My notes on Porno.
The funniest moment in Porno – which is set in 1992, before the internet made porn easily accessible to all at the click of a mouse – comes when a group of curious, repressed teens from a conservative Christian background happen upon what they think is a porno movie and sit in half-ashamed anticipation only to be confronted with a scratchy Satanic ritual in the style of Kenneth Anger that’s plainly a celluloid portal to unleash a murderous succubus on the mortal world? ‘That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen,’ mutters virginal dweeb Todd (Larry Saperstein) after a kaleidoscope of blood on breasts, chains dangling against sweaty buttocks, Satanic symbols and colour filter degeneracy with absolutely minimal erotic charge. ‘I know,’ replies temporary manager Chastity (Jillian Mueller), ‘do you think that’s what all pornography is?’ Those who seek to define porn often say things like ‘I know it when I see it’, but the joke here is that these kids by virtue of their upbringing, circumstances and the technology of their era literally don’t know what they’re looking at – and are as puzzled and terrified as they are aroused.
Cinema manager Mr Pike (Bill Phillips), who has prayer circles for his junior staff, leaves them in charge for a Friday night after-hours screening while he’s off on mysterious business. The gang – which includes college dropout projectionist Jeff (Robbie Tann), just-back-from-pray-away-the-gay camp Ricky (Glen Stott) and haircut rebel Abe (Evan Daves) – have various reasons for not wanting to watch the two films currently screening at the duplex (Encino Man and A League of Their Own), despite some funny chatter about Pauly Shore and Madonna, and so they opt for a mystery reel found in a secret third screen they blunder across. The haunted film unleashes the succubus Lilith (Katelyn Pearce) – whose full bush and sly smile gives her the look of a 1970s sex icon – onto the real world, and the cinema staff are stalked, teased, tempted and tormented by the demon. Everyone has a secret or kink which gives the monster a weak spot to work on, and some of the horrors venture into gross-out territory even as the film – like the main characters – retains a sort of sweetness that takes the edge off the cynicism. An entry in the very occasional monsters-from-the-screen/trapped-in-a-cinema sub-genre (Demons, Popcorn, Movie House Massacre), this has smart writing, decent running jokes and a feel for sleaze – though, given the title, it’s surprisingly restrained in its sex horrors.
Scripted by Matt Black and Laurence Vannicelli; directed by Keola Racela.
Here’s the FrightFest listing.
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