After wrapping up a successful stint making movies for Wicked Pictures, auteur David Stanley shot this gritty little thriller. It earned four industy award nominations (that and a proof of vaccination will get you a Krispy Kreme donut) but despite that lefthanded compliment is well worth watching.
Recently I plowed (literally it seems) through neafrly a hundred of Stanley's features for Wicked, Vivid and other labels, and wondered what might have been the result had the imaginative filmmaker been granted a mainstream gig away from porn. "Fleshed Out' gives one a hint.
First few reels adhere to familiar XXX strategies: plenty of gonzo sex as the prinipal characters (Kim Kane and Evan Stone) watch porn and become aroused. We get to see not excerpts but full-length sex scenes; Mika Tan in an uninhibited interracial threesome with Mfr. Pete and Justin Long, and Nikki Rhodes going strong with Mikey Butders.
Stanley's usual critique of "straight" or "square" society is voiced by Kane, who rejects Evan's wish that they go out on normal dates, out for dinner, etc., while she completely rejects relationships and entanglements, insisting "I need my space" and unwilling to suffer disappointments with love or romance. Instead she's something of a sex addict, constantly masturbating or having impromptu "no strings" sex.
SPOILER ALERT: We hear in voice-over a session she has with her shrink, who gives advice with the distinctive voice of director Stanley himself. An intriguing scene of one-upsmanship has her at a coffeehouse observing the PDA activity of couple Voodoo and Hillary Scott. She follows Voodoo to the bathroom and gives him a blowjob, later exchanging glances with Hillary with an obvious smugness.
At this point the movie takes a drastic U-turn that is extremely effective: turning into a thriller resembling a one-act off-Broadway play.
Returning home, Kane is assaulted in her house by the couple, with Hillary injecting a drug that renders Kim helpless. Scott turns out to be a rogue cop, out to teach Kane a lesson for her dallying with Voodoo, who turns out to be Hillary's submissive husband. Violence and threats of murder take the movie into territory that Wicked Pictures would likely have rejected, and the show becomes decidedly kinky as Kane is forced to watch as Hillary forces newly arrived (and instantly imprisoned) Evan Stone to have sex with her at gunpoint, while helpless Kim is forced to watch.
Violence and sex escalate, also involving Voodoo as well as a suspicious looking man who loiters constantly outside Kim's home, apparently waiting for his man to deliver illicit drugs, right out of a Lou Reed song. Tommy Gunn plays this role, but is left out of the end credits.
At times oppressive, while constantly pretentious, the movie works via excellent acting from a cast thrilled to add some power to their mechanical sex assignments. Especially good is Hillary, who looks so innocent but is truly deadly. And the movie's ending packs a wallop in support of David's central theme rejecting conformity.
Is Stanley overachieving here, dressing up gonzo porn with serious drama, or is he actually an underachiever, cranking out a hundred or so quirky scripts and XXX movies, using sex as a crutch rather than attempting a breakthrough into Hollywood's mainstream. It's likely he rejected outright the notion of joining the mainstream, preferring the rebel and outsider perch akin to that studiously developed by Abel Ferrara.
Recently I plowed (literally it seems) through neafrly a hundred of Stanley's features for Wicked, Vivid and other labels, and wondered what might have been the result had the imaginative filmmaker been granted a mainstream gig away from porn. "Fleshed Out' gives one a hint.
First few reels adhere to familiar XXX strategies: plenty of gonzo sex as the prinipal characters (Kim Kane and Evan Stone) watch porn and become aroused. We get to see not excerpts but full-length sex scenes; Mika Tan in an uninhibited interracial threesome with Mfr. Pete and Justin Long, and Nikki Rhodes going strong with Mikey Butders.
Stanley's usual critique of "straight" or "square" society is voiced by Kane, who rejects Evan's wish that they go out on normal dates, out for dinner, etc., while she completely rejects relationships and entanglements, insisting "I need my space" and unwilling to suffer disappointments with love or romance. Instead she's something of a sex addict, constantly masturbating or having impromptu "no strings" sex.
SPOILER ALERT: We hear in voice-over a session she has with her shrink, who gives advice with the distinctive voice of director Stanley himself. An intriguing scene of one-upsmanship has her at a coffeehouse observing the PDA activity of couple Voodoo and Hillary Scott. She follows Voodoo to the bathroom and gives him a blowjob, later exchanging glances with Hillary with an obvious smugness.
At this point the movie takes a drastic U-turn that is extremely effective: turning into a thriller resembling a one-act off-Broadway play.
Returning home, Kane is assaulted in her house by the couple, with Hillary injecting a drug that renders Kim helpless. Scott turns out to be a rogue cop, out to teach Kane a lesson for her dallying with Voodoo, who turns out to be Hillary's submissive husband. Violence and threats of murder take the movie into territory that Wicked Pictures would likely have rejected, and the show becomes decidedly kinky as Kane is forced to watch as Hillary forces newly arrived (and instantly imprisoned) Evan Stone to have sex with her at gunpoint, while helpless Kim is forced to watch.
Violence and sex escalate, also involving Voodoo as well as a suspicious looking man who loiters constantly outside Kim's home, apparently waiting for his man to deliver illicit drugs, right out of a Lou Reed song. Tommy Gunn plays this role, but is left out of the end credits.
At times oppressive, while constantly pretentious, the movie works via excellent acting from a cast thrilled to add some power to their mechanical sex assignments. Especially good is Hillary, who looks so innocent but is truly deadly. And the movie's ending packs a wallop in support of David's central theme rejecting conformity.
Is Stanley overachieving here, dressing up gonzo porn with serious drama, or is he actually an underachiever, cranking out a hundred or so quirky scripts and XXX movies, using sex as a crutch rather than attempting a breakthrough into Hollywood's mainstream. It's likely he rejected outright the notion of joining the mainstream, preferring the rebel and outsider perch akin to that studiously developed by Abel Ferrara.