PILLION (2026)

 

Written & Directed By: Harry Lighton 

Based on The Book “BOX HILL” by: Adam Mars-Jones 

Cinematography: Nick Morris

Editor: Gareth C. Scales 

Cast: Harry Melling, Alexander Skarsgard, Lesley Sharp, Douglas Hodge, Jake Shears, Mat Hill, Nick Figgis, Zoe Engerer

Colin, a weedy wallflower letting life pass him by, meets Ray, the impossibly handsome leader of a motorbike club, who then takes him on as his submissive. Ray uproots Colin from his dreary suburban life, introducing him to a community of kinky, queer bikers and taking all sorts of virginities along the way. But as Colin steps deeper into Ray’s world of rules and mysteries, he begins to question whether the life of a 24/7 submissive is for him. Has he found his calling, or simply swapped one form of suffocation for another?

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The film is less graphic than I expected it to be.

Even though it does start off with a little bit of a shock. Though sexually frank it shocks more with its moments of tenderness. That is more universal for us all. 

Though I think it uses the BDSM aspects of the relationship as shocking at first, but also to show a kind I’ve avoidance of intimacy, especially when it came to emotions which Skarsgard’s character seeks to avoid. 

As he loves control and power, where we and Harry Melling’s character are not sure if he keeps him around just because he’s a willing consenting victim of sorts or if he feels that this is his way of showing his attraction and care for him. As obviously Skarsgard character is a fantasy come true. Skarsgard plays up the hot hunk with no emotions to the hilt. He has played this before and seems willing to try most freaky roles and go for it. Though making them recognizable human eventually.

What is interesting is what plays out a more hard-edged cruel version of how most relationships are where at first it’s all about the attraction and the sex were one person usually has to take the lead. Hear the roles are more defined as in most relationships. They are either switched communicate communicated about or naturally happen.

Whereas most thing, what’s the worst I could happen will be something sexual here, the relationship relationships or sexual upfront, but more afraid of getting emotionally and personally involved. As it ruins the dynamic and the power-play.

For a film that seems like it’s going to be hard to take or heart edged. It’s got a surprisingly sweet spot and story. It might be mine, the audience of the film. SECRETARY now this film is a little more hard, edged around the heart, and not quite as romantic..

That we do see a relationship evolve. I believe some of the more interesting scenes are with Harry Melling’s character and his parents them wanting to see him happy but his mother who is dying of a terminal disease can tell something is off. We’re not quite right or not quite equal in the way, the relationship is by the end our premonition proves to be right.

This isn’t a film that one would expect where emotions will become a commodity that you in the audience might find yourself choked up in a good way over the film so I can give the film that much credit. As the audience gets involved way more than expected.

As by the end, though it does have a definitive ending it still leaves you wanting more be it in the form of revelations and answers. As by the end it ends up being a coming of age tale. As Melling’s character learns all sorts of lessons and breaks all kind of virginities of his own. 

Grade: B 

BONE LAKE (2025)

 

Directed By: Mercedes Bryce Morgan

Written By: Joshua Friedlander 

Cinematography: Nick Matthews

Editor: Anjoum Agrama

Cast: Alex Roe, Maddie Hassan, Marco Pigossi, Andra Nechita

A couple’s vacation at a secluded estate is upended when they’re forced to share the mansion with a mysterious couple. A dream getaway spirals into a nightmarish maze of sex, lies, and manipulation, triggering a battle for survival.

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Bone Lake, this film keeps flirting with what it thinks is naught or what a more mainstream audience or studio exec does. As it seems to keep trying to test the waters of why it thinks it can get away with and is rather tame. Especially after a provacatice graphic opening 

Though it could have done without a cliché of having a female of color character be killed in the beginning though at least she’s not first. 

Even if not going big for a more erotic thriller horror film it should be somewhat titillating and this plays more like an Adam and Eve couples instructional intimacy tutorial or at least that is how it plays stale. 

It’s like it wants to be naughty but is afraid of going too far. Like a beginner at a swingers club (I imagine) this film isn’t even horny it is more of a tease. It psych’s itself out before it even really begins.

There is so much talk not showing. Th main couple don’t seem to act like a long term one. More like they just meet and speak so matter of factory and cerebral in their dialogue that table sitting through a couples therapy session. You desperately want out of, So if looking for physical erotic charms this is not the film for you. since that is all there is until the violence really starts. you feel stuck and waiting for it to begin for some actual action to happen. 

This film is missing all the sensuality and sexuality that even a simple movie like the recent sexual thriller DEEP WATER (Starring Ben Affleck) had, though this has more potential rather than seeming to equal a porno fantasy set-up. This one actually has a story that could work as couples therapy and a tale of lust and trust. 

Like the antagonists the film tries to come across as cool and something to see, but in reality it’s quite basic and doesn’t offer anything new. it even come across much as standard fare in the gene that offers up see as it’s gimmick but while it peppers it with it. It doesn’t get I too deep winter it is more a garnish. It’s like a film that feels like it was cut up by the MPAA and this is what was left either that or the original script must’ve been really wild and graphic and they just took out what they thought the MPAA or studio wouldn’t like and this is what we’re left with.

