Fashionistas Safado: The Challenge

Evil Angel

Genre: Feature

Director: John Stagliano

Cast: Adrianna Nicole, Nicole Sheridan, Sandra Romain, Flower Tucci, Marie Luv, Jewell Marceau, Caroline Pierce, Lia Baren, Sasha Grey, Mr. Pete, Erik Everhard, Christian, Jean Val Jean, Chris Charming, Mark Davis, Belladonna, Voodoo, Melissa Lauren, Rocco Siffredi, Jenna Haze, Gianna, Judith Fox, Oona, Dunya, Constantine, Annette Schwartz, Peg, Sintia Stone, Vanessa Hill, Steve Holmes, Jazz Duro, Manuel Ferrara, Katsumi, Nacho Vidal
Non-sex roles: Amber O'Neil, Marceea Moreno, Rachelle Dominique, Alexandra Zevalking, Amanda Nowak, Jill Crook, Jeffrey DeBarathy, Yon Cock, Robb Sapienza, Danielle Rueda-Watts, Steeley, Kazantseva, Nici Sterling, Victoria Ribeiro, Ricky Anys

Length: 249.5 minutes

Date of Production: 9/15/2006

Extra's: Considering the length of the movie, expecting a whole lot of extras probably isn't fair so I wasn't surprised that there were some trailers, a convoluted cast list, and a second side to the DVD cover with the promise of more when the second part of the movie is released in January. Still, there extras sucked goat balls when looked at strictly as a limited package of extras in the two disc set (no wonder why the competition released their big hits on THREE disc sets). On the second disc, the lack of extras was notable too but at least the excuse here will be that the movie was longer on this one. There was a set of limited filmographies and a couple of lengthy photogalleries but that was it.

Condoms: None

Audio/Video Quality: Fashionistas Safado: The Challenge was presented in the same old 1.85:1 letterboxed widescreen color that it was shot in by director John Stagliano for Evil Angel. Considering this was the company's big movie of the year, I stood amazed that it didn't take full advantage of the anamorphic widescreen processing (it adds no cost, just about 25% more detail for those with a decent television set up), especially considering how the darker scenes of the movie showed a lot of grain and video noise compared to other high end offerings. Still, John is a master director in the gonzo field so while this was a feature in name, the sex was largely vignette or gonzo driven with the kind of dynamic those types of scenes offer. The composition of the shots here seemed to deliberately negate some of the attractiveness of the ladies in favor of the stylish attitude of the fetish world; a manner that will find proponents I'm sure but not me. I have long been on record as stating I like to see what hole is being tapped, whose doing whom (the camera work seemed to go out of the way to cut people's heads off; men and women), and static enough to see if the women are getting off or just mechanically going through the paces. As Art, Sadafo might work better than as a stroke flick but it could have had it all. The editing was a bit less refined than I expected; an area that John has never truly been as skilled as his ability to capture hot ass in gonzo scenes, making me think the deadline for AVN awards played a role in the process (he even thanked them in the credits). The rushed appearance definitely showed a need for some polishing up and maybe a future director's cut of the movie will fix the many glitches observed when watching the movie at normal speed. The audio was presented in 2.0 Dolby Digital English with minimal separation or dynamic range; another porno in this aspect of the game. The vocals were generally clear although some bits sounded either out of synchronization or looped, the balance slightly off when heard through headphones. The music was another story for me in that it was original, interesting, and driven to the point where I thought it might have worked better if fine tuned a bit. It was stark and mechanical; much like the themes of the movie, adding another layer to the anti-sex of some of the scenes.

