Movie Review: Academy of Riding

Producer:
Calstar (released in 2006)

Entire Story In Fewer Words Than Are In This Sentence:

Painful job application for two equestrian enthusiasts

Victim Appeal:
As usual, Calstar do not have any credits here, so I wll refer to the spankees by their character names Tanya and Lee. For all I know, these might be their model names as well. Both are curvaceous, big-breasted English lasses. I am not really a breast-obsessed man, but maybe you are (you might also be a breast-obsessed woman, of course). Tanya has short, cropped, white blonde hair, Lee has long, straight and darker blond hair.

This is a movie I primarily review because of the domme, though, so I have to mention her right away as well. "Mrs. Fargo" is an attractive lady in early middle age, with fair hair, strong arms, a rich alto voice (nope, of course she doesn't sing!) and an energetic demeanour. She is not much of an actress, frequently botching lines like "your initina... initiation", but she just exudes charisma somehow. I like her quite a lot. And as soon as she gets to the CP part of the proceedings, she is fully convincing. You can tell that she is the type of domme who genuinely enjoys her work, in a natural and thorough manner, with no pretence or grandstanding.

Gratuitous Sadism:
The movie opens with Tanya and Lee hanging around at a riding stable and petting one of the animals there, going on and on about how gorgeous it is. Personally, I can't say that the plain white specimen they are gushing over looks all that impressive to me, but who am I to argue with the girlies' horse crush. At least it will get them spanked in due time. Apparently, the mistress who runs the stable has been trying to get rid of the two trespassers for some time. When they keep begging her for a job, insisting that it would be the greatest thing in the world (groooaan!), Mrs. Fargo finally relents and takes the girls to her drawing room for an interview.

I guess you know where this is going from here. Naturally, the girls have to get into some proper riding clothes first, which involves them stripping down in front of the mistress and then donning (rather clumsily, I must say) jockey trousers and hats. Next up, the job interview continues with a proper extended spanking. After all, as Mrs. Fargo explains, the horses get the crop, too, and it is important that the two would-be-stableworkers learn exactly how that feels like. Makes perfect sense, right? Oh well.

And so, the usual Calstar CP formula unfolds. Tanya is the first to go over Mrs. Fargo's knee for a hand spanking, first over the jockey trousers, then over the knickers, then on the bare. That lasts about five minutes. In the next segment, she gets the black leather paddle while she is bending over a chair (three minutes), followed by a different black leather paddle that is slightly harder according to Mrs. Fargo (three minutes again). Finally, the obligatory caning. I estimate that Tanya got twelve strokes, discounting repetitions from different camera angles.

Once Tanya is done, Lee gets the same treatment. Over-the-knee spanking over the knickers (no trousers for her), then on the bare. Almost seven minutes in total. Then the succession of two leather paddles, about two minutes each. Lee takes them while bending over, or lying on, a table, and the second paddle is different from the second one Tanya got, so they are trying to vary things a little. But of course, the final caning is the same. She receives a dozen strokes. Mrs. Fargo declares herself to be "very impressed" and tells the girls that they have both passed their "initiation" (which is apparently how they call a job interview at a riding stable).

Best Reactions:
The domme isn't shy about using her hand, paddle and cane. Overall, I would rate Academy of Riding in the "medium" category of severity, like most Calstar titles. Perhaps even a bit harder than the average they put out. The girls end up with reddened bottoms and visible stripes from the canings. The marks would probably have been stronger on spankees with less curvaceous figures and and less "well-padded" posteriors.

Both girls give fairly vocal reactions and make a bit too much fuss for my taste. Tanya is especially jumpy during her caning. After the first few strokes, she does a little "dance", frantically rubs her bottom and then sits down on the chair, informing the domme: "You have to give me a minute..." Later, after the stroke that made the dozen full, she wags her finger and assertively states: "That was the last one!" I am not a fan of such antics (and neither was Mrs. Fargo), but it was kind of amusing to watch at least.

Best Line:
At the beginning of the interview (or the "initiation", or whatever), Mrs. Fargo informs the girls that hard work is required at the stable, that they have to get their hands dirty, that she runs a very tight ship here, blah blah. To finish, she adds: "And also, we have some very frisky young men working here."

Meh? In any case, when the girls are asked whether they want to take the job or leave it, they reply "Take it!" without a moment's hesitation. I don't know. Maybe they like "frisky" young men.

Nice Psychological Touch:
For some reason, regardless of how silly it was, I liked the "equestrian" theme of the movie. Which is surprising, because I am not an equestrian guy at all. I only sat on a horse one single time in my life, and while the experience was not in any way unpleasant, I never felt a desire to repeat it. I am just not interested in horses or riding. But here in this spanking movie, the setting has a certain charm. Perhaps because a riding crop and tight jockey trousers are such immediate, natural associations with spanking. Or perhaps because I harbour some hidden prejudice against young female equestrians, all of whom I consider to be spoilt posh princesses who deserve a damn good thrashing.

How Good Is It Really?
Academy of Riding never rises above average Calstar fare, but it has its little charms. I liked the domme playing Mrs. Fargo, and the setting was surprisingly inspiring. I wish they had done more with it. I suppose it is one of those movies which you remember because it had an interesting idea at its heart, it wasn't executed too well, and you have a vision of what could have been done with it.

What You Learned:
Reviewing this reminded me that I have to watch Equus again one of these days. The 1977 movie adaptation of the play, directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Richard Burton. Nice mystery thriller, very intriguing psychologically, with one of my favourite actors of his generation giving one of his best performances.

Movie Review: The Godfather

Producer:
Lupus Pictures (released in 2010)

Entire Story In Fewer Words Than Are In This Sentence:

Don't mess with the Russian mob

Victim Appeal:
Five Czech dívkas get their bottoms soundly punished in this newest (as of spring 2010) offering from Lupus Pictures: Ester Slaba, their redhaired long-time star, plays a sadistic schoolteacher who at the end of the story receives a taste of her own medicine. Sara Ronheim, a blonde who I see for the first time here, plays the other main female part, a schoolgirl with a "well-connected" father. The remaining three appear as extra schoolgirls: Michaela Trmotova, with white blonde hair partially dyed pink, Veronika Bartakova, a brunette, and Martina Vavrova, dark-haired and a bit on the chubby side.

The main appeal for me in this one is to see Ester Slaba switching. Aside from bending over for her usual werewolf-style caning (how many has she had on film by now? did anyone keep count?), Ester also tops a great deal here, and she does it very well. Actually, because this is one of those "role reversal" films, one could say that it also includes an MM/M scene. The headmaster of the school, played by Timur, also gets his comeuppance in the end. And although the abuse Timur suffers is (mostly) simulated, the headmaster's fate is even worse than Ester's...

Gratuitous Sadism:
A Russian mafia boss (Alfi Grovio) whose wife has been murdered by rival gangsters fears that his daughter, Lenocka (Sara Ronheim), will be the next in line. To get Lenocka out of harm's way, he enrolls her at a small boarding school for girls. The headmaster and his wife (Timur and Ester Slaba) assure him: "We have a friendly, informal, almost family-like environment." The father, on his part, tells them that he is an entomologist about to go on an expedition. So, he has to give Lenocka into their care in the meantime.

Once he leaves, it quickly becomes clear what the school's definition of "family-like" is: beatings and sexual abuse. We see a scene where Martina Vavrova, fully naked except for her socks and bent over a wooden horse, is caned by the headmaster. Forty vicious, welt-raising strokes are shown on-screen, but it is implied that the thrashing goes on for much longer. Lenocka hears the screams while she is being escorted to her room. She starts to realise what kind of place her unknowing father has left her in.

When the girls are in class writing a test, Ester uses a pretext to punish three of them, including Lenocka. One after the other, they have to bend over the teacher's desk while Ester whacks their behinds with a wooden paddle. The headmaster helps to hold them down. Michaela Trmotova gets 43 strokes, followed by another 43 for Veronika Bartakova (why that number, I wonder?). Sara aka Lenocka is last. After 26 whacks, she jumps up, throws a major screaming fit and refuses to continue: "Leave me alone, you swine! I'll tell my father!" They take her to another room and tie her to the wooden horse, naked down to her socks. The headmaster gives her 42 fast-paced cane strokes and then rapes her from behind (the beating is real, the penetration isn't).

