kink.com, Infernal Restraints, Sexually Broken, and Hardtied will soon be picking up the phone to explore your fetish half!

 

 

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May 5, 2019 · 10:26 am

Emori Pleezer: Princess in Training, Part One

by Rich Moreland

AINews editor Steve Nelson is always on the look out for BDSM performers because he knows I love to talk with them. At this year’s AVN show, Steve came through with Foxxx Modeling’s Emori Pleezer.

Our AINews team corralled her for an interview in the press room. Let’s see what she has to say.

Photos are credited to Kevin Sayers. The bondage pictures are courtesy of Emori Pleezer.

*          *          *

My Regular Life

Emori tells us she’s new to porn and shooting vanilla scenes right now, but she’s open to anyone who wants to capture her kinks.

“I haven’t gotten to the BDSM scenes, but I really want to,” the twenty-one-year-old exclaims.

You’re not far enough along in the industry to call yourself a fetish model, right?

“Not strictly. I mean if I could be one, I would totally be one. But, as of right now, it’s just the regular stuff because that’s all I’ve gotten booked for,” she says. To reassure everyone that kink is her sexual gold standard, Emori adds, “I do this in my regular life.”

Following that opening into her private life, I mention that she is collared (her Dom has marked his territory, so to speak)

Emori flashes a broad smile. “Yes, it’s definitely more than just he’s my Dom and I’m his sub. It goes way further than that.’

How does she address him to show her submission?

She laughs that “master” is appropriate, though “my sir, my owner, whichever one,” also works.

Is sir the same thing as master?

Emori changes gears just a bit. “I call him either ‘sir’ or ‘daddy,’ whichever one works at the moment ‘cause sometimes I get really like daddy-ish and then there’s other times I feel like just my normal self, so I call him ‘sir.’”

The buxom lass concedes that any term she uses to address him is an acknowledgement of the power she gives him. I get that. Any submissive voluntarily plays her role for her own pleasure, but Emori seems to be learning the ropes (pun intended) as she finds her way into the lifestyle.

Older Men

Daddy often references age differences, which is true here. Emori admits her Dom is forty-six, a twenty-five-year spread, and adds that he adores younger girls.

From her perspective, Emori is in tune with the age parameter. “I like older men and I don’t mean I like them five years older. I like ‘em older!” she declares with that enduring smile.

In fact, a fifty-year-old guy is fine with her. (Since we talked, Emori shot a bondage scene for New Sensations’ award-winning director, Eddie Powell. Her partner was Steve Holmes, a well-known German dominant who is fifty-six).

As for her current BDSM squeeze, “I’m still learning a lot of things about myself because he is my first owner [and] hopefully my last,” she says.

Mind Games

Emori still struggles a bit with the BDSM terminology.

“Most people are like subs or something like that. I’m a princess, apparently,” she says, explaining how her Dom’s expresses his preference for her.

As for the basics, Emori admits she is a masochist and her man is clearly a sadist, but roles are not cleanly cut for her. I fact, she drifts toward switching. “I’m also a sadist, but not towards men. I’m a sadist towards women. But I’m learning how to manage that to where it’s fun and not just mean.”

So, is your sadomasochism emotional, psychological, or physical?

“With us, it’s all three. He likes to play mind games with me. It’s physical because I do like the beatings. Pain is pleasure,” she declares in true masochistic fashion.

However, there are emotional moments in their kinks, she remarks, but they are not negative. “He’ll bring out my tears to make me just cry. [He’ll say] ‘You need to cry,’ so he’ll do that in a good way emotionally.”

Marks

Are there marks in her private life and how does that factor into scheduling her porn scenes?

She’s a brat, Emori announces humorously, and that challenges her Dom. When she pushes the envelope, he’ll ask when her next shoot is. Important, you see, because recovery is central to every masochist’s arrangement with her Dom.

“He takes my career very seriously. So, when there’s two weeks I’m not doing anything, no scenes, he can time how long the marks last. So, that gives us the fun,” Emori chuckles, and quotes her man, “You’ll have a lot of ass whoopings.”

Because, they don’t live together, their BDSM play is at his house.

“He actually has a paddle engraved with ‘Punisher’ on it and that thing is heavy, let me tell you! My ass took a good beating that day,” Emori comments, mentioning a recent playtime they enjoyed.

Some subs top from the bottom. Do you?

“I’m definitely not a top from the bottom kinda girl ‘cause I’m scared of the repercussions,” Emori declares.

She continues that power exchanges between Dom and sub “depends on your dynamic, whatever you do [when you play]. Some call it topping from the bottom, others call bratting. I would say I’m not a topper from the bottom.”

Safe words?

“Yes,” Emori exclaims, “yellow and red. Yellow means I can’t take this anymore, just go in another direction. Like kinda lead it over here [and] maybe come back to it [later].”

Like most accomplished Doms, Emori’s lover can read body language and how much his sub can take. That brings us back to red.

“With my guy, you cannot call red unless you need to go to the hospital. There’s no point in calling red ‘cause he considers that topping from the bottom. So, I like it.”

Wow, things must get pretty rough. However, I do suggest to Emori that as a sub she yields all control and enjoys herself.

“Pretty much,” the Princess exclaims with that beaming smile.

*          *          *

In our next installment, Emori Pleezer talks about BDSM parties, rules about sex and porn.

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April 17, 2019 · 10:21 am

AEE 2019: Porn Stars on Camming. Casey Calvert

by Rich Moreland, April 2019

This is the second post in our porn stars and camming series from the 2019 AVN trade show at Vegas’ Hard Rock Hotel.

Casey Calvert is a popular BDSM performer who has expanded her acting skills and moved into the upper echelon of porn performers. Recently, she joined Gamma Entertainment’s Adult Time as a director, advancing her industry resume into Hall of Fame territory.

For the record, Casey and I have known each other for years and have had our share of frank conversations about the industry.

Photos are credited to Kevin Sayers.

 *          *          *

Benefits

Have you ever cammed?

Only a couple of times, Casey responds.

Because the alluring brunette shoots scenes as her primary source of income (she doesn’t dance or escort), does she believe that camming is advantageous for a porn girl?

