[Calumny_Jane]

Holy shit… People fantasize about what porn movies would look like if they were made by mainstream Hollywood. I think they might look very much like Corruption.

I never thought I’d see the day I’d watch a four-hour porn movie all in one sitting. Not only did I do that with Corruption – without chapter-skipping, mind you (okay, I stopped to pee, make a sandwich, and, no bullshit, masturbate three times) – but once I picked my jaw up off the floor, I tore into the “making of” documentaries that run well over an hour, and the bloopers reel.

I think it’s safe to say Corruption might be the best porn feature ever made.

The. Best.

A contributor to this website described the movie as relentlessly depressing… well Gram Ponante can suckle my taint because this movie isn’t depressing at all, it’s real. If there’s a more professionally acted, directed, and most importantly, written, porn movie in existence, I’ve never seen it.

Corruption tells the story of David Walker Helms (Bryn Pryor), a psychotic, perverted California senator who keeps his pretty young sex slave, Natasha (Hillary Scott), by his side in case he might need her to suck his cock or blackmail a rival. Unfortunately, Helms’ wife Caroline (Kylie Ireland) wants her husband to shoot for the presidential nomination in 2008, and she realizes Natasha could be a problem. When David won’t put Natasha aside, even temporarily, Caroline takes matters into her own hands and all hell breaks loose.

Everything about this production is amazing, and completely unlike any porno I’ve ever seen, except, perhaps, for some of Paul Thomas’ darker work. The cast all perform brilliantly, with Alana Evans, and even more so Kylie Ireland, giving the best performances of their careers; but the real surprise is Hillary Scott who shows genuine acting chops in this movie, from her smoldering glares at the beginning to her heartbreaking collapse at the end.

And then there’s Bryn Pryor, who is nothing short of breathtaking. If Corruption were a mainstream movie his turn as Helms, which manages to be super-creepy and pussy-dampening at the same time, would be Oscar-worthy. As this is a fuck-flick, it needs to be said that there’s no one in all of adult more deserving of a Best Actor trophy come January than Pryor.

It was all the more shocking, then, to learn while watching the BTS that Bryn Pryor and Eli Cross are one and the same! Now I’m really impressed!

Corruption is beautifully shot, skillfully edited, and looks more like a professional mainstream movie than anything I’ve seen in adult. The script is tight and well written. And then there’s the sex…

This is a nasty, dirty, filthy movie, and I’m just as shocked and impressed by the fucking as I am by the story. Everyone expects Hillary Scott to be an anal queen extraordinaire, and she certainly doesn’t disappoint. Every scene she has is a real killer, from her anal with Hershel Savage (during which she cries “hail Mary full of grace” with each thrust – it makes sense in context, but it’s no less twisted) to her scene with Mark Davis and Stacy Thorn, where she submits to being brutalized, takes an anal creampie from Davis, and then squirts it into Stacy Thorn’s hand and licks it up.

What I wasn’t expecting was the truly raunchy turn from Kylie Ireland, who seems to have decided to dispense with her contract girl veneer. First, Ireland essentially rapes Hillary before handing her off to Steve Holmes and Seth Dickens (I think), then she does an incredibly rough DP and double-anal with Dickens and Alex Sanders – and loves it. Just to prove she’s not fooling around, Kylie gets fisted by Sandra Romain in the final orgy sequence with one hand in her pussy and one in her ass! (and no, I’m not watching the European version; this is the regular American DVD).

This isn’t the Kylie I remember from One Sleepless Night.

That’s not to say every sex scene is completely off the hook. There’s something for everyone with a straight BJ that opens the movie (well, it’s really more of a story/character sequence than sex scene, but the uncut blowjob is included on the disc, without dialogue I presume), two straight boy/girl scenes, one from Alana & Tyler Knight, the other featuring Hillary and James Deen, and there’s a Sophia/Kelly Wells anal fourway with two guys I couldn’t identify. Also, the majority of the orgy, while heavy on the anal and squirting, is incredible, straight sex.

All of these “normal” sex scenes are the equal of anything you’re likely to see this year, they just pale in comparison to the one-upsmanship displayed by Hillary and Kylie in their scenes.

My favorite scene, however, is Alana Evans' solo which is fantastically stylized and deeply disturbing. When Helms catches Alana’s character, Perkins, colluding with Caroline, he psychologically dominates her into degrading herself by first stripping for him, and then fucking herself with a pair of dildos, with Alana sobbing raggedly through the entire experience.