Later, in her schoolgirl uniform again, Lenocka sneaks into the classroom at night and manages to call her father with a mobile phone which she finds in the teacher's desk. She begs him to rescue her. There follows an extended scene where Ester tortures Lenocka and two other girls by making them perform knee bends. They are nude during the gymnastics and Ester has a leather tawse in hand, but she is not using it much except for the occasional "motivational lash". The exercise is demaning enough as it is. Just when Ester has exhausted the girls to the point where they are literally collapsing to the floor, the mafia boss and his henchmen storm the school.

Cue revenge, terror, excruciating pain. The headmaster and his wife find out, the hard way, that the father of their latest victim is no entomologist after all. Ester is violently stripped of her clothes and has to go over her own desk. The mafia boss gives her 53 hard cane strokes while Lenocka cheers him on. Once Ester's bottom is covered in welts, the henchmen go to work on her husband in the next room while Ester has to listen. They tie him to the horse, naked, and burn him with a blowtorch (it's simulated, of course, and mostly happens off-screen). Then they shoot him, and when the crime boss and his daughter leave, it is implied that the henchmen will rape Ester before they leave as well.

Best Reactions:
No one among the spankees shows the restrained, defiantly suffering reactions I like so much. Which is excusable, I suppose, given that the beatings have the usual Lupus-style severity - Ester really leans into it with the wooden paddle, turning the schoolgirls' bottoms a very deep shade of red, and when she gets caned herself at the end, some blood is drawn. I suppose I liked Michaela Trmotova's reactions best. She is fairly hysterical like everyone else, but... nicer somehow. More pitiful, more arousing. I dunno. Watch the movie for yourself.

Best Line:
When the mafia boss instructs his henchmen to take the headmaster to the next room, he tells the poor guy: "Now your ass will taste the Middle Ages!" Actually, they didn't have blowtorches during the Middle Ages as far as I know. But we understand what he is trying to say, don't we?

Nice Psychological Touch:
While the movie's title is obviously inspired by Francis Ford Coppola's timeless masterpiece, I was reminded even more of Dogville by Lars von Trier: daughter of crime boss gets abused and abused and abused even more, until an apocalypse of revenge comes over her tormentors at the end. On second thoughts, comparing this flick to Lars von Trier is probably a bit far-fetched. But it allows me to show off my supreme taste in cinema.

What I'm really trying to say is: I like role reversal stories in spanking movies. This one was done well in terms of premise, and even better in terms of execution. Good stuff.

How Good Is It Really?
Another enjoyable offering from the Czechs. The acting during the quiet scenes is a bit lame and the locations are ordinary (how many times have we seen a classroom in a spanking film?), but this is more than made up for by the sheer intensity of the good parts: The Godfather is a nasty, violent, darkly comical film, even by Lupus standards. While it is definitely not for everyone, fans of the company and their trademark black humour will like it. The frantic finale where the mafiosi storm the school is quite a treat. The CP segments are fairly good throughout. I'm not a huge fan of the wooden paddle myself, but if you are, and if you want to see some really hard whackings with that implement, this is the movie for you.

What You Learned:
This is the first time that I've seen Ester Slaba as a top, and I must say, she is quite formidable. She seems to enjoy the job, her demeanour and tone of voice while bossing around the girls are convincing, and she really dishes it out during the action scenes, too. It shows once again that spanking models are wicked when given the opportunity to switch - obviously, after experiencing as many severe thrashings as Ester, you're not going to be squeamish when you wield the instruments yourself... It's also good to see that she takes her responsibility seriously and manages to be on target, unlike some other Eastern European tops I could mention.

Movie Review: Drug Patrol

Producer:
Pain4Fem (released in 2005)

Entire Story In Fewer Words Than Are In This Sentence:

Drug smugglers receive spankings and enemas from the cops

Victim Appeal:
After Bordello Patrol, this is volume two of Pain4Fem's "police stories", a series chronicling the exploits of Austrian policeman Karl Schwenk and his female assistant in the seedy underground of Vienna. Naturally, Schwenk is portrayed by company owner Peter Schober, and the female assistant this time is lovely Dominika, one of P4F's main stars. Alas, she only acts here and doesn't get spanked. Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you. As kinky videos go, she's not a bad actress.

The two female victims go by the names of Nina and Sandra. To my knowledge, this is their only appearance ever in a spanking flick, with Pain4Fem or anyone else. Red-haired Nina is obviously a native German speaker. It's the first time that I've seen a German working with P4F. She also seems a bit older than their average model, probably in her early thirties. Sandra is Czech, blond, and somewhat on the chubby side. I like her looks, and Nina's too. While they aren't quite as eye-candyish as some others I could think of, it's nice to see two women in a spanking flick for a change, rather than "girls".

Gratuitous Sadism:
The movie opens with the same intro as Bordello Patrol: Mozart's "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" plays over travelogue shots of Vienna, then the music morphs into a typical police thriller theme and we see Peter Schober doing his best cop impression, pointing a gun at the camera. It's cheesy stuff alright, but fun. Actually, "cheesy" is the word of the day here. I've seen plenty of ridiculous scripts in CP films, but Drug Patrol really takes the prize: the "Most Whacky Excuse for Giving Out a Few Spankings and an Enema" award.

As you can imagine, Sandra and Nina play drug smugglers. In their attire, they look more like hookers, but never mind. (How does a drug smuggler look, anyway? I don't know. Coming to think of it, I don't know any hookers, either.) The two of them get arrested by Schwenk and his assistant while they are hanging around at a children's playground, of all places. How's that for fear-mongering stereotypes perpetrated by - not against - kinky videos!

From then on, it's interrogation time at the police station. First off, they tie Sandra to a bench and Schwenk canes her. I don't know if this is supposed to be standard, legal procedure in the parallel universe depicted here, or police brutality. Who cares? She whimpers nicely. By my count, Sandra gets 45 strokes - this doesn't seem to be one of the P4F titles where they repeat strokes from different camera angles. In the end, she confesses that the drugs are hidden in her partner's rectum. Thank God she confessed! They probably would never have found them otherwise!

So, Nina is next. Schwenk puts her in the diaper position and thrashes her bottom with a wooden spoon. Apparently, he does this to get her to confirm where the drugs are. Why does he need confirmation? Why doesn't he just look? I gave up trying to make sense of the plot by this time. After a merry three minutes with the spoon, Nina admits: "I have them in my arse!" The cops give her an enema to "flush out" the drugs. Would that really work? Actually, I don't want to know. For the grand finale, they tie Nina to the leather-clad bench, her arms and legs spread in all four directions, and Schwenk gives her a severe caning that covers her newly drug-free arse with dark red stripes. After 32 strokes, he switches to another, heavier cane for 6 more.

In both Sandra's and Nina's caning scenes, Schwenk stops from time to time to spray some "salt water" over their welts. I find it theatrical and a bit silly, but I suppose it should be lauded as a flash of creativity nonetheless.

Best Reactions:
The Pain4Fem website states about Drug Patrol: "The extreme severity of the canings during the interrogation may make your skin crawl. This video is not for the fainthearted." In this case, there is some truth to the bombastic advertising lingo. While the film doesn't reach the viciousness of the other Eastern European producers, the scene with Nina is among the hardest which Pain4Fem have ever done. Her blood-curdling screams make for the most enjoyable reactions in the video, too.

Best Line:
When Schwenk gets frustrated with the first drug smuggler he interrogates, the Czech woman, he announces that a round of "special treatment" (read: a thrashing) is in order, and adds: "You will talk, believe me. Even in German. You will speak every language!"

Nice Psychological Touch:
In the opening scene, Schwenk is shown sitting around in the police station, reading a Mickey Mouse comic book. I'm still trying to figure out what that is. Product placement? Self-deprecating humour? An unexpected artistic statement of some kind?

How Good Is It Really?
I have mixed feelings about this one. It is not a bad spanking video. Actually, it has quite a few things going for it. Peter Schober is a natural at playing the brutal cop. Nina seemed to be into her role as well, and Dominika looked gorgeous standing in the background. The action scenes are good. All in all, a very solid effort.