“Yes, it definitely benefits her to cam,” Casey says, and mentions Dani Daniels. “She started as a girl-girl performer shooting scenes, transitioned to boy-girl. Now she cams and does Snapchat and other social media. She’s made that transition really seamless. Her fame that she built as a performer drove her cam traffic.”

Casey agrees that porn girls bring their audience with them when they cam. But, she suggests, that same accomplishment might be tougher for a cam girl who gravitates to porn.

“There’s a lot of cam girls who have gotten flack for shooting scenes because of their fans. Camming is a really intimate, dynamic relationship” and there is a cost involved, the University of Florida grad says.

Fans do not always take to cam girls who “are doing solos” online then “go shoot a boy-girl scene, Casey believes. Some of them will say, “’You’re taking dick on camera now? That’s not okay!’”

Fans seem to regard cam girls as their own and get a little jealous and offended when they shoot scenes. So, the bottom line of this interpersonal dynamic is risk for the cammer.

“I think that’s a part of it,” Casey says. “I think there’s some slut shaming which is inappropriate. But I know that happens.

Cam Girl Stigma

Are cam girls creating amateur porn?

“That’s exactly what they’re doing,” Casey replies. “They’re entrepreneurs, they’re businesswomen and they’re amateur performers. And I don’t mean amateur in the derogatory sense. Just amateur in the literal sense.”

In her opinion, cam girls are not porn stars, but they’re “making porn”, nonetheless.

“Some of them also see themselves as amateur performers,” she adds, while others insist, “’I don’t do porn, I am not a sex worker, I am not a porn performer.’”

Things get complicated from there.

“There’s this cam girl stigma of ‘I’m not a porn star’ and there’s this porn star stigma of ‘I don’t cam, why would I need to cam? I’m a performer.’” Casey explains.

Is that a dividing line?

“No. To me, all of us are sex workers,” she asserts, and mentions there are plenty of cammers and porn performers who agree with her. But she understands those who don’t.

“I know that there are some people who live within the stigma. When I was just a fetish model, I told people ‘I don’t do porn, I’m not a porn star.’ I was wrong. I was doing porn.”

Without penetrative sex?

“I was creating a product for people to masturbate to. That’s porn.”

The highly respected Speigler Girl elaborates.

“I didn’t know that then. I was afraid of the stigma. I didn’t want to be a porn star. I don’t do fluid exchange, I’m not making porn. But in hindsight now I see that I was being a sex worker. I just wasn’t doing ‘this.’”

I suggest that anyone can watch porn and not masturbate. But I do concede Casey has expanded my interpretation of what porn is.

From her perspective, porn’s “intention is to create something masturbatory,” as she puts it. Of course, the viewer makes that decision and there are people who don’t.

“I watch porn all the time and don’t masturbate to it,” the long-time Kink.com model says, “But it was created as a product to be masturbated to.”

For a moment we get into the phrase “porn star” and I got from Casey what I expected.

“I don’t know if I even like the phrase ‘porn star.’ I’m a porn performer. I’m an adult performer. I don’t feel like I’m a porn star. But porn star means something so I use that word to convey meaning.”

A portal

Does Casey think that camming to a portal into porn?

“No. There are thousands of cam girls and how many of those girls go shoot porn…a hundred? So, just statistically, no. Not enough people make the transition for [me to] agree with that.”

Should a cammer want to get into porn, does it matter if she gets an agent?

“Yes, it does matter because it shows an interest in sex work and an interest in creating pornography,” Casey insists.

“You have some experience talking to the camera and being sexy on camera and all of those things that an agent finds desirable. It’s not a necessity. There are plenty of girls who get into porn who have never cammed, who have never worked in a strip club, who have never done any fetish modeling and just go right into hardcore.

“But, for the most part, I find that most girls did some form of sex presentation before they started doing hardcore porn.”

In the end, Casey summarizes her take on our discussion.

“There are fans who don’t want to watch scenes ever. They just want to watch girls on cam. [Then there are] scene fans who have no interest in watching their girl on cam.

“There’s that degree of separation that a porn performer has with their fans that cam girls do not have because they ‘cam-to-cam.’ You see the guy [and] interact with them on a really intimate level. Much more intimate than shooting a scene.

“There’s no real interactions with the fans just from shooting scenes. So, I think there are fans who want that level of intimacy, and fans who don’t.”

It’s a choice, Casey Calvert concludes, that will prevail for some time to come.

 

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March 28, 2019 · 7:16 am

AEE 2019: Cory Chase

By Rich Moreland

Cory Chase is porn veteran whose cam work began last year. In her thirties, this New Jersey girl who now lives in Fort Lauderdale, did her first “homegrown” porn shoot in 2003 and her initial adult film in 2006.

We made ourselves comfortable in the press room for our talk.

Photos are credited to Kevin Sayers.

*          *          *

Recounting her professional past, Cory mentions that her adult career began with “just pictures” for a site called MyHottestGirlfriend. She won contests on the site and popularity came her way, but the next step needed a little push.

“What really got me into porn was my husband now, boyfriend back then. He liked to videotape us having sex. So, we had this [private] library of our own content,” she says.

Cory mentions that the website she started, SouthernCharms, still contains that original work.

Now that her career is on solid ground, Cory’s goal is to expand her custom videos.

“The fans enjoy knowing that they’ve produced, in a sense, their own porn that other fans are enjoying as well,” she says.

Just Step Away

I bring up the idea that the new cam girl is really the new amateur porn model. Does Cory agree?

“Yes, especially if they’re going nude and inserting objects,” she replies.

In the midst of our discussion, Cory suggests that girls wanting to cam should take their time.

“Work slow. Don’t expose yourself completely if you don’t have to,” she begins.

“You don’t have to show off everything and do everything from day one. If you can talk and express yourself without having to undress, then go for it.”

The heart of camming is “being able to express yourself and tell a story,” she asserts. “So, don’t expose yourself completely unless you want to.” In other words, a girl needs to find her comfort level.

Cory offers the best advice I’ve heard about any girl who wants to begin camming.

