Porn History: BDSM Filmmakers by Violet Blue
Originally published: XXX Files July 2001
Inevitably, we find ourselves looking for not a Kink.com shoot online, but a fully-filled out hot S/M film — and end up with a poorly shot, sexless, unconvincingly-acted flick with silicone-stuffed players dressed in awful outfits. What we really wanted was something sleek and sexual, with scenarios like short stories, acted out by actual S/M players wearing real fetish gear, enduring authentic pain and showing genuine devotion. It seems like such a simple thing to deliver. So why is this so difficult to find?
Most S/M films come from Los Angeles, home of that deep, introspective place known as Hollywood and center of the universe for plastic surgery, entertainment-by-committee, Disney living in tandem with “Silicone Valley,” and the Baldwin family. So, as viewers, what we get is a giant culture of mixed perceptions and things being done for seemingly mysterious reasons. Filmmaking committees speculate viewers’ desires, in both Hollywood and porn. S/M films contain no sex, even though we watch them because it gets us off, and in Hollywood film only serial killers do S/M — even though S/M is now the number one new sexual practice for American couples to try. And the Baldwins keep getting film roles, though thankfully, not in porn. Has the whole world gone crazy?
Not the whole world: there are a few S/M filmmakers who are making the films we want to see, in addition to a few random gems that crop up now and again. However, because of federal and state pornography prosecution fears, sex in S/M films is even harder to find than a good Baldwin film. You just can’t show someone restrained having sex — to do so invites big trouble, and the result is split genres: films with sex in them, and films with S/M in them. The trick is to ferret out directors who know how damn sexy S/M is, and know how to show it — some do, though don’t expect genital close-ups.
Find a whole roster of breathtaking BDSM films worth of festivals and awards on her site, Bleu Productions.
Les Vampyres begins showing a lost, frightened schoolgirl (played by Beatty, herself a lifestyle submissive) who wanders into an unfamiliar neighborhood. Next, she is whisked away into a richly appointed castle, where she awakens to find she is bound securely to a chair. From that point on, she becomes the plaything of two beautiful and squishy Domme vampires, who torture her to their heart’s content. The scenes are stunning to watch as Beatty learns erotic body worship, is beaten, whipped and caned, before being subjected to penetration. In the finale, it’s impossible to look away as plain-Jane Beatty is femmed-up, made over, and then made into one of them.
Ernest Greene knows the truth about S/M — that it’s hot, sexy and when it’s done right you want to fuck like bunnies. In fact, he regularly editorializes on the industry’s foolish attitudes about mixing sex and S/M. His films show us a director who knows a thing or two about S/M, and regularly include women who love their roles and really want to fuck each other. However, the actors are conventional porn stars so be warned that half of them have creepily obvious boobjobs, talon-like fingernails and “perfect” bodies. This is L.A. after all, Dorothy. Regrettable, yet this quickly takes a back seat to real pain and teary-eyed submissive adoration coupled with authentic sexual arousal, allowing us moments of experience which overshadows the actresses’ self-inflicted physical abnormalities.
Greene made a few wonderful films with bondage diva Midori that contain moments of S/M magic. Somewhere between the direction of Greene and the quiet authority and grace of Midori, a group of L.A. porn actresses transcend their own boundaries — even prompting Greene to register unexpected surprise in interviews after the films’ completion.
Portrait of a Dominatrix is based on a magazine interview with celebrity Mistress Midori, where she recounts in detail the sessions that shaped her training. In this co-ed torture tape, the interviewers and photographers end up as actors in these fictional vignettes, later becoming inspired enough themselves to try out their own sessions. Highlighting the film is plenty of male submission, often at the hands of more than one femme top, with some excellent cock and ball torture and spirited pony-boy training. Midori steals the show at every turn with razor-sharp skills that are fascinating to watch including whipping, spanking, gorgeous Japanese-style rope restraint and her persona itself used as a weapon of forced servitude. No sex, no genital close-ups, but plenty of sex-charged heat between the players. If you’ve ever pained watching porn actresses’ fumble around faking S/M, then this tape will be like taking yourself out to dinner after weeks of ramen.
The Ivy Manor series promises to bring some of the most polished and perfected lifestyle rubber and latex fetishes to the small screen, peppered with medical torture, whippings, hardcore sensory deprivation and more. Start with Ivy Manor: The Beginning, where we get our first taste of the manor through the wide eyes of a journalist set out to uncover why this home for wayward girls is so… effective. The atmosphere is a glimpse into a world where magazines like Skin Two and Secret have sprung to life; an atmosphere that erotically seduces our little journalist to partake of life’s most extreme pleasures. Inferred sex with no genital close-ups, and contains a mix of natural and not-natural bodies.
There are several reasons why Mistress Cleo DuBois is loved by fans and the folks who regularly fill up the S/M classes she teaches — see those reasons for yourself in her video, The Pain Game. Two devoted submissives — one male, one female — each gave consent to be filmed during a session with their benevolent Mistress, and the results are electrifying. In scene one, a handsome older gentleman is tortured to his heart’s content and teasingly, maddeningly aroused with Cleo’s expert cock and ball torture techniques; scene two‘s female submissive burns with devotion for Cleo as she puts her into the most exquisite, and intricate, harness of piercing needles and rope.
So when you’re out and about, searching for that perfect S/M film, keep these names and titles in the back of your mind: this is in no way a complete list of everything these folks have done, and these people are very busy bees. Happy hunting — and don’t forget your best friend, the fast-forward button.
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