The Dark Side of Porn (2005–2006) User Reviews

The Dark Side of Porn: Does Snuff Exist? (2006)

[Creepy-Suzie · 8/10 · 28 April 2015]

"There is no greater controversy, no greater taboo than snuff murders." – T. Timpone

Although this documentary has the word "porn" in the title, there are no porn industry workers interviewed or viewed. Instead commentary consists of horror industry affiliates and legal authorities. The purpose of the documentary is to define the term "snuff" and to determine its mythology and existence.

Unfortunately, in this quest for "the real thing," harassment of horror directors who choose subversive topics is rampant regarding the law especially in the ban-happy UK. Boundaries blur between fictional horror and real life filmed kills for sexual gratification and profit called "snuff." A witch hunt in the name of decency, where the magician must reveal his best tricks to avoid jail time even when the special effects aren't exceptional, is the ultimate result.

I remember the first time I viewed "A Serbian Film" and more than once I had to mentally step out of the frames and remind myself it was only make believe. Horror movies fulfill a nihilistic fantasy of all that goes bump in the night. "The Dark Side of Porn" went beyond pretend and hammered out profiles of cold killers in all their excremental glory. The documentary also made implications of some future filmed, web-based sex crimes for profit with the onset of cheap digital film and easy distribution of a newer technological age.

It was suggested that life imitated art, once again vilifying the horror movie director, although there has never been any documented snuff movie reported by authorities as of yet. In all, "snuff" is deduced to be non- existent, but a warning remains that killing on film for sexual gratification and profit could come to fruition before long.

Superb Channel 4 doc about the origins of a bestiality classic

[fertilecelluloid · 9/10 · 18 December 2006]

In the early 70's, a videotape went around featuring a woman having sex with a dog and a pig. She was assisted by a disgusting fellow who also "made love" to the pig. Several years later, he turned up in "Chick's F!ck Marathon", the precursor to that Annabel Chong gangbang extravaganza. Anyway, this fantastic doco tracks down the makers of the vid that was often called "Animal Farm", even though that title was not on screen. The film is legitimately available these days as "Animal Bizarre" and was made by the Color Climax Corporation, a company that during the 70's ventured into many savory (straight, bi, scat, golden showers, tranny, S & M) and unsavory (child) avenues of porn. Bodil, the infamous star of the earliest Danish beasty films, was the featured performer of "Animal Farm", and this delightful doc traces her background, life, and death. It is incredibly well researched and unearths information and people once connected to Bodil that you just can't believe. Known as "The Boar Girl", she vowed at a very early age that she would f!ck boars after her evil mother refused to believe that she was raped by a local miscreant/pedophile on a train station. Not only does this excellent British doc penetrate the world of Bodil, it tracks down and interviews the original director and producer of the earliest pictorial study of Bodil and her unusual sexual proclivities. Very similar in quality and style to the recent doc on zoophiles (also reviewed), this is must-see material of an extremely high caliber and mandatory viewing for lovers of extreme culture. There is no actual X-rated footage of Bodil in action, but there are many non-explicit excerpts from her films, mountains of stills, and a non-judgmental voice-over.

This is a Channel 4 Documentary Strand...NOT A PORNOGRAPHIC SERIES, as the IMDb form suggests!!!

[hiley-1 · 17 June 2008]

Readers should be aware that this is NOT a pornographic series! The Dark Side of Porn is a documentary strand commissioned by Channel 4, in the UK.

A number of individual documentaries, made by a number of producers, were commissioned for the strand.

Each film centered around a subject connected with the porn industry, such as the 'who-dun-it' documentary Death of a Pornstar, by Rapido Documentary, which told the story of the murder of Lolo Ferrari, the girl with the biggest breasts in the world.

The editors of IMDb should look carefully at this because either the person who entered it did so incorrectly, OR the IMDb database is not sufficiently flexible to allow the entry of a Strand.

The pages imply there is a production containing all the above named cast etc. This couldn't possibly be more inaccurate! They are simply a collection of individual documentaries, connected only by a similarity of subject matter.

HOPEFULLY, SOMEONE HAS THE ABILITY TO CORRECT THIS!

Debbie Doc aimless....Extras are Better

[TrickTaylor · 5/10 · 17 March 2008]

An episode of The dark Side of Porn has been repackaged as a separate documentary called Debbie Does Dallas Uncovered. This is supposed to be the behind the scenes look at the most controversial porn movie ever made. Instead it's a poorly constructed shamble. Only the DVD extras keep this from being a total waste.