“Remember that no matter how much you might feel like you’re being bombarded with commands or requests, they [the fans] are not actually in the room with you in person. You can just turn off your computer. You can just step away from it and that is it.

“So, understand that if you’re feeling overwhelmed, just step away.”

Market Trends

For cam girl success, Cory insists, fetishes are important because they keep the customers coming back. Whatever the fans want creates the marketing trends that dominate cam work.

“Going with those market trends are great for business. But you have to be creative on your own and come up with something that you are passionate about. So, yes, you have to want to expand and grow the things that you do. But yet you still want to go with the flow because if what you’re doing isn’t quite working, you have a fallback and you can do something that is in trend.”

She uses a personal example to explain what she means.

“I started out with footjobs, but the trend depleted. I stopped doing footjobs for videos.”

Cory clarifies that what goes viral establishes market trends and returns to footjobs for a moment to illustrate her point.

For “a couple of celebrities,” she remembers, “footjobs were big twelve, thirteen years ago. It was because celebrities were posting pictures of their feet on social media accounts. Footjobs just went through the roof that year and I jumped on that bandwagon.”

She reminds us, however, that what is hot today, may fade and then return.

“I find [that] trends kind of cycle through. Bondage is coming back in style. With Fifty Shades of Grey, [BDSM] kind of peaked a little bit, but it’s really coming back around [now],” she says.

Cory comments that she personally likes BDSM shoots, but the business world is not always receptive.

“Bondage sex has a tendency to be faux pas, credit card processors don’t really allow when a female is bound completely and not able to give consent [or] walk away. I wish things like that could be changed.”

A veteran of bondage play, Cory still dabbles in it with her husband though “most larger companies, other than Kink, don’t really play with it too much because of the credit card risk.”

Without an Agent

For the most part, cam girls don’t have agents in the traditional porn sense. Is that a good idea?

“It really depends on the mentality [and] the work ethic of the model. Production companies usually don’t talk to a girl if she doesn’t have an agent because there’s no fallback. If she doesn’t show up, they can go back on [the agent] and get funds or get another girl to fill in for the girl that cancelled or no-showed,” Cory says.

Having said that, if a cam girl wants to shoot scenes, an agent is probably a good idea.

However, Cory indicates that camming and porn tend to move in different environments within the porn world. There is a divide.

“A cam girl doesn’t have to be a porn girl. A porn girl doesn’t have to be a cam girl, but you can do both,” she affirms.

Considering that response, does Cory believe established porn stars ought to pick up camming?

“Yes and no,” she says.

“I’m more of an established porn girl who got into camming. I dabbled in a little bit of it when I first started [doing porn, but] it wasn’t for me. It didn’t feel right so I didn’t cam for seven years. I only started camming [again] back in July of last year. So, I really haven’t been camming that long.”

But Cory hits on a serious issue in the adult business that separates cammers from porn girls, but maybe not for long.

“Because of porn and how it’s all over the internet—a lot of times for free,” she says.

In other words, porn girls have a problem: piracy. Cory mentions that some cam fans will be talking with their favorite porn star/cammer “in the public chat while watching them somewhere else.”

The warning? “Established porn girls, you have to go back to making it personalized for that fan that is talking to you,” Cory insists.

That’s the cam girl’s chief advantage, I comment.

“Yeah, and they don’t have the content out there for free,” she quips. Or at least, that is what they think.

Cory offers up a reality check.

“It’s out there. Somebody is recording it, either with a camera, on their computer screen, or they’re capturing it directly from their computer screen. It’s being recorded and posted somewhere.”

That Fourth Leg

Cory has an interesting response to the three-legged stool question of making money. She sees camming as a “virtual strip club that allows a lot more visual display than the typical strip club.’

So yes, camming is the fourth leg, but like a girl’s other options, it’s a personal decision, Cory indicates.

“What makes you happy as a model? Producing content or providing a service. Is it escorting? Is it dancing? Is it camming? Because pretty much everyone can produce porn now.”

In the end, where is the adult business today when it comes to mainstream porn and camming? Cory makes an important observation that deals with the past.

“In the old days when porn started all the way up to the nineties when the internet first came out, fans were dedicated to the girl.

“Nowadays I’m finding fans are more dedicated to a website or a network, or a genre like camming or porn. They’re more dedicated to a style as opposed to the girls themselves.”

Her solution?

“I provide content and I have to post it throughout different websites. I’m getting more eyeballs, different fans, but they’re watching the same thing,” Cory Chase says.

Though technology and innovative platforms are pressuring industry girls to work harder, that’s a positive because eyeballs turn into dollars.

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February 21, 2019 · 8:29 am

AEE 2019: AINews Reports from the Show, Part Two

by Rich Moreland, February 2019

This post is a brief visit to the Novelty Expo that was a part of the larger adult trade show in Las Vegas. Before we begin, a disclaimer is in order.

Neither I nor my cohorts—photographer Kevin Sayers and videographer Davyana San Miguel—were offered any compensation by any manufacturer for the photos in this article. We just wandered around and observed, enjoying everything we encountered.

*          *          *

Passing through the crowded and noisy rooms connected with the on-screen part of the Adult Entertainment Expo and into the AVN Novelty Expo is akin to moving from a frat party to an executive suite.

‘Tis a pity, too, considering most fans never make it this far. Without porn stars ready for conversation and a signed photo or cammers with their computers, the atmosphere immediately loses some of its appeal.

Nevertheless, you never know who you might find hanging around. Maybe a superstar like Manuel Farrara.

There is certainly a lot of room to walk around and greet vendors, look at products, and ask for demonstrations.

What is trending this year are sex dolls, a rising product in adult at-home entertainment. Of course, some are caricatures (avatars?) that look like they came out of a Pure Taboo film.

But realism is making headway in manufacturing these days giving the dolls a natural appearance that at first is deceiving when seen from a brief distance. Up close a truer picture comes into focus but for the purchaser, the “feel” is as good as ever, or so I’m told.

Don’t get too carried away, though.  Never forget that the dolls are inanimate which means some customers may only want the more intimate parts!

Requires a little imagination, I think.

Apparel also plays a big part in the novelties show, especially for women.

Thigh highs are always in demand . . .