Body of Review: John Stagliano has long been on the bleeding edge of porn as an artist, a provocateur, and an innovator which is largely why his company, Evil Angel, has succeeded so wildly beyond his original expectations. Several years ago, he set out to make an ambitious feature based on fetish themes that became one of the most awarded porn releases of all time, a small caper known as Fashionistas. The multidisc set boasted lots of extras, a great length, and proved to the world that John wasn't strictly limited to shooting gonzo porn; earning the awe of many who saw it as a truly Alt-Porn release. For raw passion and sensuality, there are still very few titles to match it, even if my sole viewing long ago left me with the feeling that the movie was more for acquired tastes. Well, at long last John decided to invest the time and resources into a sequel, Fashionistas Safado: The Challenge, using many of the same characters reprising their roles and adding the spice of a new sexual dynamic in the form of a competitor to the Jesse and Antonio (Rocco Siffredi and Belladonna) kink fashion designing company. I won't ruin the convoluted plot for you since it became immediately apparent that splitting the movie into two parts weakened this initial section of the movie (part two will come out in January from what I hear; an interesting marketing stunt to coincide with the AVN Show I'm sure). Sexually, it was not your typical porn and most raincoaters will want to go right to the final scene of the first disc or skip it altogether for the orgy sequence on disc two with an emphasis on tease and style over hardcore sex and substance as in most porn. That said, here's a look at the twisted scenes by cast and action as sort of outlined on the disc, noting that no condoms were used by the performers:

Scene One: The Orgy: Adrianna Nicole, Nicole Sheridan, Sandra Romain, Flower Tucci, Marie Luv, Jewell Marceau, Caroline Pierce, Lia Baren, Sasha Grey, Mr. Pete, Erik Everhard, Christian, Jean Val Jean, Chris Charming, Mark Davis, Belladonna, Voodoo, Melissa Lauren, Rocco Siffredi, Jenna Haze, and Gianna, were up in the house after a successful show and the resulting media frenzy. While there were some very limited teases and passing nods to sexual conduct, this was the closest thing to being the first actual hardcore scene of the movie, beginning at about 30 minutes into the movie. The people paired up into small groups with a lot of spanking, cock sucking, slapping, and tributes to the voyeurism in all of us as some simply watched. The men wore generic clothing while most of the ladies wore shiny plastic (PVC, latex, leather, whatever) outfits as they sat on faces, ground their hips into them (and women), and other sexually explicit acts. Melissa and Bella did nothing here, nor did Manuel, at least until pairing off into separate rooms or waiting for other parts of the movie.

Scene Two: Private Room: Jenna Haze, Gianna, and Rocco Siffredi broke off into the study to do one another, making best use of what talents each brought to the scene. Gianna's bountiful ass and breasts were deployed on Jenna's tiny face, and her DSL's wrapped so tightly around Rocco's cock that I was surprised she shared it with Jenna. For her part, Jenna came alive with Rocco's cock though she wasn't able to handle more than a couple of inches inside her mouth; using her hands until Gianna showed her how to tame the meaty monster. The titty fuck was hot and Rocco sat on Gianna's face a little for a rim job with Jenna getting plundered into her pussy by the one eyed trouser trout before Gianna offered him her ass. Whatever Rocco's tongue wanted, his cock only got pussy until he took Jenna's perfect pucker slowly, letting him do all the work due to his size. She's a hotty but the scene lost points thanks to her inability to handle his cock, the gals slipping into a warm 69 as Rocco switched to the more active Gianna as a lay. There was a lot more spanking and he coated Gianna's breasts to close out the first disc of the show.

Scene Three: The first part of the second disc began with some more of the story where Rocco was going crazy trying to figure out the mystery of Safado but went to a number of inter-related vignette teasers (for lack of a better word) that were labeled as such:

Pipes: Judith Fox
Boiler Room: Oona, Dunya, Constantine,
Doggie in the Window: Annette Schwartz,
Hanging Out: Peg, Sintia Stone,
Stairway to Heaven: Vanessa Hill,
Devil's Due: Peg, Constantine,
Spider: Dunya, Oona, Steve Holmes, Jazz Duro,
Tit Towers: Annette Schwartz, Vanessa Hill, Steve Holmes, Jazz Duro,

These included some tease sequences like in Devil's Due where Peg (a dyke with a unique look and more tattoos on her then just about anyone) implied she was going to anally rape corn hole boy Constantine but it was never shown, Hanging Out, where Sintia was in a precarious position at Peg's mercy, or Jazz and Steve spanking and getting head from Dunya and Oona in Spider. If you're into spreader bars, clamp torture, and all the trappings of the fetish world but not wanting to see sexual intercourse in your porn, the stroke value of these bits will blow your mind but if you'd like something more conventional, they tend to drag on without end and are best taken in small doses.

