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Pain. What motivates people to inflict pain on others? On
themselves? These questions are among the many which are asked
in Barbara Bell and Anna Lorentzo's probing documentary,
Graphic Sexual Horror. The documentary explores pain to the
absolute extreme by recounting the story of Brent Scott, known
as "PD", and the inception and eventual destruction of Insex.com,
his extremely hardcore BDSM website. It opens by introducing
Brent as an artist with a deep, lifelong fascination in BDSM.
Brent's hauntingly photographed school films and artwork are
shown in graphic detail. His amateur work morphed into the
creation of Insex.com. In 1997, his unique, taboo-breaking
vision was online. Little did Brent know how largely profitable
Insex would become. Even in its early stages, he was earning
far more money than he ever received teaching for the art
department at Carnegie-Mellon. Soon afterwards, people began to
notice Brent and his infamous website which eventually had
nearly 35000 subscribers in the end.
As an unwavering behind-the-scenes look, Graphic Sexual
Horror delves into the dark complexity of sexual
gratification. You can say what you want about the site and why
you don't agree with it. Everyone has their own opinions, but
at the end of the day Brent received a written consent by the
models who starred in his bondage videos and live feeds. The
filmmakers interview many different models, who worked for
Brent. Featuring such bondage models as Princess Donna and
Lorelei Lee, they tell of how they got into BDSM and their first
encounter with Brent. Brent himself is the prime subject here,
and he is a fascinating subject who warrants the attention. He
has a grand vision and he desires to please his viewers, who log
into his site and pay with their credit cards. During the live
feeds, his customers even text in their requests on what they
would very much like to see. In the longest footage from one of
the Insex shoots, Brent slaps a model in the face at a viewer's
request. She looks extremely pissed at him, perplexed and
shocked. Apparently, she expressed beforehand she did not wish
to be slapped. It was her "limit". The footage is a power play
of the two. There is a lot going on here which is very
fascinating. Brent may have forgotten this was her limit, but
he tells her she can quit, at any time if she utters the "safe
word". And of course, the model who simply cries and does not
quit as Brent suggests.
The documentary later reveals what happens to models if they did
say their safe word. They would never be called back for
another shoot, and we realize why they wouldn't quit a scene:
Money. The shoots paid incredibly well, and some models would
even get paid 4,000 dollars a shoot at one time. Money is the
overall motivator in this world of pornography. People will do
anything they have to do if they are strapped for cash, and it
is graphically portrayed here. In the most explicit moments
where models are crying and pleading, we ask: Why don't you
quit? But it's deeper, more complicated. There is no way we
can probe their minds -- we don't know what is going on in their
head at the time, and some of us are not in their shoes to ask
their motivation or judge them. At no point does it judge its
subjects. This is a frank, honest investigation into Insex.com
and the colorful, interesting people who were involved in it.
For those unaware, Insex.com was shut down by the US government
through the anti-terrorist Patriot Act. The government claimed
that extreme bondage sites fund terrorism. This is very
interesting and deserved more time devoted to it in this
documentary. I strongly believe the filmmakers should've delved
deeper into it. The documentary briefly talks about the reason
why it was shut down towards the end of its run time, but it's
given approximately four minutes and that's it. Disappointing,
yet there may not be much more to say about it. Regardless, it
is in this respect that Graphic Sexual Horror is
important in the way it makes the viewers think about censorship
and freedom of speech.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Graphic Sexual Horror
was the brief mention of serial killers. Surely, much of
Brent's disturbing imagery would arouse and titillate the worst
sexual serial killer in a variety of ways. I thought of Ted
Bundy's final interview with James Dobson, where he's comparing
hardcore pornography to an addiction. He describes how once you
become addicted to pornography, you later seek out the rougher,
more graphic material. Notorious serial murderers and sex
sadists like Bundy would look at hardcore bondage imagery to
fuel their dark desires and homicidal urges whereas Brent Scott
and others look at their inventions as "art". Their inventions
are fantasy. Barbara Bell & Anna Lorentzo, in their feature
debut, depict BDSM as an entirely consensual practice between
responsible adults. Hence making Graphic Sexual Horror
an unblinking exploration into a world where artistic and sexual
limits are pushed to the maximum.
Not for the easily offended or the squeamish, Graphic Sexual
Horror assaults the senses. Even with its startling
visuals, we truly cannot take our eyes off the screen as we hear
the piercingly loud screams of terror and as we watch in awe,
disbelief and horror. Synapse Films bravely present the
award-winning documentary to DVD in a crystal clear 16x9
transfer. Supplemental material includes deleted scenes,
additional interviews with the models and one with Barbara Bell,
one of the creators of the documentary. One of the deleted
scenes, include a model with an extreme foot fetish whose wish
is granted by Insex.com. She is brought to tears afterwards,
absolutely grateful her fantasy was finally made into a reality
by the Insex team. To the viewer, the foot torture looks
absolutely painful yet to the model, it was brought instant
pleasure. A moment in her life in which she will never forget.
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