. . . Then there is Thighbrush!

Umm? Wonder what that could be? Oh, it’s designed to appeal to the man with a beard and the lady he loves! Sorta gets her in the mood.

The fetish crowd always loves to see their paraphernalia on display. The kinky sort might pick up a little something to take home. Maybe replace those worn out wrist restraints.

Gotta make those sexy BDSM connections that will light up her night!

Toy vendors improve their products every year and it’s evident that manufacturing has come a long (no pun intended) way.

Attracting the female customer is a major thrust (oops! another pun apology!) in the industry these days.

Of course, women are approached with exquisite promises that just the right outfit brings the joy of sex! If that doesn’t work for the lady . . . .

. . . She can create her own solo excitement in a very private moment.

I was going to leave the next one out, but mechanization is a part of the adult industry and the pleasure it provides. So, those of you who are prudish please look the other way!

To be honest, motorbunny was not in the novelty room, but I threw this in anyway to let you know “personal items” could be found in other parts of the show.

*          *          *

Before we leave the novelties, Kevin snapped the perfect picture to describe the dilemma the adult industry faces everyday.

Sometimes selling a sexy good time has its quiet moments . . .

Thanks Hard Rock for hosting the show!

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November 13, 2018 · 8:20 am

Vanna Bardot: The Girl with Braces

by Rich Moreland, November 2018

New girls come and go in porn at what seems at times dizzying speed. A shoot or two and a lot of girls go home never to return to the industry.

Vanna Bardot, on the other hand, is more than the blink of the eye. She’s smart and friendly with a fan base that, I suspect, grows daily.

Interviewing her was more than a pleasure, it was downright fun!

All photos are credited to Kevin Sayers.

*           *           *

On a recent visit to a Girlfriends Films set, I sat down with newcomer Vanna Bardot. Though a mere nineteen, she is wise beyond her years with a killer attitude that spells porn fame.

A camera presence is natural for this slim and spicy girl since artistry is in her DNA. Vanna attended a performing arts high school and was steeped in the rigors of ballet for much of her young life. With adoring audiences always close by, Vanna expanded her on-stage resume. At eighteen she was dancing in Miami clubs and exploring the delights of camming.

By the way, that’s all good with her family. Vanna grew up in a liberal household where self-expression was never stifled.

All of these adventures were a warm-up for the real deal: shooting porn. And boy, is she ready.  With a smile, this petite sweetheart proclaims, “I’ve done a lot of living so far.”

A Broader Market

Rather than delve into the formulaic interview questions every porn girl gets, we talk about Vanna’s career interests. Is filmmaking from the other side of the camera in her future?

“Transitioning from an actress to a director is sparking my imagination now, especially after becoming more familiar with different sets and meeting different directors,” she says.

As Vanna navigates through the industry, her education is expanding.

“I’m taking more time to really watch other people’s work whether it’s on sets or online.”

It’s inspiring she says. “I see things that I really like that fall into my style.”

Vanna does have her opinions on what she sees in the industry, however.

“I would never tell a director how to do their job, of course. But it may happen I see things that could be altered in a way that could be more efficient or more esthetically pleasing.”

That brings me to ask, “What drives porn, director choices or market demand?”

“I think market demand ultimately decides what’s happening,” Vanna replies.

“People want to make money and they want to cater to what people are asking for. But I think we’re coming into a time where a lot of people are starting to shoot the kind of content they want even if people tell them this isn’t going to sell. And those things do end up selling.”

She mentions Spain’s Erika Lust.

“She shoots a lot of porn that caters to LGBT people.”

Vanna believes Lust’s work is “a truer presentation” of porn’s demand because the stereotype that “only old dudes buy porn” is a misconception.

“There’s a much broader market for porn now, especially for younger people, people of different sexualities, gender identities, and race.”

The Bondage Scene

Porn is becoming more diverse and that is particularly true in the fetish arena.

For example, BDSM is popular today. How does Vanna regard the bondage product and does she want to try it?

With eyes brightening, she exclaims, “I want to. That’s what I’m most looking forward to. I really want to shoot for Kink soon. I’ve been kind of waiting to do everything super slowly. But yeah, that’s something I have a really big interest in.”

“What fascinates you about that?” I ask.

Pausing for a moment, the olive-skinned teen says,  “I started watching porn when I was younger. Once I started having my own sexual experiences, it’s something I started to dabble with. The power exchange is great, but I feel in BDSM porn I see real reactions.”

Too often BDSM scenes rely on “frivolous acting” and that hides the reality of authentic bondage pleasures, Vanna asserts.

So, if you’re listening Kink pick up the phone!

The Real Thing

For Vanna’s porn fun, it’s about authenticity, an advantage she believes the amateur porn product has over scripted studio shoots.

Speaking of real porn reactions, I mention that a woman’s sexual desire peaks in her thirties and beyond.

“That actually makes a lot of sense,” Vanna comments.

Perhaps in the future being thirty or forty will be an industry norm. Vanna is on board with that.

“I do think so. In porn, girls fall into only two categories. There is rarely a middle. You’re either a teen or you’re a MILF. Girls as young as twenty-one, if they have big tits, can be cast as MILFs which is crazy.”

She mentions director Greg Lansky, three-time winner of AVN’s Director of the Year.

“What I’ve noticed with Greg Lansky’s work is it’s a lot less teen and MILF. A lot of the women he casts are girls who are women, not necessarily ‘little girl’ and not necessarily ‘I’m your friend’s mom.’”

Vanna believes that there are “girls in their twenties and forties and no girls in their thirties,” or at least it seems that way. For whatever reason, today’s content dictates that “those are usually the characters girls have to play.”

She’s hopeful that “more women in their thirties” will come into porn.

Her remarks lead me to delve into the final questions I have. The first has to do with camming and how that ratchets up the amateur porn universe in the mind of the online customer.

Reagan Foxx and Vanna along with Elsa Jean and Sarah Vandella.

The New Porn Girl

Is the cam girl the new porn girl?

“It’s interesting,” Vanna muses. “I think camming is really taking over the porn world, at least what I hear from a lot of men. They don’t watch [traditional] porn anymore. They like to go on camming websites because they see this girl next door who is camming in her room. Then they can interact with her.