Call me a girl with issues, but OH MY GAWD was that ever HOT! Not only is the scene cut to really twist the knife of what a sick fuck Helms is between your ribs, with multiple takes of him repeating his soulless patter, Alana’s performance is stunning. When she crawls across the floor to beg Helms to love her, I blushed and crossed my legs all at the same time.

Which, maybe tells you more than you need to know about me.

This is an unbelievable movie with a serious, realistic story, terrific performances, and a dark, gritty, wonderful script. I can’t wait for the sequel.

--Jane

[Eli Cross]

Thanks for the great review, CJ. We haven't gotten many reviews for this show (which is what I get for making a four-hour-movie I suppose), but we really appreciate you taking the time to watch, and even better, write this review.

I'm sending you all my stuff in the future.

Eli Cross

[Calumny_Jane]

Eli,

Thanks for the compliments, but don't get too misty-eyed; I thought True Porn Fiction was a pile of crap ;>

Good work on Corruption, though.

--Jane

[Eli Cross]

I completely agree with you. True Porn Fiction was a big pile of crap.

Hey, I never said I was perfect.

[Houstondon]

I found it to be exceptionally well made too. There aremany movies made where the sex appears to be tacked on as an after thought or the plot so poorly acted as to defy all sense but Corruption was WAY ahead of the pack this year as a feature and as the hardest of hardcore you'll find (technically, they sold out already). For details:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=24631

If this doesn't win a bunch of awards over the next year (From Hillary and Bryn's acting, to the editing and best feature, to lots of other accolades), it won't be because the quality of the movie, the acting, or the extras were lacking in any way...

[blacklatex]

Originally Posted by Calumny_Jane

Holy shit… People fantasize about what porn movies would look like if they were made by mainstream Hollywood. I think they might look very much like Corruption.

This is an unbelievable movie with a serious, realistic story, terrific performances, and a dark, gritty, wonderful script. I can’t wait for the sequel.

--Jane

I have to agree that this is one the best focused sex films offering this year. It has a LOT to offer to the film watcher who is NOT merely looking for the latest bounce scene.

I still have to give the best adult film nod to Fashionistas Safado for the best film of the year though as it was far more reaching and imaginative than the more real world "Corruption" (some say Fashionistas was TOO open ended, needing "Berlin" to conclude the story-arc) and much more developed than Wicked's "Manhunter" and FAR more intense than the VERY enjoyable and lavish, but weak power-edge "O - Power of Submission"

If there is a sequel I too hope they remain at this level of production and staffing and resist the mainstream Hollywood trend to merely cash in on an accidental success with simple disposable prepatterned garbage
Blair Witch 2 anyone?

[Calumny_Jane]

Hmmm... I really disagree. I thought the sex in Safado was great, but it was a lousy movie. The first half hour is just footage from the stage show (which got old really quickly for me), and the movie makes no sense.

Maybe the plot -- assuming there is one -- will make an appearance in part three, but this isn't Lost for Christ's sake, it's porn. How long do I have to wait for the friggin' thing to make sense?

No, to me, this Fashionistas just plays like a really splashy, expensive gonzo. The sex in Corruption is every bit as good, there's more of it, and it's a great movie. I'm not saying it will win, just saying it should.

As for a sequel, I'm skeptical. I haven't seen a lot of Eli Cross' work, but the few Vivid movies I've seen didn't really impress me (sorry Eli). I know from the commentary that Corruption was important to him, but I would hate to see them make a sequel and ruin a great thing.

Y'know, like Fashionistas.

--Jane

[blacklatex]

Originally Posted by Calumny_Jane

Hmmm... I really disagree. I thought the sex in Safado was great, but it was a lousy movie. The first half hour is just footage from the stage show (which got old really quickly for me), and the movie makes no sense.

Maybe the plot -- assuming there is one -- will make an appearance in part three, but this isn't Lost for Christ's sake, it's porn. How long do I have to wait for the friggin' thing to make sense?

UGH porn does NOT have to be an endless stream of mindless four hour compilation of bouncing, does it? ESPECIALLY not in these big budget attempts to create more than the slapped together fuckfests that has so many people in them that no one even tries to print all the performers on the box back cover.

I KNOW that the majority of the target audience of the adult film market are the penis into pussy watching club.