By the third act the action finallly starts and the fimmtrally gos into overkill with the violence all of a sudden. Which at least makes up for most of the film playing to safe. As this ends up being the only gratuitous element the film offers. As it will crimp on the erotic, but here it goes full blast.

It’s also where I am guessing most of the film’s budget went also 

The film needed to provide more truth in advertising as that is the damaging aspect of the film. As what is promised comes in glimpses but seem somehow constricted and there for plot conveniences and to keep it’s word. Though if choosing a couple to be tempted by, the casting was spot on. 

It shows how lust and greed can lead one astray and it’s important to have open communication and that sex can drive you crazy. Then it seems to end like a joke. Maybe it all is and the joke is on us. for this amped up more graphic lifetime TV movie story. That tries to be naughty, but reads more like a manual. It actually has the goods for a 90s thriller, but takes all the fun out of it until the third act.

Grade: C- 

THE LAUGHING WOMAN (1969)

 

Written & Directed By: Piero Schivazappa

Cinematography: Carlo Achilli and Sante Achilli 

Editor: Carlo Reali

Cast: Philippe Leroy, Dagmar Lassander, Lorenza Gueirieri, Valo Soleri, Maria Cumani Quasimodo, Mirella Pamphili 

Doctor Sayer, esteemed director of a philanthropic institution, hides a misogynistic and sexophobic personality to which he gives vent to weekends, dedicating himself in his isolated villa to sadistic games in the company of professionals expert in satisfying similar inclinations and staging their death in ways more imaginative. Taking advantage of the visit of one of his employees, Mary, decides to move from fiction to reality, imprisoning the woman and subjecting her to physical and psychological torture.

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Done with great style and craftsmanship, this film is more of a battle of the sexes type movie. As it plays like pop art and is filmed like a Giallo. 

Where a young woman falls under the spell of a masochist male and while catering to his every fetishistic whims.

He eventually dlfalls in love with her. Where we wonder by the end whonrealyl has the power and who was truly in control.

The film Does have some racy sex scenes that are titillating and also torturous. Making thaincoen across as FIFTY SHADES OF GREY way earlier. 

As this is like watching a porno with a plot only without any hardcore sex scenes. So that the thrills in this film is how far will it or the actors go. 

The soundtrack matches it scene by scene 

Though there truly seems to be very little going on and not much story. As the film seems to want tonturn you and and find thrills. As it tries to portray a cynical love story of sorts. That comes across as a thriller at times That sadly truly doesn’t have that much to say or offer.

It’s an erotic drama, or you could even say erotic thriller, though at heart this truly could’ve been more of an adult film with hard-core scenes as that seems to be its appeal because even the storyline is a little thin to make excuses for the places it goes, and there is supposedly an emotional component that it doesn’t feel that deep, But one could see how maybe the writer or director is trying to show a difference or how sex and emotions are linked for certain people

Don’t exactly know what the film is trying to say. Doesn’t want us to watch all the pain this woman goes through and then pull the rug from Under us so that we watch as she survives but conquers and never was the victim At all?

As the film feels like a film not brave enough to be a full porno. So instead it tries to add a thin plot and stylish shots. That pornos of the time had, but maybe they wanted to put this out as a thriller. As it contains plenty of erotic scenes but while short you also hope that it is going to be a bout a little more. So don’t come into this film expecting too much more than titilation. So much so it feels more like a fetish film more than a feature film. 

Though with only the main two actors in the erotic scenes if it was a porno. It would ag e to have the audience focused on the main actors and being attracted to them. As there are barely any others to distract or pair off with. So it’s more a couples movie, hence romantic. 

This is the kind of film you would stay up late to watch as a kid on cable.

Grade: C+

AMUCK! (1972)

 

Written & Directed By: Silvio Amadio

Cinematography: Aldo Giordani

Editor: Antonio Siciliano 

Cast: Farley Granger, Barbara Bouchet, Rosalba Neri, Umberto Raho, Patrizia Viotti, Dino Mele, Petsr Martinovitch, Nino Segurini

The secretary of a writer and his wife investigates the disappearance of her lover - their previous secretary - and finds herself the target of the couple's erotic desires and a murder plot.

DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS (1971)

 

Directed By: Luciano Ercoli 

Written By: Ernesto Gastaldi and May Velasco 

Story By: Dino Verde, Ernesto Gastaldi and May Velasco

Cinematography: Fernando Arribas 

Editor: Pedro Del Rey and Angelo Curi

Cast: Susan Scott (Nieves Navarro), Simon Andreu, Frank Wolff, Carlo Gentilli, George Rigaud, J. Manuel Martin, Luciano Rossi, Claude Lange

After a French stripper is harassed by a man who wants a cache of diamonds stolen by her late father, she flees to England in the company of a doctor, but danger follows.

