Kinky Bitch

Given the amount of hype that is afforded many untalented pornographers these days, I'm surprised at the merely underground reputation of British actress- director Tanya Hyde. Sure she toils in the "off the entertainment scale" field of fetish, but her videos are rather amazing and extremely well-made. Fans vote with their pocketbooks: her out-of-print videos are commanding prices now climbing out of my range.

IMDb has called "Kinky Bitch" an American video, just because John Stagliano struck a deal releasing Harmony Films from London almost a decade ago, a deal that long since lapsed. This is Brit Porn through and through and draws on top local talent to make it work.

As usual Hyde works in vignettes, allowing her to conjure up wildly different visuals, moods and sexual content. Personal taste will determine which one(s) the viewer prefers, but there is certainly variety.

Opener is titled "Prisoner" though it's really about two contrasting imprisoned folks, one male and one female. There is plenty of BDSM technique on display, but never static, always with a dynamism in not only the performances but also the direction and camera-work (latter credited to Hyde and Freddie Morse).

There's lesbian sex and a guy being humped by his female guard, with Hyde taking artistic license to let each of the prisoners free of his or her shackles and restraints at some point to bring the humping to a climax. The intense, repetitive music is at first riveting and later off-putting, all part of a design. My favorite in-joke occurs when the guy firmly attached to the floor has his tormentor sit on a toilet seat suspended just above his face - creating the impression that a Golden Shower is about to come his way, but instead we have cunnilingus and anilingus.

The Golden Shower gets delivered, repeatedly, in the segment titled "Slimelight" - a cute moniker that reminded me of a local den of iniquity near where I live in Chelsea (NYC's Chelsea, not London's) named Limelight, a creepy nightclub frequented in its heyday by youngsters bussed in from New Jersey in search of drugs, set in a de-consecrated church.

"Slimelight" features several nude girls (in high heels) trapped in suspended cages and misbehaving/masturbating like all get out. The sexual atmosphere keeps escalating with acrobatic and double-jointed positions when they are set free to be anally serviced by a big-dicked guard and an amazing Amazonian guard with huge breasts and enormous black dildo. This vignette has Hyde firing on all cylinders, and could stand alone as an audition reel to show her prowess in her particular field of porn.

"Space" is a more abstract segment using split-screens, often recalling for me the experiments of Brian DePalma (notably "Dionysus in '69" and "Sisters") before he became such a successful Hollywood hack. Danny Mountain is the goggled subject of two aggressive buxom ladies in latex in a strange but compelling ice-cold threesome that threatens to but does not deliver the expected "medical instruments" porn, giving me a chance to breathe a sigh of relief as that type of literal torture-porn has got to be my least favorite (just as it is my least favorite mode of the horror film).

Finale is titled "PonyBoys" and explores the particular BDSM rituals I associate with Ernest Greene's famous "Dresden" series of videos. One guy pulls a cart with all the accoutrements of being a horse, right down to the well-dressed (for a horse show) surrey driver lady wielding her buggy- whip on him, and guiding him with bridle and bit between his teeth.

Another guy is ridden by a woman with a saddle on his back, not the classic "La Dolce Vita" staging representing decadence, but rather just another day at the fetish trough for some well-trained performer or role-player. This is obviously the most specialized segment, but a secret to Hyde's success that is no secret is her always remembering to include arousing semi-straight sex (straight under the circumstances) as the skeleton key to unlock one's involvement and openness to kinky sex. The title "Kinky Bitch" proves to be meaningless.