I guess my complaint about Drug Patrol is that, given the potential, it could have been a lot better still. They had a German model, someone who speaks the same language as Peter Schober. But they didn't do much with it - in terms of story and dialogue, the film is uninspired, even by spanking porn standards. The final caning scene, while hard, is also a bit disappointing. It is just too slow and too talky. Sure, it's nice to see a thrashing where the players aren't totally mute, but their repetitive exchanges of "Where are your drug suppliers?" and "I can't tell you!" get boring fast. The gimmick of rubbing "salt water" into the spankee's welts is overused, too.

What You Learned:
The more I watch Pain4Fem's "police stories" series, with its illegal immigrant prostitutes and drug smugglers who hang around at children's playgrounds, the more I realise that Peter Schober is for spanking films what Ted Nugent is for rock music. I mean, the guy should have been a policeman. Or a judge. Or a law-and-order politician. Or, better still, all of those at the same time, so that he can combine executive, judiciary and legislative powers in one person. That would be awesome. Well, in a movie, not in real life!

Movie Review: Wheatley Manor

Producer:
Northern Spanking Films (released in 2009)

Entire Story In Fewer Words Than Are In This Sentence:

They have rules at the manor, and particular ways

Victim Appeal:
In this category, "Wheatley Manor" might very well be the single most outstanding video I have reviewed so far. It stars Amelia-Jane Rutherford, Amy Hunter, Leia-Ann Woods and the now (sadly) retired Niki Flynn - four of their generation's best spanking actresses in the UK. The term actress really applies to each of them, especially here. It is readily apparent that "Wheatley Manor" is a labour of love from everyone involved, that they tried to create something good not just as spanking porn, but as a film. Which is how things ought to be, really, but it's still something you see much too rarely in our industry.

Because this is a labour of love, one needs to mention prominently all the collaborators behind it, not just the "professional victims". The film is directed by Lucy McLean of Northern Spanking, the story was created by Stephen Lewis. Stephen also stars as the main male top, with Henry Higgins making a cameo appearance.

Gratuitous Sadism:
"Wheatley Manor" has a running time of 2 hours 51 minutes (not including the ample bonus material), so it is a truly epic movie. I'm not going to recount every single scene here. Not only would it make the review indigestibly long, it would also give away too much - I don't want to spoil one of the few spanking films where the story and the characters are just as interesting as the action.

Suffice to briefly describe the basic scenario: Amelia-Jane, Niki and Leia are friends who know each other from school. On Leia's suggestion (she has been there before), they sign up for a week at Wheatley Manor. The other two think that they are in for a nice spa holiday, but of course, it turns out to be far more unusual than that. As Miss Hunter, one of the hosts, explains to the three friends on arrival: "You will find that Wheatley Manor has a very... particular regime. It is a lovely house with many activities, and I am sure you will learn a lot about yourselves here." Then she hands them the uniforms which they are supposed to wear at all times.

As one might imagine, Amelia-Jane and Niki are rather freaked out by the prospect. Amelia-Jane, in particular, being the most assertive and willful of the three, wants no part of it initially. However, she decides to stay (simply to prove that she can handle it, one suspects), and in time, she too benefits from the regime at Wheatley Manor. In the words of Professor Lewis, who runs the place: "Our job at Wheatley Manor is to go through your file, look at your personality traits, decide what you need for the benefit of you and your future." Of course, what is needed usually includes corporal punishment.

I'm not even sure if I should do the "body count" which I usually have in this section, recording the exact number of cane strokes or the minutes that an OTK spanking lasted. This is not the point of "Wheatley Manor". Actually, the first spanking in the film takes place off-screen (it is heard, but not seen), and parts of later scenes occur off-screen as well. How does one count that?

But I'll give you a rough overview of the CP action, because you will undoubtedly want to know about that. Needless to say, all three visitors receive hand spankings and bare bottom canings (also canings over their knickers, but let's not go into too much detail for the purpose of this list!). Niki is whacked with a wooden spoon when she is late for dinner. Amelia-Jane gets her bottom flogged by Stephen Lewis. There is some bastinado for Niki and Leia (with Henry Higgins, faceless, as the "Bastinado Host"), and a hand tawsing for Amelia-Jane. The movie has a roughly equal mix of M/F and F/F, the latter with Amy Hunter as the top. Amy also gets a caning from Professor Lewis because she broke one of the house rules herself, and at the end, she is paddled and caned by Nki and Leia in a role reversal. Followed by the very last spanking of "Wheatley Manor", but I am not going to spoil that for you... The severity throughout the film is what I would call medium, and comparable to what you usually see on the Northern Spanking website.

Best Reactions:
As much as I love Niki Flynn as a professional victim and as a friend, she was always too loud for my taste during her CP scenes. Too much over-acting. The same applies, to a lesser degree, to Amelia-Jane Rutherford. On the other hand, I always enjoyed Leia-Ann Wood's teeth-clenching reactions a lot, which are usually subtly angry and subtly lustful at the same time. The contrast is especially striking when you have all of them in one movie. Predictably, then, I like Leia's scenes best here, and Amy Hunter's. Leia receiving a sort of "welcome caning" from Professor Lewis towards the beginning of the film is my favourite scene of all in terms of action and reaction. I'm going to do the "body count" for that one at least: she gets 12 strokes (on-screen, that is, with more being heard from off-screen).

Best Line:
There is a lot of great, witty dialogue in "Wheatley Manor", thanks to Stephen Lewis' wonderful script. However, the line I liked best of all appears very straightforward at first sight, a bit bland, even. When Miss Hunter welcomes the three guests, they inquire what the theme, the concept of the manor is. "I want to know what this is about!" exclaims an increasingly exasperated Amelia-Jane. Miss Hunter replies: "Wheatley Manor is about you." As I said, there are far wittier, funnier lines in the film, but this one is awesome nonetheless. Ominous, ambiguous, and encapsulating the whole film, in a way.

Nice Psychological Touch:
The whole concept of "self-improvement through unorthodox methods" is a psychologically nice idea to begin with. It isn't exactly new in the realm of spanking videos, but I've never seen it done in quite this form before, and rarely with such well-written characters. It is obvious that Stephen Lewis tailor-made all the parts specifically and affectionately for the four actresses: Niki as the shy, awkward girl, Leia as the enigmatic, slightly freaky, but loveable one, Amelia-Jane as the headstrong princess and Amy as the head girl of sorts. They all pretty much appear "as themselves" here (or rather, as their public personas, half-real and half-fictional). From start to finish, "Wheatley Manor" lives from these contrasting, at times clashing personalities, and from the interpersonal dynamics.

There is a great, extended scene at the beginning which I liked in particular. One after the other (first Leia, then Niki, then Amelia-Jane), the girls visit the office of Professor Lewis, to get a welcome talk (and a welcome caning). Each time, what goes on inside the office is juxtaposed with the whispered conversation between the two girls who remain outside and listen in on what is happening. It is a wonderfully written and edited sequence, and stylistically interesting (they use subtitles for the whispered conversation, with different colours for the three characters, patterned after the colours of the ribbons they are wearing). Most importantly, though, it does a great job of bringing out the individual personalities, introducing the past histories of the characters and setting the stage for everything that is about to follow.

How Good Is It Really?

"Wheatley Manor" has immediately established itself as one of my favourite spanking films. In terms of action, it isn't all that spectacular, actually - Leia's welcome caning and the last scene with Amy Hunter getting her comeuppance from the other three girls are very hot indeed, but the other spankings are merely good, not great. As a film, however, this one stands on a level that very few others reach. The craftsmanship is good, the writing is excellent and the cast is outstanding (certainly the best ensemble performance I have reviewed so far). There are funny moments, sexy moments, dark moments, and it all blends well because of the setting - most films that have one ballet lesson scene and one interrogation scene would probably feel artificial, but they fit together organically here. The result is a three hour epic that captivates during (almost) every second.

In addition to the main feature, "Wheatley Manor" includes a bonus disc with 92 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage, outtakes, interviews with all the main collaborators and an alternate ending.

What You Learned:
I liked Stephen Lewis as a top when I saw him on Northern Spanking and Bars and Stripes, but he never figured that high on my radar as a writer. Now he does.

