Ultrakillbot review by Sabrina Scotthttp://ultrakillbot.com/?p=1820
I took a brief trip to Montreal last week – a much needed break from the dirty strike-laden Toronto – and despite my ignorance I was lucky enough to drop in while the Fantasia Festival was underway. If you’re unfamiliar with the festival it’s one of Montreal’s unending summer attractions and focuses particularly on films of the thriller, monster, horror, scifi, and, of course, fantasy varieties.

The only film that really grabbed me by the balls was Graphic Sexual Horror. Difficult to ignore and hard to say in public, it is quite possibly one of the most compelling film titles I have heard in a while. The cinema was entirely packed to the brim with eager spectators, waiting to see a film that documents and seeks on some levels to explain the hardcore BDSM and torture porn website Insex.com – which bragged 35,000 members when it shut down in 2005.

There was something unique about Insex’s approach, something equally genuine and terrifying. The films featured on Insex seem more like serial killers’ home videos than the typical falseness and overacting that is involved in most pornography. Insex videos are gritty, very lo-fi, filled to the brim with elaborate torture contraptions and real screams. The most repulsive thing about typical pornography is its obvious fakeness, and a brand of exaggeration that is in no way convincing or alluring. What BDSM fetishists find appealing about Insex is its pure unadulterated reality – I suppose that’s what you get when you ignore limits and safe words.

Graphic Sexual Horror was an interesting piece of film to behold – shocking, humourous, and illuminating in the way that few questions are truly answered. It featured a great deal of material from the Insex archives (which have been sold to a European company), and since PD, the head honcho of Insex, was required to get this essential material for the documentary, one wonders if he was allowed to have the final say on what exactly was allowed to be shown or said. Regardless, the producers of Graphic Sexual Horror interviewed numerous Insex models and riggers, all very different people in their own right and their reasons for involvement with the site were as unique as the people that held them. I feel as though there was enough material for two films, at least – perhaps three, but then again I am quite the curious individual and feel as though things can rarely be over-explained. The environment Insex employees worked in was so complicated and multi-faceted I feel as though I have only brushed the surface – an allegory of the cave sort of experience.

Upon the film’s conclusion I was unsure if what I had just seen was a documentary about a snuff manufacturer who had somehow emerged scot-free. Sure, no one was killed, and all models signed releases stating that they understood they might undergo physical pain or injury during filming. Some models would even get paid four thousand dollars per day of filming – a sure motivator to bite the bullet and ignore that whatever limits you had were just thrown out the window, all for another few bucks. Complain, and you weren’t asked back – which may explain why some models returned again and again despite the discomfort and in some instances rape.

There’s a certain mentality shown – evident in both the girls and the producer – that because money is involved (a large amount of money, at that) limits are tossed out the window. While some models in the documentary admitted they would have paid PD for the pleasure of being tortured by him, it was obvious that others simply endured necessary pain and kissed his ass because of the financial compensation involved. Exploitation is another ball park entirely – who exactly was exploiting whom? The models, after all, had chosen to be there, but surely since PD (at the height of his subscribership) was making two million per month he could afford to pay girls more than four grand per near-death experience.

Lately Graphic Sexual Horror has been making the festival rounds, and to my understanding it is unavailable to purchase at the time being, though a DVD version is in the works. The film has won tons of awards and received many well-deserved accolades, so if you have the opportunity to see it I would strongly encourage you to do so. Yes, even if you do have a weak stomach – see it. You’ll be glad you did.

Hey, if nothing else, it’s a conversation starter, right?

http://ultrakillbot.com/?p=1820

the Yerba Buena Center for the ArtsJust wanted to let you know that the screenings went great, exactly the type of edgy event I love to have here. I’m always up for challenging people’s comfort levels and questioning stereotypes. Thursday was almost full, and Friday was sold out. Cyd Black and his wife, model Sarah Jane Ceylon, came on Friday for a rather intense q&a. It was clear that there were some people in the audience came knowing this was a film about bondage, but getting a little more than they bargained for (though there were no walk-outs at either show). So when Cyd brought up things like the 24 to 72 hour-long live feeds that Insex would do occasionally, there was some stunned silence. He was asked how many women he thought were actually into it, and how many just did it for the money, and he said he thought about 15-20% were into it, and I felt a little more uncomfortable silence. His wife then enthusiastically chimed in that she was really into it. One woman said she was doing a shoot with Brent next week, and was critical of the film for not making it clear that he was still working I was a little surprised no one asked any very challenging questions, but without the filmmakers present that wouldn’t have really been appropriate.

