Customer Reviews

Preaching to the Perverted [VHS]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Preaching To The Perverted is a visually stunning foray into the bondage nightclub scene, with a surprisingly gentle and heart-warming love story behind it.

The photography, costumes, cast, settings, effect, and music all combine into an exquisitely beautiful and erotic film. If you want dirty "spank me till I bleed" cinema, this is *not* your film. PTTP is a gorgeous visual delight with an industrial/club soundtrack and a lot of eye candy.

There is beauty, love, humor, and yes...a bit of "strapped down" stimulation. Rather like a more risque Exit To Eden, with the stage beauty of All That Jazz.

The Story? Young Peter, played by Christien Anholt (Marcellus in Mel Gibson's Hamlet and a bit part in Power of One) is recruited by Henry Harding (Tom Bell), member of Parliament who heads the United Front Opposing Filth.

They send Peter into the heart of the sex and fetish clubs in order to gather evidence for prosecution in his campaign to shut down the industry. Peter is a fresh innocent, who surprisingly holds himself rather open-minded in his investigation.

In the House of Thwax, he meets Dominatrix Tanya Cheex (played superbly by Guinevere Turner) who begins to gently introduce him into her world.

Along the way, Peter finds himself attracted to Tanya, and realizes that he does not want for her to go to jail in Harding's prosecution. He must make a choice now, not only about the prosecution, but whether the clubs actually cause any harm to anyone.

What I really liked about Peter was that in all he went through, he never lost his innocence, or his inner strength. He manages to stay steadfast in his beliefs and uncorrupted, while at the same time accepting the diversity of others.

And while Tanya is the ultimate beauty with her own convictions; sassy and spirited and free, she learns that sometimes soft does not mean weak.

This really is a great film. I laughed my butt off at the "horse and carriage" scene, I almost cried at the ending, and throughout the entirety of it, I gasped in pleasure at the overall beauty of it. This is human nature at its best, not its worst, and as long as you are not repelled by a many "northern orbital body" scenes and a few spankings, I think that you will agree that Preaching To The Perverted is a beautifully done masterpiece. Enjoy!

Finally on DVD. Love it. I first saw this mistresspiece about the same time as the equally wacky, sex-drenched Tromeo and Juliet (What? You didn't know Juliet had a lesbian lover?), and it has lost none of its magic.

Other reviewers have described it well, so I won't overkill the story line. While this is a lightweight look at the S & M industry/subculture, it is genuinely entertaining, with Chris Anholt (Tia Carrere's sidekick in Relic Hunter) perfectly cast opposite the Divine Guin Turner - check out Go Fish and Chasing Amy.

Apart from being sheer entertainment with a great soundtrack, the movie captures the madness by which corrupt and perverse Government officials presume to judge a subculture in which the genderless, non-hierarchical role-playing is actually very sane and healing.

Hilarious, sexy, exciting. I hope they make a sequel with the same cast.

This is a marvelous movie (not five star since I save that for things that stand the test of time) -- funny, stylish, delighting in itself. The background players, many of them actual members of the London Fetish scene, seem to be having a marvelous time and are definitely eye candy. The story is simple and the humor somewhat predictable, but the sets and costumes make it worth watching.

This is just an okay, "one-view" film. It's beautiful to look at, so I wouldn't deprive anyone the chance to view it. But it's not a film you'll be happy to own, in my opinion. This is especially true if you're into the BDSM scene yourself.

My problem with it? It's too shallow -- all about the costumes and performances and the need to be flashy. This film is actually intended to "shock" but it's rather surburban. I hate the tone of "let's go check out the leather-costumed weirdos." It's rather condescending and exploitative, actually.

The story is about a young man sent undercover to investigate the "scene" and who predictably (and unrealistically) becomes involved with a Domina played by the lovely Turner (who some viewers may remember as the ball cap wearing lesbian girl from GO FISH). All the characters are utterly without substance, paper thin, portrayed in a very stereotypical fashion.

The S/M underworld is treated in an over-glamorous flashy way, with an emphasis again on costumes and make-up and stage performance. This might actually work better as a Broadway musical, like John Water's "Hairspray."

