Source: Adult Industry News
By: Rich Moreland
Bondage Neverland: A Review of Shades of Scarlet by Rich Moreland. Shades of Scarlet stars Karlie Montana, AJ Applegate, Skin Diamond, Romi Rain, Derrick Pierce, James Deen, Tommy Pistol, Mr. Pete, and Anthony Rosano. Directed by Mike Quasar. Studio: Zero Tolerance. Extras: DVD on bondage instruction for lovers. — Rich Moreland Reviewer Rated: Rewind and Watch Again.
For “mommie porn” fans, “Scarlet” is here! Another adult film response to Fifty Shades of Grey’s soft flogging and a blindfold, “Shades of Scarlet” does turn up the heat, but just a little.
Erotic writer Roz Collins (Anthony Rosano) responses to a fan email sent by a bookwormish office worker (Karlie Montana). Though she uses his stories to escape her mundane, Mid-Western reality, Karlie confesses her fascination with the author and his female protagonist, Scarlet, is only a fantasy. “A man I could never meet and a girl I could never be,” she says.
Collins verbally caresses Karlie; he knows she’s begging to be dominated but is fearful. In their first conversation, Karlie says she could never do the things he writes about.
“Never or not yet?” Collins replies, asking her if she would like to meet the characters in his book. “They’re real?” She’s astonished. “They are now,” he says.
Initially giddy and then apprehensive, she obeys the instructions he gives her. The hope of overcoming the fear of her desires is in balance.
In the first two sex scenes, Karlie meets her repressed kinks through the sex play of two couples: Mr. Pete and AJ Applegate, and Tommy Pistol and Romi Rain.
Walking into a seedy warehouse, Karlie discovers Mr. Pete and his submissive, AJ. She’s on all fours, he’s wielding a flogger. The same scenario is repeated later in a dungeon-like room where Tommy plays with a suspended Romi. To emphasize their vulnerability, both women are blindfolded and stimulated with various BDSM devices.
Director Mike Quasar constructs “Shades” with a blend of bondage authenticity and hardcore sex. There’s smacking and spanking, lots of deep throating and vaginal penetration.
The first scene arouses Karlie and she reaches into her panties; in the second, she fondles herself after being ordered to remove them. Her BDSM submission progresses from reticence to fascination.
To set up the second scene, Karlie must find a man called “Tommy,” but tells Collins that she doesn’t “remember that character.”
“I haven’t written him yet,” the author replies.
Tommy tests Karlie’s will. He puts her in cage to watch the shackled Romi get worked over. The dark haired beauty’s takes a whipping and thanks her “master” with slurping and sucking.
Later in the third sex scene, Karlie is blindfolded and collared with a leash held by James Deen. In this three-way training session, Karlie addresses James and Skin Diamond as “master” and “mistress.” Flogging and cropping heat up the sex.
Unlike the other performers, Karlie Montana has no BDSM history, but she is an “unsung” girl with a lengthy adult film resume. The tall twenty-nine year old is terrific in this film.
Incidentally, the porn fare is pretty standard stuff. When the characters get into the sex, the bondage applications tend to be dropped, creating a movie with a kinky flair that is marginal for real BDSMers.
The next day at work, Collins phones, asking Karlie about her night.
“Incredible, I never in a million years thought something like that would happen to me, she says.”
She enthusiastically expects to meet him, but first he wants to know what she thinks he looks like. After she describes a tall, handsome man, Collins terminates the call with a good bye to Scarlet. She corrects him with “Karlie,” but it is too late. Karlie is now free to find common ground for her seductive fantasies and real life fears.
Karlie is given her dream man, a meeting set up by Collins who tells her “You get to be everything you ever wanted to be.” Once again, he says a farewell with “this is where the story ends.” Of course, it is really the beginning. She enters the warehouse one more time.
The final sex scene with Derrick Pierce is Karlie’s awakening, a blindfold, leather cuffs, and hard sex, put in motion by a voice she can never meet. The film ends where it began, in the imagination of a sleepy office worker who puts down her copy of the Scarlet novel and drifts, alone in her bed, into a bondage neverland.
Rating: Rewind and Watch Again