The "documentary" portion tries to tell the story of Debbie Does Dallas, the 70's spoof porn that exploded into the general social consciousness and is now a classic. The main problem with this film is that it is not about the movie so much as it is about the people who starred in it. Almost all the male leads are interviewed and went onto considerable fame in the porn industry. Almost none of the female actors are interview (not for lack of trying). This makes for a sad and one-sided viewpoint.

DDD is famous for Bambi Woods, the girl next door starlet who played Debbie. Nobody seems to know her real name or where she went after filming only 4 porno movies. This film tries in vain to make the disappearance seem interesting, but they don't try hard enough. A real documentary film crew would have worked until they solved the mystery of Bambi Woods.

The rest of this mess deals with FBI investigations and shady underworld porn mongers. It is all cut and pasted together in confusing fashion. Trying to be all things at once we end up not caring about any of it. This film is mismarketed and hopefully Netflix will put a disclaimer of some sort. Warning: This "movie" is just a poorly done TV documentary that goes nowhere.

There is a DVD extra called "Diary of a Porn Virgin" that is quite good. It follows 2 women as they enter the porn business. It really sheds light on the male dominated sleazy world of porn. Things turn out badly for one woman and the other is a potential star. This added extra to ten times better than the feature documentary, and almost makes the whole thing worth watching.

Yet another streak of pseudo-morality on the porn industry

[woongah-drawings · 4/10 · 28 June 2010]

The dark side of porn is a documentary from UK television Channel Four. Although it's a documentary, it's hardly a dispassionate or an objective one.

Its "ideological agenda" is clearly to show how filth porn is and how much women are exploited by the pornographic industries, which is true. They are exploited. But they are exploited as much as are the workers at the bottom of the productive chain in any unregulated, or scarcely regulated industry.

Also, it fall short on noticing that some of the problems it supposedly shows are not always pertaining to the porn industry in itself.

The most vivid example of this is the last documentary in the series...

Animal Farm, the portrait of the dutch woman who "started" porn with animals.

It is not porn industry that molested the protagonist when she was twelve, nor it is a porn director that instigated her aversion for normal sexual interactions, nor it was some horrible producer who pressured the farmers around her to stay away from her farm, leading her to resort to pornography to make some bucks and avoid hitting the bottom.

Because this is what she did: she was drowning, she shoot some (pretty ugly) crap, get some money out of it and a strange kind of fame, and regained somehow a floating line. Would she had been able to manage herself, she could have had a pretty decent life. She drought in a bottle, instead, but nobody blames WalMart when it happens to one of its employees years afters he stopped working there, no?

Yet, the ends of the episode come with the usual crap about "she was a fragile woman exploited by the porn industries". Yes, and also is the waitress at the seven-eleven on the corner of my street - not sexually, maybe, but I wouldn't swear on it - only she had never had a chance to own her own farm.

Another good example of the "political agenda" overtaking reality is the episode "Does Snuff Exist"...

In it, the most equilibrated voice is maybe that of an FBI official that says: "With the amount of credibility that special effects can achieve, and selling this to people who is willing to believe it's true, why even risk an homicide to end up with a non viable product?".

And, if you think a little, it's obvious. You may even make that stuff, but then what? For ruthless as may a distributor be, you can bet your wage that (under the current rules of the game) he wouldn't want even to be in the same room with it unless he was sure it was a fake. And if it did, it probably wouldn't outsell a well done fake made by some professional crew. Or get a cent more from any piece of it.

Obviously, this voice of reason is cut before it ends the phrase and stuffed in the middle of a lot of babbles along the lines of "It has never been found one true example till now, but one day it may happens". Yes, like the Unicorn. No one ever saw one, but with the help of Craig Venter, one day maybe...

All in all, it's a bunch of the classic "documentary" about how filthy is pornography (whic is, but for other reasons, in other ways), and the need to apply more censorship to avoid spreading its filth.

And it was made before the discussion (and to endorse the approval) of a law in England that condemns with three years the possession of "extreme pornography" (whatever it may means) which, if someone look at how evolved other such prohibitions in the past century, are likely to make that **** more profitable, hence more likely to be actually shoot.

With the notable exception of "Me and My Slave" and its depiction of an aging SM gay master that's going to leave the profession, the vision of these ten documentaries is just a stupid way to lose your time.

Dark Side?

[beorhouse · 1/10 · 10 November 2017]

I went into this hoping for a real indictment of the so-called "industry" but instead got multiple vivid scenes that are almost impossible to view. Porn has no bright side to begin with. It's all dark. And you know, wouldn't you almost expect the men behind the cameras and the producers to be he-men tough guys--you know, Mafia-like? One and all they are geeks of the stupidest kind. I could hold three of them down on the floor with my little finger. But then again, they might like that, so never mind. Only watch this if you can actually handle viewing uncensored hardcore porn. I can't.