Movie Review: Martial Law

Producer:
Mood Pictures (released in 2004)

Entire Story In Fewer Words Than Are In This Sentence:

Court martial and CP for sadistic female sergeant

Victim Appeal:
After Rival Girls, this is the second (and last) Mood Pictures production starring bleach blonde vixen Kate Lust. Kate was (perhaps still is?) a small-time pornstar and webcam model from Budapest. It's a pity that she only ever did two spanking films. Like most Mood models, she was a mere "hired hand" (not really kinky), but she had a little bit of talent as an actress and brought some personality to her roles. There was a certain something about Kate Lust, an appealing nastiness, for lack of a better term, that simply made you want to spank her severely. I like the way she snarls when she plays the stereotypical "evil girl" character.

The other spankee in the video is Adrien Dark, a black-haired model who was apparently an acquaintance of Kate and got taken along to the shoot (at least that is what Kate implies in her behind-the-scenes interview). Hey, what are friends for?

Gratuitous Sadism:
As you can guess from the title, the film has a military setting. Actually, it must be some kind of war, because there is talk about "enemy soldiers". A cold war? A hot war? A guerrilla war? It is never specified who is fighting whom. All we know is that the female soldiers wear rather oversized uniforms and nobody seems to have any rank insignia. But I don't want to nitpick. Seriously, who cares what kind of war it is? My inner adolescent geek boy just loves the sight of babes in combat gear. It looks cool, no further justification needed.

Kate Lust plays a sergeant facing court martial because she tortured a captured enemy soldier, and it turned out that the captured soldier was actually an agent working for her own side (see, the plot is just as silly as the costumes...). She is brought before a tribunal and we see the torture in a flashback scene, which naturally involves the prisoner (Adrien Dark) getting caned by Kate. 25 strokes are given while the victim, with her camouflage trousers pulled down and her hands tied behind her back, is kneeling on a chair. It's a very light scene by Mood Pictures standards, with barely any marks appearing. Adrien's reactions are pretty strong, though, she cries and sobs audibly.

Of course, the sergeant is sentenced to corporal punishment for her transgression. The tribunal decides to make an example of her - she will receive 100 cane strokes, tied up, fully naked (yum!). Two things are noteworthy about the ensuing scene: first, the contraption they used to restrain the spankee is one of coolest devices Mood have ever come up with. It looks somewhat shoddy, but it makes for a highly sexy caning position, with the girl kneeling on a platform, bending forward, her hands tied above her head, her back forming a delicious line and her arse sticking out.

Secondly, the domme playing the female "CP Executioner" is pretty good. She goes by the name Mercedes Mercy and this, to my knowledge, is her only appearance with Mood Pictures. The lady has presence and the right looks for the role: thirty-something, pretty, but not too pretty. I like how she swaggers around the room. Moreover, she knows how to use a cane. While Mercedes places a few too many strokes on the back of Kate's legs for my taste, she isn't as woefully and dangerously inaccurate as some of the dommes Mood employed in later years. She has a good rhythm and makes the long scene work. The caning is harder than Adrien's, but not over the top.

Best Reactions:
I liked Kate Lust's punishment the most, even though I don't usually care for 100 stroke canings. I just find them too long and drawn-out to "hold together" as a filmed scene, and once you are past 50 or 60 strokes, you merely prolong the action instead of adding to it qualitatively. It gets boring. In this case, however, the suspense of the scene does hold together because they divide it into several segments - after every 25 strokes, a medical doctor (played by Betty Shy, in a ridiculously short white coat) performs checkups on the spankee. It also helps that Mercedes Mercy varies the intensity of the strokes somewhat, instead of hitting full force all the time.

Kate's reactions are enjoyable throughout. She throws her head back after every stroke, grimaces in pain and counts the numbers between gasps and sobs of anguish. Like the beating itself, the reactions are strong, but not extreme. The one thing I didn't like about the scene was the fact that, after stroke number 73, Kate fell unconscious and had to be reawakened by the doctor - the script makes a lot of noise about how soldiers getting caned "usually faint" at some stage. Obviously, the fainting episode was scripted, and I just thought it was unnecessary - silly sensationalism that contributes nothing to the scene and instead detracts from it (as a sidenote, Kate ends up getting a total of 102 cane strokes, because some are repeated after she faints).

Best Line:
Even by spanking porn standards, the dialogue in this one is excruciatingly lame. Take the following exchange. CP executioner: "The instrument has been set up for the caning." Sergeant: "Oh my God, am I gonna be tied up?" Or how about this line from the sergeant, while she defends herself in front of the tribunal: "I didn't think she was a spy! She looked so innocent!"

The least worst line comes during the sergeant's punishment, which is being watched by the tribunal. One of the officers complains that the caning is too harsh. His superior snaps at him: "Do you want me to demote you? We're not the Salvation Army!" At least that was mildly entertaining.

Nice Psychological Touch:
Connoisseurs will notice that the film follows the same arc as "Rival Girls". First, Kate Lust is cruel towards another girl, who gets thrashed as a result. In the second act, justice is done and Kate gets thrashed herself. I like how Mood play out the role reversal in both films. In "Rival Girls", the other girl is caned by a male top (the schoolteacher) after Kate gets her in trouble. When the intrigue is discovered, the girl is allowed to cane Kate in revenge. In "Martial Law", Kate tortures the spy, and when she gets her punishment later on, the spy is sitting on the tribunal and watching it. In each case, we are not dealing with a literal role reversal (the girls don't literally switch places to spank each other), but with a more indirect and, in my view, much sexier form.

How Good Is It Really?

I retain a certain fondness for these early Mood Pictures titles and "Martial Law" is no exception. Back then, Pedro and Pablo made much smaller and more amateurish films - shorter running time, fewer spankees, smaller cast overall, more basic locations and props. However, the films had a freshness and an individual charm to them that gradually got lost over the years - which is perhaps inevitable when you are churning out one video after another. In any case, it's nice to take a look back at the old days once in a while.

In terms of story, "Martial Law" is just another spanking film about military discipline, but it executes that scenario well. Kate Lust is great to watch, Mercedes Mercy also does a pretty good job as the CP executioner. Sadly, neither of them returned for another production. The main caning scene, while not exactly light, is more moderate than Mood's later work. Consequentially, it should appeal to middle-of-the-road viewers who want to see nice and proper beatings, but are put off by blood or graphic welts. In addition to the main feature, the DVD includes a behind-the-scenes segment and a four minute interview with Kate Lust, both of which are fairly interesting.

What You Learned:
Debbie Ulan Ator, the Asian girl with the hilarious model name, plays the sergeant's aide in the first caning scene (she also appears as a prison guard in Guilty Wives). Did you know that Ulan Bator is the capital city of Mongolia? I did, but what I didn't know is that the name translates to "red hero" in English. I just looked that up. Isn't it amazing what you can learn from spanking films?

Movie Review: The Warlock's Revenge

Producer:
Lupus Pictures (released in 2003)

Entire Story In Fewer Words Than Are In This Sentence:

Princess gets caned to lift wizard's curse

Victim Appeal:
In this sequel of sorts to The Fairy Tale, one of my favourite movies from the old Rigid East label, the Czechs (who had by this time renamed themselves Lupus Pictures) undertook another excursion into the realm of whimsy medieval fantasy. They spared no expenses whatsoever this time and rented a real castle for the production. We also get to see a proper dungeon, complete with iron shackles, a display cage for the prisoners and a torture rack. Together with the usual nice costumes and props from Lupus, it provides a magnificent stage for the cast to showcase their skills (and their bodies).

The princess (obviously, there has to be a princess!) is played by Terezie Vesela, a brunette girl who brings an appropriately quiet-yet-defiant demeanour to the role. The video also features Adela Valkova, another brunette, as a chamber maid, plus classic Lupus star Katerina Tetova as a "wanton", a lascivious woman who has been imprisoned for her... well, lasciviousness. Katerina's face is hidden behind an iron mask throughout the entire film - I didn't realise it was her until I read the credits. I'm not sure whether this constitutes a terrible waste or a pretty cool casting choice. Probably both.

Gratuitous Sadism:
"The Warlock's Revenge" shows a fairy tale kingdom in decline. A wizard is infatuated with the king's daughter, but she refuses to marry him. Enraged, the warlock (played by Michal Valášek) decides to deprive the old king (Pavel Stastny) of his most favourite pastime - eating. He casts a dark spell over the land that causes all food to lose its salty, sour and bitter taste. The king and his court are forced to dine on nothing but sweets, which gets rather redundant. "I'd kill for a herring!" he cries out. "Salty potatoes..." However, the warlock will not lift his curse until the princess is disciplined (i.e. caned!) for her defiance and marries him. The princess, on her part, holds steadfast in her refusal.