NEW ROSE HOTEL (1998)

 

Directed By: Abel Ferrara

Written By: Abel Ferrara and Christi Zois

Based on a short story by William Gibson

Cinematography: Ken Kelsch 

Editor: Jim Mol and Anthony Redman

Cast: Willem Dafoe, Christopher Walken, Asia Argento, Annabella Sciorra, Victor Argo, Gretchen Mol, John Lurie 

In the not-too-distant future, two New York businessmen plot to play two multinational rival corporations against each other, with a little help from a shady Italian street woman, to obtain an important Japanese businessman for the company they work at, only things are not always as they appear.

AND GOD CREATED WOMAN… (1988)

 

Directed By: Roger Vadim

Written By: R.J. Stewart 

Cinematography: Stephen M. Katz

Editor: Suzanne Pettit 

Cast: Rebecca DeMornay, Vincent Spano, Frank Langella, Donovan Leitch, Judith Chapman, Benjamin Mouton, Gail Boggs 

In this variation on director Vadim's own, more acclaimed Et Dieu Créa La Femme (1956, the same title in French), the vamp Robin Shea marries charming carpenter Billy Moran, only to get out of prison, but soon decides to seduce James Tiernan, who runs for state governor.

SINGAPORE SLING (1990)

 

Written & Directed By: Nikos Nikoladis

Cinematography: Aris Stavrou 

Editor: Andres Andreadakis

Cast: Meredyth Herod, Panos Thanassoulis, Michelle Valley

A man searching for his long-lost lover is kidnapped by her killers, an insane, mother-daughter duo, and they force him to commit various sexual atrocities with them.

THE FORBIDDEN PHOTOS OF A LADY ABOVE SUSPICION (1970)

 

Directed & Edited By: Luciano Ercoli Written By: Ernesto Gastaldi and Mahnahen Velasco Cinematography: Alejandro Ulloa 

Cast: Dagmar Lassander, Pier Paolo Capponi, Susan Scott, Simon Andreu, Osvaldo Genazzani, Salvador Bugbeo

The wife of a struggling businessman is blackmailed by a mysterious man into having a sadistic affair with him, or he will leak evidence implicating her husband of murder.

BENEDETTA (2021)

 

Directed by: Paul Verhoeven Written By: Paul Verhoeven & David Birke Based on the book: “IMMODEST ACTS: THE LIFE OF A LESBIAN NUN IN RENAISSANCE ITALY” By: Judith C. Brown Cinematography: Jeanne LaPoirie Editor: Job Terburg 

Cast: Virginie Efira, Charlotte Rampling, Daphne Patakia, Lambert Wilson, Olivier Rabourdin, Louise Chevillotte, Herve Pierre, Clotilde Courau 

A 17th-century nun in Italy suffers from disturbing religious and erotic visions. She is assisted by a companion, and the relationship between the two women develops into a romantic love affair.

R100 (2013)

 

Directed By: Hitoshi Matsumoto  Written By: Hitoshi Matsumoto, Mitsuyoshi Takasu, Timoji Hasegawa, Koji Ema & Mitsuru Kuramoto  Cinematography: Kazunari Tanaka Editor: Yoshitaka Honda 

Cast: Nao Omori, Mao Daichi, Shinbu Terajima, Hari Katagri, Ai Tominaga, Eriko Sato, Naomi Watanabe, Lindsay Hayward

An ordinary man with an ordinary life joins a mysterious club. The membership lasts for one year only and there is one rule: no cancellation under any circumstance. The man enters into a whole new exciting world he never before experienced where crazy love goes wilder and crazier. Is it an illusion or is it real? Welcome to the world no one has dared to explore until now!

IN THE CUT (2003)

 

Directed By: Jane Campion  Written By: Jane Campion, Susanna Moore & Starvos Kazantzids Based On The Novel By: Susanna Moore  Cinematography: Dion Beebe  Editor: Alexandre De Franceschi

Cast: Meg Ryan, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kevin Bacon, Sharrief Pugh, Nick Damici, Heather Litteer, Arthur J. Nascarella, Patrice O’Neal 

A psychological thriller: a lonely New York woman discovers the darker side of passion after becoming involved with a tough homicide detective who is investigating a series of murders in her neighborhood.

FATAL AFFAIR (2020)

 

Directed By: Peter Sullivan  Written By: Peter Sullivan & Rasheeda Garner Story By: Peter Sullivan & Jeffrey Schneck Cinematography: Eitan Almagor Editor: Randy Carter 

Cast: Nia Long, Omar Epps, Stephen Bishop, Aubrey Cleland, Maya Stojan, KJ Smith, Estelle Swaray 

Ellie tries to mend her marriage with her husband Marcus after a brief encounter with an old friend, David, only to find that David is more dangerous and unstable than she'd realized.

SOLO CON TU PAREJA (1991)

Directed by: Alfonso Cuaron  Written by: Alfonso Cuaron & Carlos Cuaron Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki  Editor: Alfonso Cuaron & Luis Patlan 

Cast: Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Claudia Ramirez, Luis De Icaza, Astrid Hadad, Isabel Benet, Toshiro Hisaki, Dobrina Liubomirova, Ricardo Dalmacci 

A womanizer is falsely diagnosed with AIDS by a jealous lover and falls in love with a woman equally suicidal as he.