If you want to see a sensitive and heartfelt portrayal of S/M, check out the Japanese film "Moonlight Whispers." There, the director and writer, has a deeper understanding of the romantic and psychological elements of BDSM. That film doesn't portray us all like a bunch of carnival freaks -- as the media would like to believe.

So rent "Preaching to the Perverted" to view once, but BUY the Japanese film "Moonlight Whispers." I promise you'll truly love it. It may be the only authentic, non-exploitative film ever made about male submission/female dominance -- so far, it's the best one.

I really enjoyed this one. The story was quite cute and it showed simple clips into the world of BDSM, it wasn't overpowering.

This is a fun movie for fetishists and non fetishists alike. Fetishists will find it amusing and will consider it light entertainment. Non fetishists will find an introductory view point on the BDSM scene without being drawn in to close.
The strong point of this movie is the atmosphere and scene creation using authentic costumes and realistic sets.
The lead and her supportive actress are enticing and play their parts with an engaging style. Enjoyable on the easy side of entertainment.

As this movie was both written, produced and directed by the same man -Stuart Urban, then he's the one who should be severely disciplined and humiliated for this pathetic comedic look at London's BDSM scene. Being British myself and knowing what could have been made of this fascinating and erotic subject, makes it even more painful. As a movie there is no sense of structure, no sense of comedic or satiric form. It's all been done before and much better back in the 1970's when British studios were really turning out "Sex-Coms" on an assembly line basis. Brit's love the whole culture of spanking, domination, black stockings and alike. And once upon a time they knew how to get us all aroused and to give us a few laughs in between the whacks and the kisses.

This film seems to have more slaves in it than "Spartacus" and as for anything remotely erotic to get you in the mood, well it's a torture in itself just to watch the going's on let alone wanting to join in!

I find it hard to articulate how bad this movie is. Its protagonists are kind of like people from a goth club who never break performance role, the lead character a pro domme who's a little cheeze even for on the clock. I wouldn't be surprised if there's some people like that in the world-- you meet some people really into, say, the Rockabilly scene, who never stop acting like err, Rockabilly people. But you wouldn't really want to defend their civil rights, not a whole lot anyway. So when our heros run up against the dastardly religious fanatics who want to shut them down, you almost want to root for the fundies.

That says a lot for me personally, since I do stay up late sometimes wishing SM people like us had a civil rights movement backing us up, and I'd love a good sexploitation, overcoming the bad guys kind of feel good movie. And to be honest from the tone of the movie and misc. interviews with the producer of this film, I think it was really intended to be symptathetic to SM people, that he's trying to make an analogy between us and gay people thirty years ago.

Maybe what upsets me about this most is we as SM people probably suffer more from an ability to to visualize the ordinary and actual details of our lives in culture, almost as much as the occasional Spanner trial kind of repression. Maybe someday our culture will be strong enough that this kind of surreal romp full of semi-offensive stereotypes (our domme was once a young girl, who had feelings...these are awakened by screwing a vanilla man), will read as fun kitsch. But it doesn't now.

And I give this a 2 because our cinema is so bad that this and Exit to Eden make the top tier.

Not for nothing has the rep of this cult movie from Britain grown and grown, until now it is finally striking out in the States after a little grappling/groping with MPAA over its, er, saucier elements such as the infamous Relaxicisor scene (applied between Guin Turner's legs). It's more cartoonish and stylish than Secretary, but you really do get immersed into a world that most hardly know is there. A blasting dance music sound track and brilliant design, photography, costumes and direction make this a must for anyone interested in the offbeat. Girls especially love it because they stay on top throughout the film.

an interesting movie that is very sympathetic to the S&M community. its a little over the top at times, but i thoroughly enjoyed it. what i loved about Preaching to the Perverted was how authentic it is. you don't get the sense that the acting is forced. if you didn't know it was a film, you'd think it was a documentary featuring real people. the fashions are awesome too!! all in all an excellent film. recommended for those who are curious about this fascinating world, or those already familiar with it.