“This is a really big market now and it’s easy for any regular girl to do it. You don’t have to go through this whole process of getting into porn which is very daunting for a lot of young girls.

“So, this idea that you sign up on a website and work from the comfort of your own home appeals to a lot of people.”

However, this self-proclaimed homebody believes that camming presents a major change, like it or not, for girls accustomed to shooting scenes.

“For porn stars, it’s not usually enough to just do porn. A lot of girls do weekly or monthly cam shows because people want to be able to interact with their favorite girls and see them in real-time and not always acting in a role.”

This brings us back to the young girl in porn. Regardless of camming or playing the ‘little girl,’ as Vanna puts it, an amateur product that markets a naïve girl sells well.

I’m interested to know if the young girl image represents a power exchange concept for the viewer, especially if he is an older man.  Does it fit a formula that is easily repeated in amateur shoots?

Vanna is doubtful about that.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily a formula that is going to work because I don’t think everyone enjoys seeing that,” she says.

“It definitely works for a lot of men because they like this idea of preying on a young innocent girl but I think for a lot of other people they’d rather see a more empowered role not necessarily of a girl who doesn’t know what she is doing but a girl who is more eager. She going to find this sexual encounter, or this sexual experience.”

Braces

We should mention that for the present, Vanna’s appeal lies somewhat in her braces. That certainly helps to sell her teen image.

“I still have my braces [which is] something I’ve been able to build my fan base on. It is pretty unique thing that not a lot of people have. I got them really late when I was seventeen, so I still have them.”

For now, they’re very marketable.

“But it’s not something I plan on keeping forever. I don’t want to be twenty-one with braces as much as I’m sure my fans would like it. I’m looking forward to taking them off. But I think it’s a good thing because my fans are kind of growing up with me and can see me turn into a young woman.

And, the future?

“I don’t know how long I’ll be in porn, or if I’ll reach MILF years. But I think it’s going to be good. I think people are going to enjoy seeing me grow up.”

Then this very intelligent sweetheart gives us the feel-good news.

“I’m here because I like sex, I like these sexual experiences, I like to see myself out there.”

Braces and all!

*          *          *

Dan O’Connell’s sets are always idyllic, a refreshing touch to the day’s work for any performer.

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April 5, 2018 · 8:22 am

Sofie Marie, Part Three: Hotwife

by Rich Moreland, April 2018

In this final post on Sofie Marie, we’ll look at her on-screen adventures.

*          *          *

For Sofie Marie, her swinging history prompted her move to porn. I’ve interviewed other girls with similar experiences as swingers and wanted to know what Sofie could tell us.

A Hall Pass

“I am doing porn because of swinging or ‘the lifestyle’ (as it is known among its adherents). I am a true Hotwife which means I have a hall pass from my husband to go and explore whatever I want to as long as I am one hundred percent open about my plans and experiences with him. He likes to see and hear about my exploits from me and from Spike,” Sofie says.

From what I’ve learned as a journalist, being absolutely open about everything is the cornerstone of acceptance into the swinging community and the ongoing enjoyment of it.

Sofie’s interview with Adult DVD Talk gives us the back story. Her husband introduced his new wife (they’ve only been married for a couple of years) to the swinger community. “He told me about it and I didn’t have any idea what a ‘swinger’ was,” she tells Captain Jack.

Now husband and wife savor the lifestyle together which means parties and the excitement of hooking up in a consensual atmosphere. Sofie has loved it all, especially the variety of sex partners-in-waiting, an unexpected treat for her.

“We’ve met a lot of great people and I have been with girls through that. That’s where it all began as far as fooling around with other girls,” she beams.

That ongoing adventure of self-discovery became an important step in initiating a porn career.

Sexy Young Guys

Sex for the camera is another story.

Sofie’s photography career began with bikini modeling which, as sometimes happens with porn girls, led to nude work. From there, her exhibitionist tendencies and relishing all things sexual nudged Sofie to take the next logical step: her own website and porn.

Sofie explains to Captain Jack that x-rated shooting is “no big deal” because she enjoys exploring her “sexual boundaries” which includes, no surprise, being naked and revealing her “girl parts.”

Has porn benefited Sofie’s free-wheeling spirit? You bet.

“I have gotten really comfortable in front of the camera. So, being nude or having sex is easy for me with the camera rolling,” she says.

“I am really a shy person and exploring my sexuality and now doing porn has been a great experience.”

From a psychological perspective, exhibitionism is a common trait among porn performers and often counteracts shyness. Sofie’s fans are undoubtedly thankful she has made it work for her.

By the way, Sofie’s age would dictate a career as a MILF, but she’s not really into that. When it comes to shooting, “It’s the job for me to play the MILF,” she comments, “but I like playing the Hotwife better.”

Actually, being a MILF took some getting used to, Sofie declares, because she not a mom in her real life, so the label feels a bit “weird” to her. But it does have its rewards. “I get to have sex with the young sexy guys as a MILF so that’s a bonus for me!”

That’s something all her fans can watch with delight as Sofie redefines “cougar!”

Work Sex

There is something about Sofie Marie that separates her out from the run-of-the-mill porn girl. Though I’ve not had the pleasure of being on one of her sets, as I’ve said, I can infer from the short clips I’ve seen that she is cultivating an image that sets her apart from the crowd.

That is a huge reason for her popularity, I believe.

In talking with performers and directors I’ve been reminded that porn sex is not the type of sex civilians (pornspeak for non-industry people) experience in their everyday lives. What is surprising is this: that goes for porn performers as well who are happy to separate film sex from home sex.

Another way of putting it is this: porn sex is acrobatics that involve contortions and positions that directors insist be held minute after minute to get the footage desired.

As you might expect, performers don’t go home in the evening to their significant others and hang from the chandeliers. Work sex is a business and exhausting enough as it is.

Social scientists and educators tell us that porn, with all its outre positions and hard banging, has become the new sex education for today’s young people.