Because the king can not persuade his daughter to make the sacrifice, he and his crafty advisor come up with a ploy to fool the wizard. The wizard resides in a magical portrait and can only see things that happen in front of it. So, they are going to spank a different girl, make her scream in pain, and pretend that it is the princess! The poor chamber maid is handed over to the king's hangmen (among them Pavel Stastny in a double role) for a session in the dungeon.

The incompetent hangmen use their standard interrogation techniques (rack, water torture) until the advisor storms in and explains to them that the maid is not supposed to confess anyting, they simply have to make her scream. They tie the girl up and whip her with birches, but she stays silent (42 lashes are shown on-screen). A flogging is also ineffective (17 lashes shown). Finally, a caning in the diaper position (25 strokes shown) produces the desired sounds. However, the wizard does not fall for it.

The king tries another ruse. This time, they use the wanton prisoner with her iron "bridle" mask, hoping that the wizard will mistake her for the princess. The woman is brought into the castle yard, sat astride a wooden horse and given a hard birching on her buttucks and her back. It's a long, quickly paced beating and I counted 152 lashes. The whole thing happens in front of the warlock's eyes (or rather, in front of his portrait), but again, he does not believe that it is the princess being disciplined.

Having run out of tricks, the king flatly tells his daughter that she must do as the warlock demands, there is no other choice. She is tied to a wooden bench and the chief hangman whips her bottom with a switch. After 50 painful strokes, when she begs for mercy, the warlock steps out of his magic portrait - he is now in the scene together with the other characters - and instructs the hangman to stop. He grabs the switch himself and gives the princess a handful more strokes, light ones, to drive the lesson home. The story then ends with a typical Lupus surprise twist, but I won't spoil it for you here.

Best Reactions:
The caning of the princess, Terezie Vesela, is the dramatic highlight of the film, and I also liked her reactions the most. She's a defiant girl, writhing and gasping heavily, trying very hard to suppress any sound of pain. After about a dozen strokes, she starts crying. The bindings on her hands are loose enough to allow her to wipe away her tears, which Terezie does frequently, with an exquisitely angry motion.

Best Line:
The chief hangman is a lot of fun to listen to while he does his dirty work. At one point, he reminisces to his assistants about the good old days: "Well, he was a true master, I tell you. 27 executions in one day! In the capital, in the main square. Big applause, of course."

My favourite part, though, is when he examines the switches for the punishment of the princess: "Are they fresh? Good. My grandpa hanged himself when his tool broke at a public execution."

Nice Psychological Touch:
I liked how the king repeatedly tries to spare his daughter, his "sweet one", from being caned. Futile, but cute. They also did some amusing things with the "magical portrait", which consists of a recording of Michal Valasek on a monitor, "interacting" with the other characters.

How Good Is It Really?

In terms of action, I have seen better movies from Lupus. The birchings and canings in this one are okay, but not great. The visual backdrop, the humour of the plot and the inventive little details are the real reasons to watch "The Warlock's Revenge". Michal Valasek and Pavel Stastny turn in great, wacky performances as the warlock and the king. The special effects used for the magical portrait are simple, but fun to watch. And the castle location is just spectacular.

As a bonus to the regular CP, fans of medieval torture get some interesting scenes, like the hangmen forcing water down the maid's throat with a funnel (a predecessor of waterboarding) or the wanton girl riding the uncomfortable wooden horse.

What You Learned:
The iron yoke worn by one of the girls in the dungeon, where her neck and hands are locked with a hinged board, is known as a "shrew's fiddle".

Movie Review: The Thieves

Producer:

Pain4Fem (released in 2004)

Entire Story In Fewer Words Than Are In This Sentence:
Angry farmer spanks two juvenile delinquents

Victim Appeal:
This early release from Pain4Fem features Nicol, who had also been in their very first movie Illegal Download, and Valerie, a newcomer at the time who would go on to star in a few more videos. Nicol is blond, blue-eyed and fairly sexy. Valerie has pitch black hair, green eyes and is very sexy indeed. I became quite a fan through this movie and the others she has done. She has a great-looking face and body, and takes an impressive beating considering that it is her debut.

(Both girls also appear on Spanking Server, as do most models who have done a Pain4Fem feature film.)

Gratuitous Sadism:
Valerie and Nicol break into a farm, looking for food to steal. They wear nice white dresses and don't exactly look starving to me, so I guess they deserve everything that is about to happen to them. Predictably, the would-be-thieves get caught by the farmer (Peter Schober) and his wife (Helen). They are dragged into the stable where the farmer proceeds to tie them up and whip them.

Nicol is the first to get it, hands above her head, her shirt removed, lash after lash of the single tail landing on her bare back (she keeps her skirt on, no full nudity just yet). I counted 56 strokes. Valerie is next, same position, same state of undress. She gets 74 strokes. There are some that are repeated from different camera angles, as is Pain4Fem's custom. I didn't bother to re-watch the scenes over and over to pinpoint which strokes were repeatedly shown and which ones weren't, but I'd say that you can subtract about a dozen or two from the numbers given above to get close to the real ones. In any case, these are long whippings, and pretty hard, too.

At this point, the farmer is willing to let the girls go free. They are so infuriated, however, that they pick up some stones on their way out and start bombarding the farmer and his wife with them. He gets hit on the head by one (some fake blood on Peter Schober). It's a hilarious scene in its way: the farmer couple stands in an open gate while the stones fly at them, but instead of running back into the courtyard and taking cover behind the wall, they just keep standing there until he gets hit! Epic fail, dude. Anyway, the farmers give chase, catch the girls again, and another round of corporal punishment begins.

Nicol, first once more, has her clothes forcibly stripped off until she is naked except for her socks. She then receives a quick hand spanking from the farmer. The girl is lying in the grass and he is lying on top of her, a somewhat unorthodox arrangement. Next, they tie her to a wooden bench, flat on her belly, to thrash her bottom. The farmer gives Nicol 30 strokes with his belt, hands the belt to his wife who administers 7 more strokes, and then it's back to the farmer for 48 strokes with the cane. Switch to Valerie, who has her skirt removed and is bent over a table in the courtyard for half a minute of hand spanking. Then, she gets tied to the table and the farmer canes her, 53 strokes. A few repetitions again, so the canings are probably in the 30 to 40 stroke zone, really. When it is all over, the farmer leads the two chastised girls through the gate and throws them out. The thrashings are among the harder ones Pain4Fem have done and leave dark, vivid welts.

Best Reactions:
Valerie all the way. And even though I am an avowed fan of caning scenes (it is, and will probably forever remain, my favourite implement), I like her reactions during the back whipping best of all. She is moaning, yelping and writhing wonderfully - movement can be just as sexy as the vocalisation, and Valerie is quite adept at it. I'm fairly sure that there is some conscious acting involved, but it is a serious whipping and there certainly is enough real pain as well, so that's okay.

Best Line:
Halfway through her back whipping, the farmer asks Valerie if she learned anything yet. She spits in his face. He hollers: "Are you mad? Who's holding the whip? You stupid girl!" And continues to beat her. It sounds quite amusing with Peter Schober's Austrian hillbilly dialect, but you have to be a native German speaker to appreciate that fully.

Nice Psychological Touch:
Not nice, perhaps, but interesting. The synopsis on Pain4Fem's website points out that the thieves are "young foreign girls", and in the video itself, there is a line about "bloody foreigners" who "come over the border to rob us". Peter Schober has a habit of sneaking in some law-and-order noise with the spanking porn, and it was already apparent in the early days of 2004.

I'm usually very good at telling satire from the real thing, but honestly, I am never quite sure how serious the guy is. Is he a right winger? Is he parodying a right winger? Pain4Fem work with Czech models all the time, so they obviously can't be all that xenophobic. Then again, maybe Schober is for real and believes that by hiring these girls, he is saving them from slipping into a life of crime? I don't frigging know. He's probably just kidding around and laughing his arse off at me wondering about it.

