Wednesday, June 25, 2008

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[This is one of the pitfalls of reviewing websites: sooner or later, the review will probably be too outdated to be of much value.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.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice review! i like your blog and ty for the movies to download on your blog!

my opinion to mood/casting: i like such casting movies more than directed movies because the girls are new to spank and they can say what they want to (and stop everytime). thats make it more natural look than in the movies. btw i hate this men-authority talking like in ep-castings ;)

what i dont understand: why they cant use girls with great face/sound expression and lower the pain? would be better they cut the long talking before and use the girls to their limits instead than end the action completely.

one last thing: in my opinion it would be a great improvement to the whole mood pictures/castings if they would offer seperate face-shoot clips of their productions.

Ludwig said...

I agree that casting videos can be interesting as "reality TV", so they certainly have their place. But so do full-length movies, and at the end of the day, I prefer those - casting videos tend to get a bit repetitive over time, which is also the case with "Mood Castings".

Mood Pictures is all about severity and pain, so lowering it is not an option, I think. It would take their main forte away. Besides, the whole point of the casting is to find out if the girl can endure a proper Mood caning like the one she would get in a full movie. So they thrash the models with full ferocity even during the casting. I like that a lot, actually - sure it means that some of the scenes end early, but it also lends an air of anticipation and inescapable vicious "thoroughness" to the proceedings that is fun to watch for a sadist.

I agree that separate "face" clips (or "bottom" clips, for that matter) would be a great idea, certainly as DVD extras for the full movies. I've been saying the same thing to Pedro for several years, actually. But they seem reluctant to do the extra work.

Thanks for your kind words about my blog and my videos.

Anonymous said...

I would like to know more about the ladies who do the caning. Have any of these ladies ever been caned themselves. Do any of the ladies enjoy caning the casting women.I think that it would be nice if the caning ladies were stripped down to at least there panties and stockings with suspenders, and topless. nd I also think that it would be a great idea if they did group casting caning's, of plus minus 5 women at a time. They could take turns with each women taking 10 strokes at a time until they have all completed there 50 strokes or quit. Keep up the good work. I live in Victoria, Australia caning movies are only legal in Australia, online. You can't buy them over the counter.

Ludwig said...

@ Anonymous: As for the motivation of the women giving the canings, I think it varies quite a bit from person to person. Undoubtedly, as with the women getting caned, there are those who do it only for the money. For instance, there were two dommes in the video I guest starred in at Mood Pictures who were there strictly for the paycheque and did not understand the appeal of BDSM at all. Then there are those who are not kinky in their private lives, but nonetheless get a certain sadistic enjoyment out of thrashing someone on video. I believe Jessica Lee falls in that category. Finally, there are probably some dommes who are genuinely kinky and practice it in their private lives as well.

As far as I know, very few or perhaps none of them have ever been caned themselves. Actually, I once spoke to Pedro (one of the producers) about this subject, saying that many viewers, myself included, would probably enjoy seeing one of the caners switching to the other side sometime. Pedro said that they are afraid and that there is no way they would agree to do it. "They know what they are doing to the girls" were his words. Pity, isn't it?

Alexandra Wolf, one of the tops from fellow Eastern European producer Lupus Pictures, once switched to the bottom side and got a caning in Stalin 2. Very cool.