Sometimes it’s difficult for them to understand that sex is supposed to be enjoyable, intimate, and a mutually shared experience. It doesn’t need to be nasty, rough, or vulgar and doesn’t have to be dominated by deep throating, gagging, choking, tears that smear mascara, and reverse cowgirls (the most graphic position for the camera).

Here is what I mean. Watch Sofie in a girl-on-boy oral scene, for example, and compare her with popular porn performers today. The difference is noteworthy.

Her on-screen sex is instinctive and unpretentious. Without doubt, this is Sofie Marie’s tour de force and why she is destined to luxuriate in the adult industry for as long as she wants. When she proclaims she projects the girl-next-door image, Sofie isn’t kidding or trying to sell her fans a bill of goods. She really is as she appears on-screen and that, in a business that is turning more and more to the bizarre to keep fans energized, is in itself remarkable.

Think of it this way, Sofie communicates her sexuality without saying, “Hey, look at me!” Her scenes are less about her and more about personalizing the sexual experience for the camera. The more natural she is, the easier it becomes for viewers to imagine themselves in the shoot with her.

As I’ve already hinted, Sofie Marie’s shoots explore sex as a spontaneous expression. In other words she reinforces the idea that sexuality as meaningful on a human level. It’s not a superhero cartoon or the perils of Pauline. It’s just us.

There’s no drool, spit, or slobbering when she is performing orally. Dirty talk is subdued, and, she completely turns the porn formula on its head when she fails (forgets?) to point her toes. Those things are not important in her shoots because they are not her. As Sofie keeps telling us, she’s natural . . . and she is a natural.

I could be wrong and if I ever see her in action on set in a way that disputes what I’ve said here, I’ll let you know.

Consent

Not surprisingly, consent is important to Sofie.

“So far I have been treated with respect one hundred percent of the time. I expect nothing else from this industry or I will not shoot with a company who does not respect my time and boundaries,” she proclaims.

For girls to accomplish what Sofie asserts, they must take control of their image just as this statuesque beauty clearly demonstrates in her work. That is a link to feminism she may not know she possesses.

Balancing Act

Finally, I had a couple of questions for Sofie that arose from personal interest. She and I are similar in two ways.

First, I was raised in a conservative evangelical home (Southern Baptist) and didn’t know much about sex growing up other than it was sinful outside of marriage.

I don’t know if Sofie’s childhood attitudes were the same, but she had this to say about her background.

“I, too, was raised in a very religious household and I still maintain my spiritual connection to my faith. But I have come to realize that I am a consenting adult and the people I perform with are adults as well and we are not hurting anyone by having sex.”

She concludes with, “I always try to be kind to others.” A lesson we could all share. Are you listening evangelicals?

The other area Sofie and I have in common is endurance sports, specifically triathlon and marathons. The training is grueling and fatiguing and I can’t imagine having sex on camera in addition to that.

So how does she balance everything out?

“My last Ironman was 2016 so my training has been easier for the past year. My husband and I train together, so when we get our schedules synced, we will likely do another one. But my focus is my career now.

“Yes, it’s hard to a balance business and training . . . business is first for now. I do workout with weights and cardio six times a week, just not as long as when I was training for my Ironman!”

We wish her well with all her loves: racing, on-camera sex, and of course, hubby!

*          *          *

A final note. Sofie Marie did not talk about her fetish performances because regretfully I didn’t ask.

So, for the followers of this blog who like BDSM, I want to assure you Sofie is not shy when the fetish comes her way.

Take a look here:

And here:

Be sure to follow Sofie’s fetish adventures with your bondage dollars!

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December 5, 2017 · 9:58 am

A Gonzo Afternoon: Part Two

by Rich Moreland, December 2017

Their shoot for Eddie Powell wrapped up, Steve Holmes and Mandy Muse are game for a dual interview so we move outside to the veranda.

Steve’s wife soon joins us.

Here’s some of what we discussed.

*          *          *

A Convenient Marine

I open the discussion with a question about getting into the business.

Mandy starts us off. She’s been shooting for a while and works with Kendra Lust’s agency, Society 15.

“I’m 23 years old. I’ve been in the industry for 4 years now, started when I was 19. I have a big booty which I’m known for. I do pretty much everything except for double anal and double vag.”

Mandy has no background in acting other than a film class she once took. But the Southern California lass is well versed in sex, having her first experience at the tender age of twelve.

“I had my first threesome with two guys when I was fourteen and then my first orgy at about fifteen.” Her voice rises as if she’s not sure of the age, or doesn’t remember exactly.

She got into the industry once she turned eighteen, Mandy says, and relates how it happened.

“I was attempting my first DP with these two marines on base.”

A good time was had by all before another soldier shows up. He was on duty but that didn’t faze Mandy.

“He was really attractive and I wanted him to join in,” she remembers.

The marine was interested but declined. He was on duty. Undaunted, Mandy gave him her number.

“He later asked me if I’d do a scene with him for a uniform fetish website. I wore my cheer leading uniform from high school and that’s how porn found me!” the brunette declares gleefully.

Married with Children

Steve’s path started at a much later age.

“I’m German, born in Transylvania, then went to Germany as a kid.” he begins. “I worked in IT for ten years, before that in different jobs, always sales and marketing.”

I can believe that. He’s easy to get along with, just ask Mandy who met him for the first time today.

Steve’s wife arrives to pick him up and takes a seat.

As if on cue, he says, “When I started I was already married with children.”

I suggest his wife is a tolerant person. She smiles and sends him a knowing look.

“She is, yes,” he responds and turns to Mandy, “I did a nice feature with your agent, Kendra Lust. She played my wife.”

Come to think of it, I guess Steve has had lots of “wives” but only one real wife.

I tell Steve I first learned about him through his work with Kink.com in San Francisco.

“Kink is a funny story actually,” he offers. “They booked me the first time in 2007. I didn’t know the company. They always asked the girls at Kink who they like to shoot with. They were requesting me.”

The fetish giant explained that before they booked him he needed to do a little research to find out his comfort level with what they do.

They said, “’It’s not like the regular stuff. We’ll send you a link to our website and a password,’” Steve remembers.

He checked out their shoots and noticed something. He didn’t know how to do the rope work that seemed to be everywhere in a Kink production.