How Good Is It Really?
The fourth film by Pain4Fem, The Thieves was a step forward in terms of setting and action. It was the first time they filmed extensive outdoor scenes and the thrashings were quite a bit more severe than what they had done before. To this day, the cane welts on Valerie's bottom remain one of the finest sets of stripes that I have seen from this producer. She is a gorgeous girl and makes a memorable debut here. Nicol's scenes are okay as well. The technical craftsmanship is decent, with some good perspectives and closeups during the CP. The story itself is unremarkable, - on the plus side, it wasn't yet another schoolgirl or prison scenario, but it wasn't too creative, either.

In summary, an above average movie due to its action scenes, Valerie's nice caning in particular.

What You Learned:
In Illegal Download, Pain4Fem were ripping off the famous caning bench by RGE / Lupus. Here, Nicol's thrashing with the belt and cane looks just like the type of scene that Russian Slaves have done over and over again. Granted, spanking film producers don't have a trademark on the furtniture and positions they use, but this is getting suspicious! Even so, well done for Schober: he may not be the most original producer out there, but he has the right influences.

Movie Review: Lady Vernon's Caning Heaven 2

(Picture courtesy of Punished Girls, where you can download the movie)

Producer:
Calstar (released in 2000)

Entire Story In Fewer Words Than Are In This Sentence:

More reform school girls feel the lady's discipline

Victim Appeal:
For fear of stating the obvious, this is the sequel to Lady Vernon's Caning Heaven, and like the first part, it features the woman who is my all-time favourite Calstar top in the title role. How did I describe her in my review of part one? "A stately domme with wild red-brown curls and a cigarette-stained snarl of a voice." Well, yeah. Some flowery adjectives there (for the record, I don't know for a fact that she smokes!), but that pretty much sums it up. By the way, she also starred in Caning International, and I am not alone in being a fan - Lady Vernon, or whatever her scene name was, is the only Calstar top about whom I received inquiries from my readers (no, sorry, I don't know what she's doing these days, either).

Two blonde English lasses get a good thrashing here. One is addressed by the name of Brown in the movie, the other one by the name of Douglas. Both are quite pretty and, as Calstar titles go, they do a decent acting job. Douglas looks familiar somehow, she reminds me a bit of Dublin O'Brien, whom I've seen on Bars and Stripes and other British spanking sites. [Edit: However, Dublin wrote to me and let me know that it definitely isn't her!]

Gratuitous Sadism:
Brown and Douglas play two reform school girls, and the video opens with them being punished for having had boys in their room. So, the headmaster puts Brown over his knee. We already know him from the original Caning Heaven - he's the fair-haired chap familiar from many Calstar productions, like Discipline Within the Home (I love how he always plays headmasters or reformatory directors or whatever with that wild hairstyle of his, plus casual clothes and sports shoes!). It's only a very brief spanking scene, less than two minutes, with some hand swats on the clothes.

The girls don't take the punishment seriously. When they keep mocking the headmaster and Brown refuses to have her pants pulled down, he calls Lady Vernon from down the road. She impressed him so much with the job she did the other day, with the two students who had been stealing her apples, that he decides to enlist her "services" officially this time. "Yes, we would pay you, obviously!" he enthuses on the phone. "If they come back with the same results as those other two, I think we could have a regular contract with you."

He drives the two unruly students over to Lady Vernon's mansion. What follows are two typical California Star spanking sessions. First an OTK part (first over the pants, then over the knickers, then on the bare), followed by the spankee bending over a sofa for a dose of the leather (rubber?) paddle, followed by a dose with another, thinner paddle (the girl is fully naked by this point), followed by a final caning. Brown is the first to get it, and then Douglas receives the exact same treatment. Needless to say, the two are very meek and contrite by the end - looks like the headmaster enlisted the right woman. Actually, they were meek and contrite all throughout the session...

These are two of the better CP sessions I've seen from Calstar, in terms of action as well as atmosphere. The room where everything takes place, with its big windows and a view of the garden, makes for a fine-looking location. There is a quiet, but intense chemistry between the players. And the spankings are pretty hard, as usual from this domme. She really likes her job. Calstar shows the action from different perspectives, as they always do, so it isn't easy to say how many individual strokes each spankee gets during the caning at the end. My best estimate is that Brown takes around 15 strokes and Douglas around 12 (however, the latter caning is the harder of the two). Both are left with visibly reddened bottoms and some very nice welts.

Best Reactions:
I like the reactions of the spankees a lot, and they are in fact a big part of why this is one of my favourite Calstar videos. Both girls are very quiet and very restrained, but their gasps, painful grimaces and buckling knees show that they are feeling the beatings. Brown lets out a few suppressed moans during her caning - when you elicit a noise from a girl like that, it's very satisfying for the top, because you know that you worked hard for it. Some nice moments there. At the end of the day, though, I would have to give the nod to Douglas (Dublin?). She is even more quiet than her colleague, but the look of wide-eyed, open-mouthed surprise on her face after one of Lady Vernon's cane strokes is priceless. She might as well have said it aloud: "Oh, gosh! That one really hurt!"

Best Line:
In the opening scene, the headmaster storms into the girls' room and exclaims: "We just saw two men shinnying down your drainpipe here!" That was kind of funny.

Nice Psychological Touch:
I liked the idea of a reform school headmaster enlisting the help of a stern lady from the neighbourhood to discipline the girls - totally goofy, of course, but interesting somehow. And I like the title of these two films in general, "Caning Heaven". You could say that it sort of on the same level as "Caning Palace". Mind you, the name of my blog sounds a lot more dorky in English than it does in German...

How Good Is It Really?

The two "Lady Vernon's Caning Heaven films" are among my favourite California Star titles, and this is the better of the two. As opposed to the first part, where one of the spankees quit early, Lady Vernon does two full CP sessions here, and they are both very good. The location is nice, the two girls are sexy, and there is a palpable atmosphere and intensity to everything. I like this one a lot.

What You Learned:

I tried to find out a bit more about "Lady Vernon" after watching this video again and reviewing it. I know she has been in other CP films as a bottom, at Sting in the Tail, for instance. I always like to see a top who can not only dish out a thrashing, but take one as well! Now I learn that she apparently had a vanilla porn career on the side: the British Girls Adult Film Database lists her under the name Stephanie. I wonder if I should watch "The Continuing Immoral Adventures of Captain Cock and Rodney Rude". That sounds like an interesting title. Or perhaps "European Meat Market 1: London Broil".

Movie Review: Unquestioning Obedience

Producer:
Mood Pictures (released in 2009)

Entire Story In Fewer Words Than Are In This Sentence:

Slaves in rich household get whipped

Victim Appeal:
"Unquestioning Obedience" is the first high-definition movie by Mood Pictures. Sadists (and masochists!) can now enjoy the extreme beatings which the company has become famous for at a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels (the downloadable .wmv file comes at a massive 2.7 GB!). The Hungarians have assembled an impressively attractive cast of victims for this premiere, even by their own high standards. Half a dozen models get thrashed here, four with the cane and two with the single tail whip. One of them, Suzie Muller, is interesting for reasons that go beyond eye candy. I'll come to that in the last section of this review.

The video also marks the return of Angie Vicious. She's a pornstar (her "mainstream" name is Yvette Balcano) who used to top for Mood in the early days. After a break of three years, she is now back in action. And not a moment too soon - it really was getting a bit boring to watch Lady Jessica doing the brunt of the work in almost every release.

Gratuitous Sadism:
Mood Pictures love scenarios that harken back to the sexploitation films of the 1970's. Their first HD title is a variation on the "mistress of the mansion tortures her girls" theme, which they already covered in previous efforts like Schizo. Angie Vicious plays a rich lady who hires beautiful young girls as house slaves - in return for a large sum of money, they sign a "slave contract" for a certain period of time, which deprives them of all rights. Of course, such a contract would be illegal in almost every jurisdiction in the world, but hey... It's just a movie! So, the girls are kept behind bars, they must show "unquestioning obedience", and every little infraction is punished severely.

I'm not going to recount the entire story for you, but it's quite nicely done, actually. There are opening scenes with an applicant getting interviewed for the job, signing the contract and being introduced to the household. There are some great-looking sets, like the bedroom for the slaves with its black and white chessboard floor. I also liked the fact that there is a hierarchy among the girls - Jessica Lee and Miss Prince play "stable girls", higher-ranking slaves who act as overseers for the others.