But that should NOT interfere with the story and the characters IF the story is to be the main focus. Otherwise we get what was done in the Adam & Eve adaptation of "O - the Power of Submission". That story was SPECIFICALLY a BDSM story. But in order to make it more appreciated by the straight fuckfest watchers ALMOST ALL of the obvious intense BD acts that is CLEARLY and SPECIFICALLY done in the printed page story such as having O OPENLY BRANDED with Sir Stephen's brand was dropped. And without that ONSCREEN brutality and endurance, the film was OBVIOUSLY robbed of its powerful realization of personal overcoming of adversity and personal control of their life. I am still getting people saying to buy the 10 year old German "Bizarre kreuzzüge" for adherence to elaborate BDSM storyline of O where just from the opening scene where the two masked girls are driven to the next training session which begins with them unpoacked from the trunk where they suck two men’s cocks while still in the trunk of the car, the idea of control and sex are obvious. I admit Ernest Green made a GREAT adult film as it is an elegant and more importanbtly repeat watchable adult film. But the WELL KNOWN story is simply missing from this film. But it clearly points to the idea that if this is a FILM, the story has to be the major focus of the film.

Otherwise what is the purpose of having a story in the film?

Fashionistas does have a definite plot and that plot DOES makes sense right now. It does NOT really need "Berlin" to understand this film. But Berlin SEEMS to be be needed for further development and fulfillment of the characters as we are being told that this film series will be CONTINUING BEYOND Berlin with more characters and newer and possibly even MORE kinky situations.

But you are correct that it is NOT as obvious as the overwhelming simplisitc morality tale in "Corruption" which is fitting in today's political situation whereby the attacks on adult industry are being made by the most TRULY evil portion of the society.

The idea of Fashionistas is very smooth and easy -- the fetish aspect is NOT as deviant or horrific as many of the social order in both the so-called mainstream society OR the straight sex film producers likes to think as we see being UNsubtly presented from the first scene which shows a MODIFIED version of the Las Vegas show whereby everyone thinks that the material in the show is what fetish is. This analysis continues on throughout the entire film which we see as the two main characters trying to get their idea more accepted to the world and its various usages and acceptances from the most BORING applications of merely being something to add to sex to being accepted for its OWN value.

Fetish means various things to many people and is sued is so many different ways that it is endless in its application

UNLESS all people want to think of it as nothing more than an addendum to sex which is shown throughout the various scenes and the varying acceptance the characters choose to engage in it.

That would have been easier to appreciate that if the film had a definite narrator or obvious plot device that applied to each successive section but that would have been intrusive to the film and made it feel more like a staged theatre production and DEFINITELY made the film far less than it was which was an EXCEPTIONAL film.

No, to me, this Fashionistas just plays like a really splashy, expensive gonzo. The sex in Corruption is every bit as good, there's more of it, and it's a great movie. I'm not saying it will win, just saying it should.

fair enough. You are entitled to your appreciation.

To me it plays as a far reaching character development plot rather than an episodic drama that Corruption clearly was.

As for a sequel, I'm skeptical. I haven't seen a lot of Eli Cross' work, but the few Vivid movies I've seen didn't really impress me (sorry Eli). I know from the commentary that Corruption was important to him, but I would hate to see them make a sequel and ruin a great thing.

Y'know, like Fashionistas.

--Jane

Hmm that idea can be used gain and again and again merely changing the signle minded dominator as it can Easilyt be turned around to the supplementary characters in this episode with the age old commentary of absolute power and ambition which would work well for this storyline. As you said, that would require a DEFINITE commitment to make a solid and focused morality story and not roll out another cardboard exploitation of mere good versus evil.

[Houstondon]

Originally Posted by blacklatex

I still have to give the best adult film nod to Fashionistas Safado for the best film of the year though as it was far more reaching and imaginative than the more real world "Corruption" (some say Fashionistas was TOO open ended, needing "Berlin" to conclude the story-arc) and much more developed than Wicked's "Manhunter" and FAR more intense than the VERY enjoyable and lavish, but weak power-edge "O - Power of Submission"

While Safado may be a popular choice riding on the coattails of the original production, as a stand alone project it doesn't reach nearly the same level of achievement. The story aspects were minimal and nothing particularly special (Rocco did a better job acting in Emperor), and the sex was best suited for those with a heavy leaning into fetish attire tease then actual sex (aside from two scenes, the sex failed as a stroke flick in my opinion). I can see where some might like it based strictly on the fact that it tries something different (again, not really but at least different then the majority of titles as it largely copies the original in many ways) but the story was weak, not exactly needing the sequel to understand it; just needing the sequel will make it better then it really was.

I have no axe to grind against the company as I am a huge fan of Stagliano and my ratings of (Evil Angel titles certainly seem pretty favorable but this one seemed rushed and weaker than the hype some are projecting about it.