First Impressions:
Covered in tattoos, attitude as cocky as his penis is long, alt-porn pioneer Rob Rotten sure looks the role of adult agent provocateur. In an industry where those who work behind the scenes tend to be as popular as those providing the pumping, Rotten retains his somewhat slick street cred by playing it completely and utterly for the people. If you are to believe his website - and his DVDs - he will take input from the audience, even allowing some lucky SOB to live out his favorite fantasy, onscreen, with the adult actress of his choice. It all sounds so inclusive and fan-friendly, and in many ways, Rotten's approach fits perfectly in with the post-modern ideal of erotica. Unlike the '70s, which tried to sell the sex film as a XXX version of the standard motion picture, or the '80s and '90s which turned the industry into a hallowed home video domain, you get the distinct impression that Rotten wants to make this material as interactive as possible, to cut down the barriers between performer and purchaser. Some of his choices are inspired. Some are just plain retarded. But there is an inherent accessibility to what he's attempting that seems to escape more fanciful fuck filmmakers like Michael Ninn or Chi Chi LaRue. Whether this is good for the state of smut is another argument for another day.

The Sex Scenes:
Part of the problem with Rotten's routine is apparent from the very first sex sequence on this disc. Some mindless mook in a bad mullet wig goes on a humorless harangue about never having had the chance (in his 'personal' life) of cumming in a woman's butt. It's supposedly a lifelong dream, and as he swills generic beer and puts on the Southern fried accent, we cringe at all the non-comedy before us. Once the fuck and suck starts, everything's okay. It's the same with Scene 2 and its coke-snorting stupidity, or Scene 5 and its spousal abuse set-up (wife beating – always good for a XXX chuckle). It's an incredibly odd dichotomy. On the one hand, we get some frequently hot hardcore, with personal chemistry and passion pouring out an over our performers. But then the 'scripted" material messes everything up, turning us off instead of on. Last but not least, Rotten appears as a meat puppet in 40% of the scenes here, and if you don't appreciate skinny, trailer trash like boy toys covered in all manner of messy body art, you may find this film less than fetching.

Scene 1: Kaiya Lynn, Ronny Lee McClane
Acts Performed: Blowjob, Cowgirl, Anal Reverse Cowgirl, Anal Doggy, Mini Gape, $hot in Ass (Cream Pie), Expelled into Beer Can and Consumed
Score: 2 out of 5

As stated before, the vast majority of this scene has some dull dimwit going on and on about popping in a gal's pooper. Looking like the kind of quasi-petty criminal you'd avoid while standing in line for Lynyrd Skynyrd tickets, things remain repugnant until the likeable Ms. Lynn arrives. Thankfully, her Asian attractiveness shuts this stooge up and it's all ball busting business from thereon in. While Rotten's camera does tend to travel all over the map, moving a little too much while failing to establish the physical facets between the couple, we do feel some connection between the pair. As a result, what could have been intolerable becomes fairly frisky.

Scene 2: Danielle Derek, Rob Rotten
Acts Performed: Tit Foreplay, Cunnilingus, Blowjob, Doggy, Salad Tossing, Anal Reverse Cowgirl, Anal Mish, $hot in Ass (Cream Pie)
Score: 3 out of 5

Like a combination of Courtney Love, Pamela Anderson and a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon, Danielle Derek is a plastic surgery disaster just waiting to be condemned by the cast of nip/tuck. She has a fake plastic persona that will either be endearing, or horrifying, to MANY XXX mavens. Granted, she can get down and grind with the best of them, taking everything Rob has to offer and then some, but she looks like a bruised blow-up doll while doing it. When she's lost in crazed coke whore mode, you're not sure how much of it is acting and how much of it is a full blown flashback. All optical mumbo jumbo aside (the fuzzy, freakish look to the 'love making' really detracts from the action) these two make an interesting couple, and they deliver one of the best scenes on the entire DVD.