As a whole, I felt the majority of people there were positive and engaged with the film. A number of kink.com staffers were there. So it was a very interesting mix of people – some deeply involved in the scene, and some just out for an offbeat night at the movies. I like the film very much, and I hope you can get it out there. It’s going to be a bit tricky outside of film festivals, I think, but if you handle it very carefully you can do it. Thanks for letting me show it here. – Joel Shepard, Film/Video Curator, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Graphic Sexual Horror Review in the San Fransisco Bay Guardian

Graphic Sexual Horror
A fair-minded glimpse into the pain-glorious performances and behind-the-scenes procedures of the now defunct hardest of the hardcore bondage Web sites
BY KEVIN LANGSON
Wednesday July 15, 2009

REVIEW The prurient pleasure piece Graphic Sexual Horror cannot be accused of failing to live up to its title. In fact, it's safe to say that discussion or protestations (and anyone who's not catatonic is bound to have something to say) that follow this solid porn-ocumentary will be related to the rather contentious content. This fair-minded glimpse into the pain-glorious performances and behind-the-scenes procedures of the now defunct hardest of the hardcore bondage Web sites is simultaneously titillating and reflective, admiring and critical.

Insex.com founder Brent Scott, in explaining the academic ostracism at Carnegie Mellon that led to his new career as a high priest of porn, says this: "If they don't let me teach their kids, I'll corrupt them," which seems an apt encapsulation of his renegade artistic arrogance. This account is assuredly enriched by his candidness and self-criticism. He praises, sometimes adores, his female models and expresses sincere regret when his neglect leads to a malfunctioning water tank that could have inflicted injury. At the same time, however, he is chauvinistically demanding and insensitive to his model's vulnerabilities.

Essentially, he represents the ambivalence of extreme bondage — the murky convergence of liberated consensual sex and exploitation.

Clips of artistically presented live feed performances featuring such intrigues as blue-purple strangulated breasts and hot pepper being applied to genitalia, are intercut with interviews to give a sense of the models' experiences. For bondage enthusiasts and the morbidly curious, there are visuals to gawk or gasp at throughout, but the tone becomes more conflicted as the film addresses the dilemmas of Insex models, as illustrated by the young woman who whimpers incredulously as her face is slapped. Face-slapping was her one hard limit (defined as activity forbidden by a model), but she struggles to play along because of the shame and lost fortunes a refusal begets.

GRAPHIC SEXUAL HORROR Thurs/16–Fri/17, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

GSH at Fantasiafest 2009
The Canadians are continuing to invite GSH for screenings, and we do love them!
Co-director Barbara Bell will host the Montreal premiere:
July 19th, 2009, 10:00 pm at the Hall Theatre

malba.cine
| Películas proyectadas

Graphic Sexual Horror (EUA, 2009), de Barbara Bell y Anna Lorentzon. 85’.

Parece haber más segmentación en la pornografía vendida por Internet que en los variadísimos mercados de las gaseosas, los chicles o los yogures. Este documental explora un sitio de Internet -insex.com- que vende productos bondage y sadomasoquismo. Las debutantes Barbara Bell y Anna Lorentzon combinan entrevistas (al creador y los responsables del sitio y a las modelos), imágenes de la web y reveladores momentos del “detrás de cámara” de las performances. Se habla de dinero, tarjetas de crédito, ganancias, tarifas por hora, y no es extraño: Graphic Sexual Horror también es un documental sobre el (un) mundo del trabajo en la actualidad.

http://www.malba.org.ar/web/cine_pelicula.php?id=3165&subseccion=pelicul...