Website Review: Mood Castings

[Edit: as of July 2009, this review is no longer accurate. Mood Castings has transformed from a regular paysite, where one membership would give you access to their entire archive, to an "add to cart" shopping site for individual clips. I leave it to you to decide whether it is worth buying their casting videos at this greatly increased price. I must say that, in this current form, I would not have reviewed the site, though.]

[This is one of the pitfalls of reviewing websites: sooner or later, the review will probably be too outdated to be of much value. In this case, the entire business model of the site has changed. Even so, the original review will remain on my blog with this disclaimer attached to it - for "historical purposes".]

Mood Pictures from Hungary claim to produce "the most brutal caning and whipping videos" in the world, and what sounds like a wild boast may actually be close to the truth: other companies offer more in terms of story, sets, acting or intricate psychology, but when it comes to no-holds-barred savage beatings, the Magyars are difficult to surpass. Not a very subtle approach, but if sales and popularity are anything to go by, it seems to work for legions of fans. It all depends on whether you like the really, really harsh stuff, and on how quickly it gets redundant for you (or not).

Severity freaks will also be interested in Mood Castings, a sister site that features - you guessed it - casting sessions with some of the girls who later appear in full-length films. And with loads of other girls who, for some strange reason, never come back. At the time of this writing, there are 46 scenes with as many different victims, with 4 or 5 new clips added every month. The videos are in .wmv format with a resolution of 640 x 480, and there is also a gallery of photo captures for every scene.

Each casting consists of three parts: a short interview, an acting test and a caning, adding up to a total duration of around 10 minutes. The interviews deal with standard questions like: how did you hear about us? Have you ever seen a spanking video? Were you ever spanked before, by a boyfriend, maybe? Why do you want to try this? Most wanna-be-models fall strictly into the "To be honest, I'm here for the money" category, but there are also some genuinly curious and kinky ones. While most answers are predictable, some contain an interesting tidbit.

The acting test involves a short scenario like "student late for lesson", "employee caught looking at porn", that sort of stuff. Most of the scenes are fairly wooden, some are half-decent. They all result in a severe punishment, and that's the main part of the casting, anyway. It is made clear to the girls that they can call it quits at any time, but to be considered for a role in a full-length film, they have to endure 50 strokes of the cane.

Some do, with varying degrees of difficulty. Others give up halfway through or even after a handful of strokes. In any case, the dommes (all clips are FF) don't show mercy just because it is a trial: these are customary Mood-style canings, resulting in vivid welts and broken skin. It's interesting how reactions differ, from totally shell-shocked to quietly determined to almost casual. Sometimes, they are what you would expect after seeing the interview of the girl, and in other cases, the very opposite. Some tough-looking candidates throw the towel very quickly, while others who appeared a lot more meek and delicate come through with remarkable grit. Even in the Mood universe, things aren't all surface.

Afterwards, there is always a little chat. All victims get to answer the age-old "How did you feel?" question, and those who passed the test receive a hearty congratulation. Sometimes, there is relieved laughter or a proud smile, a sense of lightness not uncommon after a severe beating. In most scenes, the conversation is matter-of-fact, "are you up for it again, we will call you".

As a collection of hard canings, the site will satisfy any CP sadist. In so many words, the models look good and the action is hard. In this regard, you are going to like the clips as much (or as little) as Mood's DVD output. Apart from that, there is not much here, but such is the purpose of the site.