The Movie: Porno
The Director: Keola Racela
The Cast: Evan Daves, Jillian Mueller, Katelyn Pearce, Peter Reznikoff, Larry Saperstein, Glenn Stott, Robbie Tann
The Story: When five teen employees at the local movie theater in a small Christian town discover a mysterious old film hidden in it's basement, they unleash an alluring succubus who gives them a sex education...written in blood.
The Review:
This movie right here is exactly what I love about film festivals. Porno holds absolutely nothing back while giving genre fans pretty much everything we could ever want and probably a few things we may not have ever wanted to see but still enjoyed anyway. I mean, at one point a naked demon hot chick causes recovering addict heavy metal guy's testicles to explode just by glaring at them and then gay teen baseball player dude gives him first aid by putting his dick and balls back together with a shoelace. And that isn't even the craziest part of the movie!
It's like the writers of this movie sat down with a mission to come up with a movie that would make the audience say "What the F**k!" about every 30 seconds. At least that was the result when I was watching and holy crap it was so much fun. There was so much inspiration in this story from genre films of the past like the early works of Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson to cultural touchstones like having Encino Man and A League of Their Own being played in the theater to determine the time period. Stacks of VHS tapes were just as noticeable as the absence of cell phones and social media and the film making techniques also were firmly rooted in early 90's technology.
Amid all the gore, comedy, and horror is a deeply rooted theme of hypocrisy when it comes to the difference between religious beliefs and the suppression of emotions and desires those beliefs can cause. Each character in the film, for the most part, is a stout believer in their religion and does everything they can to stand by those beliefs even while they inevitably succumb to desires that are in strict opposition to the core religious values they cling to. The messaging of cultural and sexual oppression is very real and is extremely relevant to our modern day society in respect to things we see play out in the news every day.
One thing I was afraid of while watching this movie is how it could have easily gone off the rails by throwing too much at the audience and, while it is steeped in excess, I felt like it held a very specific tone and level of energy. The opening scene features a random couple enthusiastically sharing a moment of pleasure to the big finale where all hell is literally breaking loose which I honestly felt could have gone a little more over the top but the film makers showed just enough restraint to keep the whole thing from getting out of hand.
The Verdict:
Porno is the indie horror comedy that fans have been waiting for. It's funny, it's scary, it's excessive, it's indulgent, it's smart, and it is filled with non stop gore, nudity, blood, sex, demons, and mind blowing hilarity. Oh, and did I mention this is award winning director Keola Racela first full length feature film? Watch this movie as soon as you get the chance.
Porno is an official selection of the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.
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