Scene 3: Sierra Sinn, Nick Manning
Acts Performed: Pole Dancing, Cabaret, Blowjob, Cunnilingus, Fingering, V to M, Mish, Anal Reverse Cowgirl, A to M, Anal Cowgirl, Anal Doggy, Anal Mish, Gaping, $hot in Ass (Cream Pie), Expelled into Shot Glass and Consumed
Score: 3 out of 5

When he allows himself the opportunity, Nick Manning can be very, very funny. So super macho that he cheers on his own cum as he "drops loads" on his female co-stars, Manning is brazen bravura without a lick of ego integrity. So when he goes through the stripper pole motions, grinding his (clothed) groin on a long silver shaft as an example of what he wants his paramour to do, the image is hilarious. It's also an example of how pornography, more than any other genre of filmmaking, can get by on so very little. As for the sex, Ms. Sinn is definitely up to the challenge of satisfying Nick's itch, and the pair put on a decent show. It is, perhaps, the best fucking of the entire film, especially during the pop, when Rotten holds on a close-up of Manning's cock, and we actually see the shaft spasm and pulsate as Nick notches another conquest.

Scene 4: Hillary Scott, Jenner
Acts Performed: Blowjob, Tit Fucking, Face Fucking, Cunnilingus Spitting, Mish, Anal Reverse Cowgirl, A to M, Anal Spooning, Anal Doggy, Anal Pile Driver, $hot in Ass (Cream Pie), Squirt Play
Score: <b2 out of 5

The weakest scene of the five arrives with an intriguing premise – Hillary and Jenner have been "dating" for months and he still hasn't made a move on her. She thinks he's gay, and wants to either prove/disprove her theory once and for all. Unfortunately, Mr. J is a less than successful example of male masculinity, and their coupling is crude and uneventful. This sequence is just so busy – too many positions, too many pauses so that Hillary can taste herself on Jenner's joint. Toward the end, when the couple are preparing for the cream pie, the pounding gets really ferocious, and this electrifies the mostly tepid tooling. Still, it's not enough to save the overall average atmosphere.

Scene 5: Leah Luv, Rob Rotten
Acts Performed: White Trash Beer Foreplay, Cunnilingus, Blowjob, Anal Reverse Cowgirl, 69, A to M, Anal Scissors, Anal Mish, $hot in Ass (Cream Pie)
Score: 2.5 out of 5

There's a real problem at the core of this final scene, something that's never funny and not worth joking about. Even though it's obvious that neither Rob nor Leah are taking it seriously, people already believe that porn films exploit and abuse their female participants, so to add another level of ersatz cruelty to the creation by having Rotten act like a beer swilling, wife-beating scum is just too much – especially since the pair perform admirably. Ms. Luv does have that trailer park appearance that some men find fascinating, and when the fake fighting is over and done with, the duo really deliver in the fuck and suck department. But sexual battery is nothing to kid about, and Rob's approach to this portion of the title really lowers its likeability.

Disco Dirge Peter Meter Rating: 2.5 out of 5 (Recommended)
Cohabitation Certification: Granted

Judged solely on how erotic and arousing the hardcore material is here, Chronicles of a Pervert earns an easy Recommended. While not the best balling The Dirge has seen in the last few months, it is light years beyond the other attempts at meshing an alternative approach to the adult film standard. Couples will find nothing to complain about here – except Scene 5's 'smack my bitch up' philosophy. Therefore, a Cohabitation Certification is easily awarded. Rob Rotten has an intriguing central conceit – porn for the people, if you will – and if he can just control his flaccid flights or artistic fancy (leave the redneck junk to the Blue Collar comedy tour, Rob) he can carve out a considerable niche in what is rapidly becoming an overdone dynamic. XXX material is becoming so safe and sanitized, staged to maximize marketability and product acceptability that the industry needs people like Rotten to keep it fresh and on its toes. Here's hoping he concentrates on the sex, and not the skits, next time around.