Scene Four: The Orgy Pt. 2: Adrianna Nicole, Nicole Sheridan, Sandra Romain, Flower Tucci, Marie Luv, Jewell Marceau, Caroline Pierce, Lia Baren, Sasha Grey, Mr. Pete, Erik Everhard, Christian, Jean Val Jean, Chris Charming, Mark Davis, Belladonna, Voodoo, Melissa Lauren: The movie then reverted back to the orgy with the players actually screwing one another. Sandra was on fire as always thanks in large part to Erik, Flower seemed ready to rumble, Nicole and Voodoo shared some quality time, and Melissa finally joined in to have some fun as Pete went all out on her in his best impersonation of Erik to date. I was thankful that Nicole took on Bella as Marie sucked off both Chris and Voodoo but there were so many pairings that keeping track of it all would drive a completist nuts so the emphasis on oral and anal this time (lightening up on the fetish aspects of the scene ever so slightly as if to foreshadow something about to take place). The scene ended in a bunch of sloppy facials for those keeping track but it was a decidedly mixed orgy (orgies are tough to handle right and even talented directors like John Stagliano are subject to the dynamics of trying to edit in all the best material without losing track of the big picture. Had there been multiple angles allowing for several static cameras to catch all the fun, this scene might have worked far better than it did.

Scene Five: Girls on Stage: Melissa Lauren, Belladonna, and Manuel Ferrara, played around in the closed down theatre with some oral but no actual penetration. The potential of the scene was so great that it pissed me off they weren't allowed to carry through with it.

Scene Six: Violet & Safado: Katsumi, the central sexual female figure of the movie, was up next as she worshiped the cock of a creepy Nacho Vidal. He was sporting a megalomaniac complex (I wonder if he's been hanging around a guy named Kurt?) and she serviced him orally on his cock and ass; never missing any part of him as she showed off her wonderful body in that purple outfit she wore on the front DVD cover. He spanked her hard enough to cause even her to wince a few times, leaving hand prints that made me all excited (NOT!) and the scene ended with he blowing his load onto her awaiting face.

Scene Seven: Violet Designing: Katsumi, still sporting the load to her face (at least that which she didn't swallow down), abused Sintia Stone, who was wearing a black latex outfit with inflatable breasts next. The heavy duty fetish aspects like the gas mask were silly and Nacho joined them until the manly role was taken over by Jazz Duro. Katsumi sat on his face for some smothering and was rewarded with a blowjob or two by Katsumi and Sintia after each had been thoroughly satiated. This led, of course, to more anal play with toys and then his cock, both gals riding it before he gave them a large dose of population pudding to swap and swallow.

Scene Eight: Jesse & Antonio: Belladonna and Rocco Siffredi were up last in a frightfully short scene that included oral, a few pumps in her pussy, and more oral until he took her anally (she did some ATM too). The slow motion was about as welcome here as in any other movie, coming across as pretentious with the movie ending before he launched his load or tied up any of the loose ends of the show to head off to Berlin (where the sequel is supposed to conclude.

Summary: Fashionistas Safado: The Challenge proved to be something of a Waterloo for director John Stagliano and Evil Angel as the movie came across as hastily released without the benefit of enough editing time, planning, and the kind of care I typically associate with the company and it's founding father. The cast was stellar, the technical matters fair, and the action the kind that you will literally either love or hate with little middle ground to speak of. If you hate fetish gear and style over substance in your porn, this will be like going to the dentist and finding out your root canal will take place without nitrous oxide while if you like that kind of thing, it will be like you're a kid outside of a candy store that just found a $100 bill floating by and picked it up. I liked a lot of the action in small doses but even the heavy fetish material seemed to stop short of driving it home and as tease it didn't work all that well. In short, Fashionistas Safado: The Challenge was not the top title of the season, far from it, but it will serve those into the fetish apparel better than about half of Christoph Clark's Domination Nation series.

In all, Safado wasn't half the feature Corruption was, not nearly as much fun (or well scripted) as Manhunters, over the top silly as Tailgunners, or as well acted and written as Emperor, but it beat out O The Power of Submission in terms of kink factor and tease, earning a rating of Recommended from me. As always, adjust the rating according to what YOU like in porn since this one almost seems to be the result of a big budget porno made by committee (wandering all over the place unlike the initial release in the series). Your mileage may vary considerably but with as much talent as John has shown in the past, he'd have done better splitting this up into a great series that would've allowed him to do everything he tried to fit into the single movie (and probably it's second half).