Some of the "lesser" slaves, plus Miss Prince, get two demonstration strokes each with a crop in the early part of the movie. But the first proper CP scene stars Alisson Sew, a dark-haired model who takes 50 cane strokes from Lady Jessica while bent over her bed. Next up are Cassie Totta and Suzie Muller, two blondes. In the stable, they are whipped side by side by the husband of the mistress, played by Maximilian Lomp. It's back to the cane for the final three action segments, which take place in the living room of the mansion, with the victims tied to a frame made from wood and metal. Miss Prince, one of the stable girls, gets 50 strokes from Jessica. Then, it's Angie's turn to wield the cane. She gives 23 strokes (a merciful punishment) to Judith Gretto, the thin redhead who plays one of the new girls, and a full 50 strokes to Hannah Black, an exotic-looking, dark-haired maid.

All Mood Pictures titles of recent years feature a fairly large cast, and often, the results are somewhat hit and miss (literally as well as figuratively). However, "Unquestioning Obedience" is one of the cases where every single CP scene is good - in terms of action, it's one of the most consistent Pedro and Pablo productions I've seen in a long time. The thrashings are very hard as usual, they are mostly on target, the girls are beautiful and their reactions are nice to watch. Moreover, Jessica Lee, Max Lomp and Angie Vicious provide a good mix on the top side.

Best Reactions:
While all action scenes are good, the whipping of Cassie Totta and Suzie Muller is just absolutely unbelievably awesome. It really blew me away - I don't remember a CP scene coming this close to my idea of perfection since Rose Sardy's caning in the (otherwise mediocre) Elite Club Special Case by Elitepain. Actually, I probably haven't had a "Here is what I always wanted to see!" moment of this magnitude since watching the original Wild Party by Rigid East almost ten years ago. Which is interesting, because I thought I had seen it all by now.

It's also interesting because, at first sight, there are several reasons why this shouldn't be my favourite scene of the film, let alone one of my favourites of all time. To begin with, it's a single tail whipping of the back and the buttocks - I like the single tail well enough, but I prefer a thrashing of the buttocks only, ideally with the cane. Moreover, two girls get lined up side by side here - I usually hate that, I like a clear "focus" on one victim at a time. Thirdly, Miss Totta and Miss Muller are screaming their lungs out at full volume - and I usually hate such loud, hysterical reactions, too.

But somehow, all these "wrongs" add up to a near-perfect "right" here. Punishing two servants with the whip, at the same time, while they holler like banshees - in this context, set in a stable, as an episode in a tale about slavery, it all fits very nicely. The concept is great, as is the execution. The girls are gorgeous, they take one hell of a beating, Max Lomp does a fine job, there is a lot of verbal interaction between the three of them by Mood standards, the rhythm of the lashes is just right, so is the "crescendo" towards the end, and last but not least, the whole thing is beautifully lit and photographed.

It is also one of the most intense, gruelling scenes I've ever seen in a spanking film. Not the hardest in physical terms - Cassie and Suzie "only" take 50 whiplashes each, and while some blood is drawn, there are other Mood floggings that have produced far gorier results. However, in my judgment, they have never done anything as intense as this. Which goes to show you, once again, that there is more to severity than simply hitting hard. There is also the severity of the reactions: here, the girls' non-stop unisono screaming creates a veritable cacophony of anguish, and for once, that enhances the scene for me instead of ruining it. It really is one for the ages.

Best Line:
There aren't any really good lines here that I can remember. How about this one, spoken by the mistress to two girls who aren't renewing their contracts: "Every girl who is leaving us gets a last caning. Not for punishment, just as a token." And she genuinely means it in a nice way! Aaaaaw.

Nice Psychological Touch:

I liked how all three tops in the film are portrayed as having different motivations. The mistress has her ideas about discipline, but she has a sense of fairness and affection for her servants and isn't outright cruel. Her husband, on the other hand, simply enjoys beating the girls for the fun of it - even though he strenuously denies it and, in fact, punishes two of them for calling him a sadist behind his back. As for the stable girl, she just seems to be a careerist who follows orders (a "disgusting bootlicker" according to the other slaves). An accurate depiction of the real-life personalities of Angie, Max and Jessica? One wonders...

How Good Is It Really?

If this is an indication of what Mood Pictures have in store for 2010, then it could be their best year yet. "Unquestioning Obedience" is certainly their best film in a while, and I'm including the one I guest starred in (which, I thought, was also quite good, but didn't have the overall consistency). The setting is interesting, the lighting and the camerawork is good, the new HD format looks fabulous, the models are pure eye candy, and there are some excellent CP scenes - including The Whipping in the Stable, which is now one of my all-time favourite scenes. Truly a guilty pleasure.

What You Learned:

Ironically, the two girls from the best scene are missing from the credits, so I wrote to Pedro to find out their names. It seems to have been a dumb, honest oversight ("Fuck! You are right!"). Pedro wrote to me that Suzie Muller was "the surprise of the century" for him: she's beautiful (a platinum blonde with a great figure and a very spankable bottom), she has decent acting skills, and most impressively, she is genuinely kinky - one of a tiny handful of Mood models who aren't simply doing it for the money. After her action scene, she thanked Max Lomp for the whipping, which wasn't in the script. And during another shoot, for Elitepain (still unreleased), she was hungry for more strokes than originally planned - so they did an encore. Good girl! More of her, please.

Apparently, Pedro is now reconsidering his filmmaking philosophy a bit: "Well, who the fuck said that he doesn't like shooting with submissive girls? Was it me?" Goodness! I wonder what is next for Mood - movies with actual storylines, perhaps? Lots of dialogue? Character development? Life is full of surprises!

Movie Review: Wild Party 3

Producer:
Rigid East (released in 2009)

Entire Story In Fewer Words Than Are In This Sentence:

Ballet teacher canes students for drunk lesbian orgy

Victim Appeal:
Wild Party and its sequel are two of the most popular and enduring Rigid East classics, from the old era before the Czechs started calling themselves Lupus Pictures. After a break of nearly seven years, they've now decided to make the series into a trilogy. I was wondering whether this was going to happen, and if so, when! Hey, they even revived the Rigid East label for the occasion. It feels nice to see the opening logo again after all this time, with flames playing around it while cane strokes and a girl's cries can be heard in the background. Ah, those were the days!

Needless to say, the fundamental "Wild Party" formula also remains unchanged: the great Jan Zlatousty stars as the cane-wielding top again, and five girls get to experience his not-so-tender mercies. As in the first two videos, the spankees make for a pleasant variety of looks. There are three blondes, one dark-haired girl and one redhead (veteran Lupus actress Ester Slaba). Some thin, some of them a bit more voluptuous, but all quite pretty. They do a decent acting job as well - of all three installments, I think this is the best one in terms of acting.

Gratuitous Sadism:
The first part was basically a domestic discipline scenario, the second one was set in an art school. This time, the spankees are students in an amateur ballet class. As the movie opens, one of them does a couple of moves to Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake". The teacher (Zlatousty) is not happy: "We've already been doing this, it was better last time! The head knows what to do, but the body doesn't listen!" The famous "Wild Party" top in a skin-tight dancing costume, instructing his students to lift their legs higher while he is awkwardly demonstrating the exercise himself, is probably one of the most comical sights RGE / Lupus have ever produced. It is even inspirational in its way: here is a man who is clearly not afraid of anything.

When the lesson is over and the teacher leaves, the obligatory "wild party" takes place. There is a shower scene, dancing, wine, dope, more dancing (naked by now) and, once the alcohol has removed all inhibitions, some unusually explicit lesbian sex. Finally, they all pass out. When the ballet teacher returns the next morning and finds five naked (and still quite drunk) girls strewn across the floor, he is of course furious. After a lecture about "enlightenment through art", how they have disgraced his ensemble and yadda-yadda, he sends them home to sleep off their stupor.

At the next confrontation, one of the students (Ester) plots to blackmail the teacher with accusations of sexual harassment (apparently, he has a bit of a past with that). What they didn't count on, however, is the fact that their little orgy the day before was caught by the security cameras - and so, the teacher has the upper hand. He issues an ultimatum: they can agree to take a dose of corporal punishment with the cane (like in an old-fashioned Russian ballet school), or he will expel them from the school and report them to the police for smoking dope.