“They told me, ‘no problem we have people for that,’” Steve explains. “So that’s my first shoot at Kink for Sex and Submission in February or March, 2008.”

As time passed, Kink expanded their offerings to Steve.

“They asked me if I can help with producing and organizing. That’s how I started directing. One of the websites I produced was Public Disgrace. Princess Donna initiated that with the company.”

Donna has since left the adult business. I remembered seeing her a couple of years ago in a shoot for a European BDSM company called Elite Pain. Their work is rougher than anything stateside.

“Yes, a company owned by a friend of mine in Budapest,” Steve interjects. “They normally just shoot nudity with no sex.”

He references a shoot he did for them and shows a still of the bound model on his phone.

“The girl contacted me many years ago. She wasn’t a porn girl. She was a medical student in Germany. I booked her in Europe and we shot her in Berlin for Public Disgrace and I asked her if she enjoyed the scene.”

“‘I was hoping you’d beat me harder,’” he remembers her saying.

Asked about her limits and the girl said, “‘I don’t know, I’ve never reached that.’”

It turns out that Steve suggested she might want to give Elite Pain a shot.

“She came for the scene. We did it together. Hard punishment. I fucked her and she had so many orgasms. She was happy for the experience, but she’d never do it again,” he says with a chuckle.

As time passed Steve’s work with Kink was so impressive that he became one of their directors and specialized in filming in Europe.

Warming Up

Turning our attention to the shoot just completed, I asked our pair how they got to know one another when they arrived.

Steve begins

“Easy. We met. We got attracted to each other. We use the time they are setting up the lights.”

Yep, all that “warming up” paid off.

Mandy points out that being comfortable with your co-stars is important and in her case, she has “never really had a hard time finding chemistry especially with a performer like Steve Holmes. It’s just how I love being handled during a scene.”

“Thank you,” Steve says, forever the gentleman. Mandy giggles.

“We had a good time,” he continues, and comments on touching, caressing, and the like.

Mandy chimes in, “We talked about that too.”

Steve brings up the most important factor in porn . . . do you love what you do? It can make or break a shoot. And, of course, there is chemistry between performers.

“Productions have a certain idea about the scene and how they want it to be. But then sometimes they don’t always book the right people. When I feel the girl is just going through the motions, it usually reflects in the scene.”

Reading Expressions

How about communication when the camera is rolling?

Steve thinks of it as akin to dancing and uses a generational analogy I completely understand.

“My role model is Fred Astaire. Sometimes you go on the dance floor with a girl and she doesn’t feel it. You try to lead her, push her, you know. And then there are sexual girls. You dance to enjoy and also to put on a show. This is what we do here. We know where the camera is. We try to enjoy ourselves and look nice for the audience, the camera.”

I ask Mandy about making eye contact during sex.

She loves to do that but comments that in her personal life, it doesn’t always happen.

Regardless if it’s business sex or private sex, “You can see what they (your partners) are feeling more when you look at them.”

The eyes “make connections” and bring people together, she adds.

Steve is on board with that.

“Eye contact is very important. You know what your partner enjoys by reading their expressions. We react to each other.”

“Coming back to the BDSM fetish stuff,” he says, “it’s so important to read your partner so you can push them or back off.”

In shooting that type of scene, there is always a potential a safety issue, so everyone needs to be on the same page.

Did Steve use his expressions to get Mandy to go where he wanted to be in the shoot, or where he wanted her to be?

In chorus, Steve and Mandy exclaim, “Both.”

“It’s a given thing,” Steve says.

There was a fair amount of spanking in the shoot. How did this influence Mandy?

“I’m submissive,” she explains. “I like pain so I like to be spanked. It gets me stimulated. When the penetration after the spanking happens, it’s two different types of feelings so I just love the mixture of both.”

The PA for the shoot, AJ Westwood, comes out and offers to drive Mandy to her car. She’s parked at a local mall. Steve says it’s on his way and he’ll give her a lift.

Incidentally, in LA neighborhoods people coming and going from a house raises red flags. For that reason, my photographer and I parked down the street some distance away.

Keep the Energy

Before we wrap up, the conversation turns to Eddie Powell.

Steve says he’s worked with Eddie for about a year. He likes shooting for him because the director gives his performers freedom to express themselves.

“There are certain directors you enjoy more than others,” Steve says, and he’s known ones that are not to his taste.

He mentions a director from years ago. “The first time I shot for him was so boring.”

Once the director put the performers into a position, Steve explains, “he didn’t change anything. Don’t move your hand, don’t change anything. Hold the position.”

The crew worked around them.

“In the end the product looked great because the dynamic came from the editing. It was actually not a lot of fun, (just) hard work,” he says, adding that some shoots can range from five to eight hours on set.

Today was much different, Steve declares. He didn’t have to save his energy.

“The camera follows you, you can just keep going and enjoy yourself because you know the camera is going to pick it up.

“With Eddie, the scene is so good with the lighting and the camera being handheld. It’s not so easy and he pulls it off so well. That’s the quality of his shooting.

“The key is that Eddie actually tries to book performers who know what they are doing, then he tries to capture it. If you give him what he wants, then he lets you do it.”

Mandy offers a final comment about maintaining on-set energy especially during breaks.

“Even when the cameras aren’t rolling I want to continue the flow (of the scene) to still keep the energy there.

“Today was not supposed to be so hardcore. It was easy to not get worn out when the lights are changing,” she says.

What is important, Mandy insists, is “to continue flowing with the same energy.”

Understandable. That’s always a priority when you make your living as an entertainer.

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November 17, 2017 · 11:17 am

The Passion of Isabel: Part Two

by Rich Moreland, November 2017

This is the second part of my review of The Passion of Isabel, a Red Feline film starring Beatriz Rivera as the victim and Jac Avila as her torturer, Torquemada.

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The Passion of Isabel sticks with its erotic theme throughout.

No Escape

For instance, food is important imagery. Torquemada teases Isabel with water to replenish her energy and eventually brings her rudimentary nourishment after he has kept her confined for two days. She’s offered an apple and a small loaf of bread, both highly sexualized symbols.

