January 18 is International Fetish Day and that’s more than enough reason for me to share some of my favorite kinky films! And yes, this is space that is safe from both fifty shades of anything and secretaries.
Yes, reclaim your harness from the closets and put the Nitzer Ebb on heavy rotation! Kink in media is usually a novelty item, even (maybe especially) in erotica ostensibly aimed at that demographic. And you can almost forget it in any other arena. When the fetish community gets a little mainstream airtime it’s almost never anything good or decent. We can argue all day whether kink and fetish actually should be mainstream, but that’s for another day. In the meantime, a little representation that doesn’t drizzle down to “kind of scary perverts” would be nice – I mean, I am a kind of scary pervert, but I’m other kinds of perverted, too. There’s a few films out there for your titillation that do a little more than melodramatic whips and chains. For example:
1) Bound (1996, dir. The Wachowskis)
Probably the most mainstream entry here, the debut feature from future Matrix franchise mavens The Wachowskis is light on the kink but heavy on the watch-between-my-fingers, thoughtfully choreographed sex wrapped inside a rather insipid and trashy neo-noir plot. Watching Bound can be a masochistic practice in itself, as it teases us to death with Jennifer Tilly in 90s’ baby doll dresses and Gina Gershon’s biceps.
More than that, I have a particularly nostalgic attachment to the movie as it very much inspired my bi-awakening and watching it was one of the first times I remember thinking to myself, “yes, hit me daddy” about Gina Gershon (but not the last).
2) Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992, dir. Anthony Hickox)
To what do you credit your kink awakening? I blame the various works of Clive Barker. Barker’s novels interweave messy sex and messier violence to the point where who’s to know what’s up and what’s sideways anymore, and nothing embodies that aesthetic more than his most famous creations: the Cenobites. For a whopping 10 movies, Pinhead and his merry band of deviants have enthralled, repulsed, and kind of turned on (just me?) audiences with their strange rituals and provocative fetish gear. For two movies, the Cenobite squad could do no wrong.
And then there’s the oddball of the original series, movie #3. A rather polarizing film for its focus on action over psychological torture and Lovecraftian terror, I pick this movie as a favorite because of its more down to earth themes… just kidding, I like it because it’s hot. Whereas the initial entry into the series is rather toned down from the novella The Hellbound Heart, Hellraiser 3 is free to turn things up. It more blatantly incorporates underground elements such as play piercing, cigarette burning, and non-penetrative sex, and makes no bones about the fact that it’s torturing poor, naive final girl Joey (Terry Farrell) for funsies like Penelope Pitstop. It’s all your Jadzia Dax fanfiction come true!
3) Preaching to the Perverted (1994, dir. Stuart Urban)
Wow, a kinky romantic comedy that is kinky, romantic, and funny!
It’s still hard to believe that Preaching to the Perverted exists, and before the 2013 restoration it was hard to convince people that it did. But yes, it’s a very “for us, by us” quirky romantic comedy set against the backdrop of the swinging BDSM scene across the pond.
Stuart Urban actually takes the kink & fetish community seriously, including a few well-known regulars at the time in cameo appearances and doing his best to knock off the inherent sheen of “corniness” that comes with trying to bring a subculture above ground. And don’t get me wrong, after two decades there definitely is some corniness lurking in those latex creases – but Preaching to the Perverted is such a sincere joy to watch. You’ll jeer at zealous censorship! You’ll laugh at mundane vanilla life! But most importantly, you’ll “awww” at a nerd falling in love with his mistress.
4) The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972, dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Another selection on my “confused awakening” shelf, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant sounds like a big, heavy, serious German movie.
Petra von Kant is… camp. There’s no other way to describe it, just… camp. Campy as all get out, with dancing girls and multiple wig changes, all filmed in the claustrophobic space of the titular character’s room. If you think stuff like Rocky Horror or Preaching to the Perverted could stand to tone it down a bit, this movie has got news for you. If you’re like me and you just love trashy, torrid lesbian romances then this is for you! With an added Venus In Furs twist, as Petra collects young, tender submissive girls like you or I might also collect young, tender submissive young girls.
Of course, Petra has some serious psychological issues (all in the backstory) but unlike some uses of this trope, the movie does describe her as “insane” in need of fixing with the crack of a whip, nor does it in anyway attempt to normalize her behavior. Speaking of strange and messed up…
5) In the Realm of the Senses (1976, dir. Nagisa Oshima)
In the Realm of the Senses is not a… fun movie, to say the least. And it’s not really about kink or fetish per se. It definitely features a kinky relationship – but the two consenting individuals are so danged messed up that their kinky practices become background fodder as they push each other’s boundaries further and further. And other people’s boundaries, not always willingly. And most importantly, the boundaries of the audience!
In the Realm of the Senses features some beautiful shots, shibari ties, asphyxiation, manipulation, and of course the notorious unsimulated sex scenes. The sex at the heart of the film reveals Sada’s empowerment and she increasingly dominates her lover with her all-consuming passion. The scenes in which she controls the events and people around her like an elaborate stage show are probably hotter than all the unstaged sex shots in the movie. Too bad the happy couple are prone to murder and kidnapping, and of course there’s that ending. It’s no Flower and Snake for the pink film fans out there. But surely the tale as old as time here is still romantic enough for the tortured creep in all of us.