Tag Archives: Posture Collar

by Rich Moreland, February 2013

This is the fifth episode of Voracious. It’s titled “I Want to See the Sun” for good reason. The encounter between Amira and Vlad is most intense and I am told it captivated the crew as it was filmed. Brooklyn Lee’s performance takes the viewer beyond the premise that this is a pornographic movie. Her emotional conflict and expression of her desires in the face of Vlad’s carefully orchestrated wrath is a filming coup that rarely occurs in the studios of the Other Hollywood.

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Through his contacts with Father Zoltan, Manuel Batiste arranges to go to Berlin to meet up with Amira. Before leaving, he gives instructions to his secretary Karen to look after things. He adds that he will need her help with research.

Karen (former adult actress Tricia Deveraux) replies, “Vampires?”

“No, folklore,” Manuel says. Does he really believe in vampires?

Arriving in Berlin, Manuel arranges to meet Father Zoltan in front of Charlottenburg Castle. The structure is built in the Baroque style, a tribute to the Catholic Church. Like many European landmarks of the 16^th and 17^th centuries, the castle has a vast stone courtyard that extends to the street. What better place to meet a connection to the vampire clan than a monument to a religious age in European history.

Father Zoltan is to the point. Manuel’s interest in Amira sparks a curiosity for him and he wants an explanation.

“I have my reasons,” Manuel replies.

Zoltan is humorless. “Tomorrow, 10 p. m. at the Golden Angel, she’ll be there.”

“Good,” Manuel says, “I’ll see you then.”

As Manuel departs, Adriana watches a distance away.

“He shows up, I see,” she says to the priest.

“He’s going to be very useful,” Zoltan’s voice is firm.

“I agree.” Her wicked smile portends things to come.

 

The Victory Column and the Posture Collar

From his hotel room window, Manuel stares at the Victory Column, a Berlin landmark and a central image in the film.

The column was constructed in mid-nineteenth century during the struggle for German unification. The century was also the age of vampire lore. Later the column was symbolic of the Nazi rise to power in the 1930s, a time when demonic forces possessed an entire nation. Ironically, from a psychological perspective it has a Jewish connection; the column is a Freudian phallic symbol. When seen from a distance the angel atop the column is a visual metaphor of power. Angels come in various forms and can be good or bad. They are born out of imagination, desire, sexuality, and fear. Are vampires among the ranks?

John Stagliano swirls these ideas into this chapter of the saga. The viewer is reminded of the column motif and its greater power over the story.

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The scene shifts to a warehouse. The interior is in disarray as one might find unkempt storage spaces. A steel structure that resembles a very broad ladder is positioned in front of two coffins, those of Dracu and Vald.

Hanging upside down on the ladder is a nude Amira. She is the column in a reverse world. Her hands are folded over her breasts. She is bat-like guarding the vampires. Dracu arises out of his coffin, reborn of the darkness. He approaches the ladder and arouses Amira’s body with his steel tipped fingernails. Her eyes pop open sharply.

Amira wears a posture collar, a popular accoutrement in the BDSM community. The collar is long and confining and has the purpose of keeping a sexual submissive’s neck straight and restricted. In Amira’s case, it is a symbol of control, preventing her from looking elsewhere to break the spell of the darkness.

The scene, which begins in black and white, now shifts to color.

Amira’s body visually lengthens, staying with the column imagery. Her arms dangle straight down; she grasps the lowest bar as if to stretch out.

She pulls herself up with a deep bend like a vampire emerging from a coffin and stands in front of the steel structure. She is awaiting Vlad. When he abandons his coffin and faces her, Amira’s eyes speak of recognized inferiority.

 

“So she’s the American girl,” Vlad utters.

Amira stares straight ahead, unflinching, in the best of submissive postures. Dracu backs away. Vlad has work to do and it entails breaking down Amria.

For BDSM aficionados this scene is a must. John Stagliano commented to me how moved he was with Brooklyn Lee’s performance. Rocco Siffredi shows his skills as a porn veteran and Brooklyn’s acting is over the top.

The sex is totally oral and filled with body fluid as is Stagliano’s preference. But it’s the drama that entices. Vlad is emotionally beating down Amira and in a tension filled moment she screams, “I want to see the sun!”

Now the truth comes out. She is fighting back tears.

At this point the images of the film come together. In a mighty struggle, Vlad is forcing his will on Amira. Her throat fills with fluid, almost drowning her (the water image). She repeatedly rises out of the water to be reborn, only to be attacked once again by Vlad’s “column.”

Suddenly Amira, head arched back over the rail of the ladder, spews out all the fluid in her mouth. An explosive sound is heard. The angel erupts from the victory column that is now Amira’s body. She screams again, “I want to see the sun!” in the same metaphoric way the golden angel gleams in the sunrise over Berlin, the once capital of evil and destruction.

Vlad slaps her violently, as if in a desperate attempt to discipline her and drive the angel back into the night. His anger surges forth.

“Please!” she begs and screams.

“You’re not a real vampire!” he growls.

“I don’t know!” she cries in confusion. “I don’t know!”

Vald’s fury mounts. His hands grip her throat to squeeze the life out of her; he is taunting her.

“Please don’t kill me!” Amira pleads.

“If you decide to become human again, I will kill you!” he shouts. Vengeance is mind saith the Vlad.

What is this? Is Amira in some kind of vampire purgatory? She has choices? Does Vlad kill the undead to discipline the clan or simply for sport?

Vlad rams his fingers into Amira’s mouth. Her eyes stare up at him in desperation and fear. Her face becomes immobile, freezing in its tracks her longing to be reborn in daylight.