Pornography: A Thriller

This is an excellent, enticing and thought-provoking movie that doesn't infantilize and spoon-feed the audience like most of the assembly-line crap that is now coming out of the film industry. This movie gets right at the lizard brain, without apologies, and challenges the viewer--gay or heterosexual, male or female--to look at and tolerate the darker, naked aspects of the human condition. It breaks my heart and frustrates me to no end that that this film will likely not reach as broad an audience and receive the level of attention and acclaim it deserves--as it undoubtedly would if the porn industry depicted were heterosexual--because too many members of our society are still too fearful to explore different realms and find the underlying commonalities.

"Pornography: A Thriller" starts off as a story about Mark Anton (Jared Grey), a porn star trying to get out of the biz, whose last gig turns out to be the last time he's seen, ever. Fifteen years later Michael (Matthew Montgomery), a writer working on a history of gay porn, and his boyfriend, move into a "New York City" apartment that becomes less and less fabulous as Michael uncovers clues—like "old" camera mounts that just happen to fit modern camcorders— that link it to Mark Anton's disappearance. Things get really spooky until—cut to Los Angeles, where present day porn icon Matt Stevens (Pete Scherer) is determined to make "The Mark Anton Story," surprised to discover Anton was a real person when the whole story came to him in a dream. Weird! Things get weirder as the movie goes into production and Stevens becomes unhinged. One of his stars mysteriously disappears. He starts seeing things. Reality and fantasy become blurred. Will re-enacting Mark Anton's end also be the demise of Matt Stevens? Would some full-frontal nudity help?

Writer-director David Kittredge had some promising ideas for three possible movies. Unfortunately, he failed to finish any of them and tried to cover it up by imitating David Lynch. Several actors occupy dual roles, most prominently Walter Delmar as Michael's boyfriend and Stevens' co-star/lover. Michael receives mysterious photos in the mail, the same photos that were taken by Anton, who was studying photography at the time he disappeared. Then Michael receives photos relating to Anton's murder, and after that, photos of himself in his apartment looking at these photos. There is a ring with a symbol on it, a symbol that links to some underground snuff film producer that may or may not be real. People spout lines of dialog that I'm sure were meant to be profound—like Anton saying he likes doing crosswords because puzzles "have no ambiguity"—but comes off as pretentious horses---t. Viewers will also see nods to David Croenenberg's "Videodrome" and more than a few scenes reminiscent of "Saw."

Many of the people involved in making "Pornography: A Thriller" were also involved in the gay sci-fi/horror "Socket." By comparison, "Pornography" has slightly higher production values—and I emphasize slightly—with stronger acting and some moody cinematography, though much of it looks flat and cheap. Truth be told, there are actual porn videos made with more finesse, which left me wishing Kittredge and crew just collaborated with, say, the folks at Raging Stallion or Titan Media, making an experimental porn video instead of a rambling "art" movie. At least a porn movie would have a climax. Several of them, in fact.

The first half of the film is pretty exciting, let be a bit cheesy, but that's part of the genre. Then it just gets weird in a "it was just a dream - or was it?" kind of way. Boring.

I got the impression the writer didn't believe in his own script, thinking the basic story was too over the top to make it on its own. So he made a twist to save face as a serious movie-maker. Or something like that.

Sorry to be so negative about it, but just like another reviewer pointed out, this movie could have been so good with so little extra work done to it.

Technically it was well done, the acting/directing is okay too, I really just object to the script.

David Kittredge has style - it is a style that inhabits a number of other really fine writers and directors as Christopher Nolan (Memento), David Lynch (Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive etc), Claude Chabrol (Chloe), Alain Resnais (Last Year at Marienbad, etc). Good company, this, and it would seem that given some time to develop his technique and perhaps seek the assistance of some other script doctors he will likely become an important artist in film. In PORNOGRAPHY: A THRILLER he comes close, but it seems like the finished product was rushed to screen before the kinks were ironed out.

There are three interweaving stories in this movie about the male pornography business. It begins with a well-known Los Angeles porn actor Mark Anton (Jared Gray) who is talked into a final film deal where he will make a large amount of money for a one night stand, but the one night stand seems to be a snuff film project with Mark interviewed in the dark by a crazed killer. Jump 14 years ahead to New York City and Michael (Matthew Montgomery) and his partner William (Walter Delmar) move into a large apartment in Brooklyn. Michael is doing research on a book on pornography and in the process receives strange photographs in the mail that lead to the discovery of the presence of evidence that video cameras had at one time been installed in their apartment, videos they come to discover show the 'snuff film' of Mark Anton! The discovery leas to dire consequences. The third story involves porn star Matt Stevens (Peter Scherer) who out of a dream state begins writing then directing and casting a film called 'The Mark Anton Story' in which Matt will play the role of Mark Anton! In the film his partner Jason (Walter Delmar) is a participant in the horror that follows and instead of a film about the death of Mark Anton no one is able to tell where reality stops and thriller starts. It is a classical dilemma for the audience of the conundrum 'What is real'?

The cast is well trained and there are some cameos by Wyatt Fenner and Rasool J'Han that are particularly fine. Give David Kittredge some time and he may become an important figure in cinema!

Okay, I love psychological thrillers. I love gay cinema. I watched this movie and couldn't figure out what in the hell was going on.

First, I couldn't tell who was who. The movie was so poorly lit that I found myself squinting to see what was going on. All of the main characters looked the same - I guess it was to link the three phases of the movie together to show the different dynamics of the same issue, but good Lord. Turn the lights up so I can distinguish between the leads.

The story was so full of holes and there was nothing intertwining the different stories. It was like they couldn't figure out what direction the movie was going in. I felt the movie should have ended 5 times before it was truly over.

I feel like hours of my life were sucked away and I will never get them back. It wasn't even a movie that was so deep that I reflect on it later. I watched it until the end and all I could say was, "What in the hell was this movie about?"