So, the students tell him to sod off and call the police if he dares. Actually, no, I'm just kidding! Don't worry. Needless to say, they give in and the inevitable beatings follow. The girls bend over a gym horse for the punishment. The first one wimps out after only five strokes - she is expelled from the class as a result. The others take their canings until the end. They were supposed to get 50 strokes each, but they do in fact receive 45, 38, 52 and 53 - and there I was, freaking out over my minor miscounts during the filming of "A Garden Party"! The thrashings are certainly fun to watch, though, very hard as usual and leaving gorgeous purple marks.

Best Reactions:
Three of the four girls who go through with the punishment take it rather well - with quite a lot of yelping and crying, but without flinching too much. The other one (the short blonde) jumps up and away from the horse after literally every single stroke. It is amusing to watch for a while, in a sadistic sort of way, but after the tenth time, it just gets annoying. There is no sense of cohesion in the scene, it just falls apart. Fortunately, Ester Slaba is next and takes her thrashing, the final one of the film, in a much more dignified manner.

Actually, there is no spankee here whose reactions struck me like the defiant redhead did in the first "Wild Party". Or like the tough brunette girl who was the first to be caned in "Wild Party 2". Here, they are all fairly enjoyable to watch (except for the hysterical blonde), but there is no one who really stands out. At the end of the day, I'd probably go with Ester. Not because of the reactions, but because she gets the most strokes and the nicest welts.

Best Line:
Before the first girl bends over the gym horse, the teacher lectures them about how well these "Russian" methods work: "The methods are brilliant. Because they have brilliant dancers and soloists!" Sarcastically, the girl about to get it replies: "I guess the weals increase the range of movement..."

Oh, nice line! Was the improvised? It almost sounded like it. She's a smart girl. Too bad she couldn't take the caning (she was the one who quit after five strokes). If she had been able to back up words with deeds, I would have loved to see her again!

Nice Psychological Touch:
There is a subplot involving the teacher, the caretaker of the building, and a boxer (a hilarious cameo by producer Thomas Marco). I won't spoil the ending for you here, which puts a different twist into the whole story. But I can say that I liked it a lot. One of the two "villains" gets his own comeuppance, which is a typical RGE / Lupus touch, and Thomas shows his self-deprecating sense of humour with the boxer role.

How Good Is It Really?

In terms of CP action, this is arguably the weakest of the three "Wild Party" films. It certainly isn't bad - the four (full-length) caning scenes are all hard, well-filmed and fun to watch. The number of strokes is even higher than in the previous installments. But somehow, the intensity just isn't the same. None of the segments, no one among the spankees, nothing in the reactions really stuck in my memory.

As a film, however, this is the best one yet. The setting is great, the ballet lesson with Jan Zlatousty is a hoot, and the actual "wild party" sequence is very nicely set up and put together. Good cast (Thomas should do more cameos), good acting and some good use of music. Even though the action itself may not be up there with the two stellar predecessors, fans of the series will definitely want to see this.

What You Learned:
Seeing what a great, natural combination RGE / Lupus thrashings and ballet are, I am reminded: I really have to talk Leia-Ann Woods into working with the werewolves from the East someday. What a pairing that would be, eh?

Movie Review: Illegal Download

Producer:
Pain4Fem (released in 2004)

Entire Story In Fewer Words Than Are In This Sentence:
An object lesson for pirates. Yarrr!

Victim Appeal:
The spring of 2004 was an interesting time for CP movie enthusiasts, with two new producers appearing on the scene who quickly attracted attention: Mood Pictures from Hungary and Pain4Fem from Slovakia. Both were from places that hadn't really been "on the map" before as far as spanking videos are concerned, both featured plenty of model "eye candy" in combination with some proper beatings, and both, predictably, became immensely commercially successful. I already reviewed the first movie by Mood, Ancient Regime. Today I'm reviewing Pain4Fem's debut, "Illegal Download".

Two blonde girls get thrashed in this one, Nicol and Kelly. I don't know anything about Nicol, except that she later did one more film with P4F, "The Thieves". The voluptuous Kelly (Norton) aka Katerina, of course, became a company mainstay and one their most well-known "faces" (or bottoms, if you prefer).

Gratuitous Sadism:
The two of them play schoolgirls who have downloaded illegally shared music files from the internet, using the school's computer. They are found out and the headmistress informs them that this is not only against school rules, but also an offense (actually, in the real world, downloading such files isn't usually treated as an offense, although uploading is). She has no choice but to inform the police and expel them from the school. The girls plead for mercy, but they are sent to their room.

A teacher argues that "destroying the girls' whole lives" because of such a download would be too harsh (hey, I concur!). The headmistress says that, in the old days, it was easier - the girls would simply have been caned, and that would have been the end of the matter. But today, corporal punishment is forbidden. The teacher responds that, in all probability, the girls would prefer such a punishment over being expelled from the school. Well, you can see where this is going...

A deal is made that, if the pupils voluntarily accept a dose of corporal punishment, there will be no further consequences. Since this is a fantasy movie, they agree! Not only that, it also turns out that what the headmistress has in mind is a full multi-implement "session", including an OTK beginning, a strapping (she refers to the instrument as a "whip", but it's a strap, really), and a caning. Where can I apply for a teaching post at this school? I could do history and German.

Anyway, the whole thing takes place up in the school's attic, because that is where they stored all the CP-related stuff after it was outlawed, you see. The headmistress bends the girls over her knee for a hand spanking, first on the panties, then on the bare, before they take turns tied to a wooden bench while the strap and the cane make an impact. By the end, they have lost their school uniforms (the skirts were ridiculously short, anyway) and are both stark naked. The action is somewhere between light and medium-level and leaves some visible stripes. There are some repetitions from different camera angles, but my estimate is that Nicol and Kelly get around 25 individual cane strokes each, give or take a few.

Two footnotes: one, the female teacher (who just stands around during the second half of the video, witnessing the punishment and looking pretty) is played by Nicoleta aka Nicole, another Czech porn girl. She gets caned in Pain4Fem's second film, "Lazy Maids". Secondly, one of the schoolgirls (Nicol, not to be confused with Nicoleta!) pees all over herself while she is lying on the bench, right before the caning starts. I'm not into that myself, but there are all kinds of fetishes out there, so maybe you are...

Best Reactions:
The action is considerably lighter than in some of Pain4Fem's later efforts, but both (vanilla) models react in a rather vocal and, I believe, genuine way. I liked Kelly's shrieks and sobs better among the two.

Best Line:
When the headmistress confronts the pupils about the music downloads, they start to defend themselves: "But a thousand others also do this...!" She cuts them off: "What others do is not of interest to me."

Good point against a lame excuse, isn't it?

Nice Psychological Touch:
Well, I enjoyed the whole "semi-consensual" scenario, "you can choose CP or we expel you from the school". You know I have a fondness for that. Also, it was kind of amusing that Pain4Fem would choose illegal filesharing as the subject for their first release. Especially because they became one of the most active and successful spanking video producers in fighting piracy. Oh, and I liked how the headmistress and the teacher take a trip to the attic to "check if everything is still there" (caning bench, et cetera!) before the action starts. Silly, but a nice buildup nonetheless.

How Good Is It Really?
The summary is simple on this one. If you are not a P4F fan, there really is no reason to see it, because it is a first attempt and not even one of their more polished films. If you are a fan, however, then you will definitely want to see it. For nostalgic reasons, and because many of the company's trademarks are already there: a picturesque little outdoor intro, melodramatic music, long (sometimes overlong) preparation and buildup scenes, Kelly Norton...

What You Learned:
When I watched "Illegal Download" again for the review, I noticed that Peter Schober, the Bratislava-based Austrian who runs Pain4Fem, is not in it - not even in a cameo role. I had remembered it differently, probably because the guy is omnipresent in pretty much everything else they do! "Interesting", I thought, and looked through their entire catalogue (just the previews on their site, not my video collection). Indeed, from what I can tell on a quick survey, there are only two movies among their 30 plus so far in which Peter doesn't appear - this one and "Pocket Money". So if you are a total F/F purist for some reason, that might be another incentive to check it out.