Under the Bed Volume 2

These two Pure Taboo horror vignettes announce their pretensions with quotes from H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe, but the results are far from masterful.

Better of the two comes from a horror specialist, working here in porn. "The Thing from the Lake" is a pantomime porn staged entirely outdoors with some chintzy props - both economical rather than artistic decisions. It stars lesbian icon Bree Daniels as a scientist taking samples at the lake to find out what is harming local vegetation, and encountering an aquatic monster well-played silently by Bella Rolland.

Such homages to The Creature from the Black Lagoon included the Oscar-winner The Shape of Water, but this Canadian content special is hardly in that league. Bella's makeup suggests gills, but otherwise she is merely lesbian fodder for Bree as well as delivering boy/girl action with sunbather Lucas Frost. The scene scores on atmosphere, and differs markedly in its full color look from the drabness/color drained gimmick of nearly all Pure Taboo content.

Second segment is the work of label boss Bree Mills, taking writing, producing and directing credits and even acting in a key role without credit. It's very silly, perhaps on purpose, and typical of this auteur's tendency toward underachievement.

Premise exploits a real-life issue, namely married couple Alina Lopez and Tommy Pistol's endless attempts to have a baby, with Bree serving as their fertility doctor. Against hubby Tommy's objections, Alina goes to a quack fertility clinic on the basis of a flyer found on their car windshield, and ends up being a test subject abused by mad doctor Angela White.

The contrast of the surface seriousness of Alina and Tommy's performances with the over-the-top villain played by Angela (replete with ridiculously exaggerated false eyelashes) merely shows the contempt for her captive audience displayed by Mills (captive, since this content is generally consumed by subscribers to Adult Time and her earlier Girlsway internet label, rather than by us old-school DVD collectors).