Eating is a Freudian symbol for sex. Isabel is capitulating to his sexual control over her. When he tempts her with the apple in an Adam and Eve reversal, Isabel looks into his eyes with submission in hers.

Torquemada leaves the apple so she can feed herself in an act that implies dependence and obedience. He controls his prisoner totally now and wants her strong enough to endure the abuse she will suffer. Taking the food from Isabel, Torquemada stands her up for the first round of punishment, the exquisite whipping scene mentioned in Part One of this review.

Other symbols enhance Isabel’s enslavement. During her second rape, Torquemada chokes her with the chains that keep her under his control. In BDSM play, restricting breathing during sex increases its orgasmic intensity for the masochist.

Is Isabel being taught to perversely enjoy her trials?

Another prominent image is the metallic collar which is prominent throughout the film before it is locked around Isabel’s neck. When it is on the floor on its side, the camera shoots the scene through it, framing the device with a double meaning. It represents Isabel’s manacles and its round opening is a clear statement that this is a highly sexualized film.

As a foreboding of her death, Torquemada hangs Isabel in another erotic act. He stretches out her neck with the chain attached to the collar, once again suppressing her breathing and intensifying her sexual experience as he takes control of her soul.

Notice the other circular object, the pressure belt, is secured around her waist and also acts as a metaphor for the female sex. Isabel’s youthful beauty is slowly strangling her as the collar and the belt act as opposing forces.

There is no escape. She suffers because she is desired.

Rack and Wheel

A ladder becomes a rack to stretch Isabel’s body in the proper manner prescribed by the Inquisition. As Isabel’s misery continues, close-ups of her face underscore looks of desperation and defeat.

Her whimpering increases as the intensity of her trials is ratcheted up, but she never screams or cries out. Even as the end nears, Isabel displays a fortitude that is commendable.

When the film returns to the circle motif, the scenes move to the breaking wheel, sometimes called the Catherine Wheel. Isabel’s whippings continue and to increase her humiliation, Torquemada confines her in two ways: on the rim of the wheel with her back arched and then spread-eagle on the spokes in a crucifixion position.

Beatriz Rivera deserves high praise when she is stretched on the rim. Because the weight of her body pulls her down, she is steadied by the rope around her upper body and between her legs (sensationally erotic since she is nude) while the camera captures her pain.

Though accustomed to acrobatic maneuvers to show the sex they are having, only top of the line adult actresses ever deal with such an unnatural position.

Torquemada asks, “Do you repent for your father’s death?”

Isabel remains defiant, smiling slightly and shaking her head with a “no, no.”

There’s more lashing, rape, and anguish before the film’s denouement.

Allegory

In the final crucifixion, Isabel is subjected to probes with sharp objects (the medieval test for witches) and the pressure belt to add to her torment. Torquemada nails her feet and hands and rotates the wheel so that Isabel goes from the upright Christ position to the upside-down configuration of St. Peter.

When the crown of thorns is placed on her head, there are two single branches pointing upward resembling the horns of Satan. It’s a comment that Isabel’s tribulations symbolize the fight against evil that reaches into eternity. Pay close attention when her eyes look upward.

Isabel’s stoicism soars to its heavenly heights at this point. Rightly or wrongly, she accepts the responsibility for the crime she stands accused of committing and understands her punishment.

One more observation is worthy of comment. The ball attached to the pressure belt is allegorical. The pre-Christain Atlas bears the weight of the world just as Christ takes on the sins of man.

Isabel has clearly moved from sinner to saint and as the film closes. A heartbeat is all we hear. It slows, becoming almost imperceptible into eternity with the message that death is a state of mind rather than a spiritual end.

Bea’s Triumph

In the first part of this review, I suggested that Beatriz Rivera learned her craft in the film Justine and has now matured into an artistic performer in The Passion of Isabel.

This juxtaposition of a sixteenth century story in a twenty-first century film is evident in Bea’s performance. First, she rises to fame as an erotic actress. Notice, however, that she parts with Amy Hesketh and Mila Joya when she trims and partially shaves her pubic area so the female sex is on-screen. She lets us know she’s a modern bondage star and a woman making her own statement of sexual liberation.

What’s more, the decision to leave in the stud in her nose and her single ear piercing establishes a contemporary identity. Throw in her tattoos that are only lightly covered with make-up (the one high on her back is not) and we have the kind of presentation that excites today’s BDSM aficionados.

What of Bea’s acting?  As mentioned in part one, her range of expressions are largely non-verbal which requires concentration and awareness of what the scene is asking of her. She is subtle in her message of suffering.

Not only that, but her whipping scenes are realistic. At no time does she appear as a caricature of a victim. The viewer can feel her pain and the lingering agony of her relentless torture.

For these reasons which move Beatriz Rivera as actress beyond her lovely nakedness, Red Feline fans are going to demand more from this Bolivian sweetheart. Her film presence is pure erotic pleasure marked by the whip.

Final Thought

In Part One of this review, I pointed out the difference between the three tortured women in Red Feline/Pachamama Productions I’ve reviewed.

Bea’s performance in Isabel clearly delineates how differently she handles the erotic role of the tortured female from Amy Hesketh and Mila Joya. Bea is not horror-oriented as is Amy. Her pain is internalized so that crying out and screaming is not reflective of how she portrays pain. Likewise, she is not the submissive and docile character that appeals to Mila. Bea is defiant and in many ways totally feminist.

The magic of a Jac Avila film library allows the viewer to choose and appreciate the different ways talented actresses approach their masochistic roles and the brutal situations they find themselves in.

As for Bea in  The Passion of Isabel, she yields in the end, but the viewer gets the feeling that her heart never really stops beating.

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A Jac Avila film rarely disappoints even the harshest critic. Yes, his work is not for everybody and the viewer must have a taste for the performance art the Red Feline/Pachamama studios present.

At no time are the actresses abused, but as Jac will tell anyone who will listen, shooting his films can be an arduous experience. The scenes are hard on the body and the psyche, but each performer values the opportunity to make her own artistic statement.

Keeping this in mind, our wholehearted thanks is extended to all the women who appear in Jac’s films, and particularly to Beatriz Rivera as Isabel, for enriching our film experience.

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