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WITCHBABE: THE EROTIC WITCH PROJECT III
Produced by Mickael Beckerman and John Bacchus
Written and Directed by Terry WestHellena Pottsworth - Paige Richards
Martha/Daine - Laurie Wallace
Mayor Rudolf - John P. Fedele
Amy - Misty Mundae
Lucy - Ruby LaroccaIt's interesting that this movie arrived in my mailbox this week, so close after two discussions that recently took place on the B-Independent.com message boards dealing with the validity of erotica and at what point one would still consider an erotic feature a "movie" as opposed to mere pornography.
Where is the line drawn? It's a simple question that requires a simple non-answer. Art, in any sense, is subjective to both the creator and the audience. All it takes is one person to consider something to be art for it to become art. The same can be applied to the line between "movie" and "video porn". It's up to the individual criteria of the viewer. Some say a movie has to have a plot and tell a story. Stanley Kubrick didn't find plot a necessity when he made 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, a work considered one the great artistic achievements of the 20th century. Can't the documented action in lovemaking from foreplay to orgasm be considered a story with a clear-cut beginning, middle, and end? Not everything has or needs rules and boundaries. Free thinking and personal liberation are what make our day and age is so wonderful.
As much as people like to complain about the problems of the day, they seem to forget that there was once a time when freethinking wasn't so readily excepted in this country. It was a time when color and sexuality where chastised and condemned; if you weren't of the excepted norm, you paid the price.
The right to decide what is sexually acceptable, and what isn't, is a theme that lies at the heart of Terry West's WITCHBABE: THE EROTIC WITCH III, the newest release from softcore label Seduction Cinema.
Terry breaks away from the previous mold of BLAIR WITCH-style sex parodies and focuses the story on the Erotic Witch herself, Hellena Pottsworth. It's her spirit that fills the woods of Bacchusville and the erogenous zones of all women who enter them.
Hellena's story is simple. She was a women who lived her sex life as she saw fit, enjoying the sexual pleasures of those she found stimulating. She taught others to not feel threatened by their own sexuality, and to come to terms with who they were. These are things that cannot be attained through force or threat, but only by the freedom of choice and expression.
Terry West has made softcore with substance, and in the process brought relevance to Seduction Cinema. The label's early sex parodies have given way to recent efforts that question sex-roles and sexual politics. Another winner I strongly recommend is THE EROTIC MIRROR, probably the only subversively pro-male movie in the Seduction line.
I don't agree with some of the other issues Terry raises in the film, especially dealing with the corruption in the institutions of church and state. The flaws are in man and the power he holds, not the institutions or the power they provide (which are set by man). But again, I'm free to express my thoughts without fearing persecution, unlike Hellena Pottsworth.
Those choices we make and express only define half of who we are. It's acceptance and tolerance of other people's views that define the other half. Unless any of us have been directly harmed by the entity in question, who are any of us to judge? That very question is what haunts the Bacchusville woods.
Well, that and a very sensitive G-spot. This is, after all, a Seduction Cinema title.
There have been Seduction releases that have been more erotic, such as the first EROTIC WITCH or the previously mentioned EROTIC MIRROR. There have been titles with more outright humor, such as MISTRESS FRANKENSTEIN or GLADIATOR EROTICUS. But there hasn't been a Seduction Cinema release that I've enjoyed more than EROTIC WITCH III. It blends the best elements of erotica and places it in a context where it's very nature is questioned. It's thought-provoking erotica.
Reason number two to pick up EWIII is the return of John P. Fedele. I can't say it enough, any man who can steal a scene from gorgeous naked women is a true talent. A missed opportunity on every Seduction DVD is the chance to let the guy do a commentary. He and Terry would be a hoot.
As far as the rest of the disc goes, this one is substandard, even for the usually bare-bones Seduction DVDs. The behind the scenes footage never gives much of an idea of what's going on, although it does contain the most telling scene in ANY Seduction release. As Misty Mundae, Laurie Wallace, and Paige Richards go to town, Ruby Larocca sits just out of frame looking board as hell. Then the scene cuts to a shot of West looking equally as disenchanted by the whole scenario. Any one who ever thought the participants actually got off on what they were doing are in for an awakening.
The disc also contains a handful of trailers for upcoming releases, many of which appear to follow the same character-driven stories of recent efforts. I'm glad, the recent crop of titles has been some of the most enjoyable erotica on the market - arousing both physically and mentally.
But don't take my word for it. Pick up the movie and draw your own conclusions.