WoodRocket and Rule #34

When was the last time anybody but Axel Braun was so universally celebrated for parodying pop-culture icons in hardcore adult movies? Even some holders of the intellectual properties being parodied admitted first to a curiosity then, an interest, and finally an appreciation of the irreverent super-hero, comic book, TV, and movie-lampooning releases. Well, move on over, Mr. Braun ’cause it looks like your bombastic mega-budget mockbusters could be under threat from the studio that’s proving to be more punk rock than mainstream pop, more Brain Candy than Awakenings, if you will. That studio is WoodRocket.

woodrocket

Founded by Lee Roy Myers, among others, WoodRocket’s bizarre blending of slapstick comedy, pop-culture parody, hardcore porn, and social satire have made it one of the most promising new studios to pop up in some time. Having already pushed porn parodies further than anyone ever thought – SpongeKnob SquareNuts, Sex Toy Story, and even that Jerry-Seinfeld-and-pal-driving-around web series thing, they’ve all been WoodRocket subjects – the studio could have started to focus more on its non-porn webseries James Deen Loves Food and Memes I’d Like to Fuck (see below) or on outlandish projects like a life-size Darth Vader built from sex toys. Parodies have remained an essential part of WoodRocket, though, and we’re now seeing the most courageous and inventive skewering of pop-culture icons since Edward Penishands quietly became a cult comedy hit.

edward penishands

Apparently feeling that squirts and stoners shouldn’t get to have all the cartoonish fun, Myers and company followed up SpongeKnob and Sex Toy Story with Strokemon, the first live-action Pokemon parody starring Rizzo Ford as Dikachu, who’s given a solid working-over by Gash (Tyler Nixon) and Fisty (Kassondra Raine) and just go damn squeals the whole time. Now, I’ll admit to being a bit too long in the tooth to understand the less obvious Pokemon references and jokes, but where the recent Bill and Ted’s SEXcellent Adventure-parodying photoshoot starring Lily Bergman, Jessica Dawn, and Vuko as Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted “Theodore” Logan, and the history-spanning cast of influential figures from Lincoln to Beethoven, Genhis Kahn to Joan of Arc is concerned, I’m so on-board it’s ridiculous.

Bill and Ted's SEXcellent Adventure

Whatever your pop-culture fancy, be it Naked Lunch or The Nanny, WoodRocket’s likely to have considered skewering it with sex, proving that just because it made you laugh in your teens doesn’t mean it can’t be masturbation fodder of the highest caliber in your adult years.

The Sadist is Present

Top Grl

There are porn parodies and then there are porn movies that use existing cultural artifacts to create their own take on a popular subject. Most porn parodies use television or movies or comic books or public sex scandals as the basis of their hardcore, but Intersec Interactive has significantly different tastes than most pornography studios and has therefore opted to tackle a rather unusual subject for one of Top Grl’s challenging femdom sessions: Serbian artist Marina Abramović’s landmark 736-hour-and-30-minute performance piece, The Artist is Present.

thesadistispresent

Devised and performed by Abramović for MOMA’s 2010 retrospective of her work, The Artist is Present saw a still and silent Abramović seated before gallery patrons, many of whom were moved to tears by nothing but the artist’s returned gaze. This might seem an odd sort of artwork to influence porn production, but Intersec Interactive is an odd sort of company. One of Kink.com’s few genuine competitors, Intersec has unleashed via Top Grl a scene entitled The Sadist is Present that, although using an unchanging endurance performance piece as its inspiration, thankfully offers a bit more activity than Abramović’s now legendary work.

Mona Wales has taken a seat, naked except for tall heels, when in walks Bonnie Day. Stunned, Bonnie receives her command: Make yourself comfortable. Ordered to strip in front of the embodiment of the perfect female figure, Bonnie follows each subsequent instruction to the letter, whether it’s kneeling in a pile of stiff rice grains, flogging herself with a cat o’ nine tails, and even peeling an onion only to use it as a masturbatory device.

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This is some weird shit, y’all, and it’s highly entertaining even though the rest of the scene takes place not in a gallery space but in a fairly typical bondage rack in some dank basement cum dungeon somewhere. More sadistic physical abuse is on the cards, only it uses the same tropes and tools found in most hardcore BDSM work. Clearly, then, art and porn are becoming increasingly intertwined (as also evidenced by the rise of publicly advertised and accessible erotic art shows and film festivals) but still have some way to go. For all the efforts of Mona Wales, Bonnie Day, and the Top Grl and Intersec teams, they still fall short of the epic commitment required by Abramović. But, hey, it’s a swell start!

Learn more about Marina Abramović at Artsy.

Ain’t Dead Yet: XXX Parodies Still Kicking

Anyone who has sat and watched their favorite show’s entire run with back-to-back episodes in a single Netflix binge will know how devoted we can be to pop-culture in all its forms. Porn parodies, although fading from relevance thanks to more current trends – like the American adult industry and its fans collectively cumming in their trousers the current (and kinda creepy) pseudo-incest craze – are still something of a hot commodity in the adult entertainment world. So much so that Sex.com blogger Chico Dusty has come up with a list of his Top Ten Porn Parodies of 2014 to remind us all that there’s still life left in the old genre yet.

rambone bonnie rotten

DreamZone Entertainment seems to be coming out on top this year, at least according to Dusty, who ranks The Little Spermaid (dir: Jordan Septo), Cape Fear XXX (dir: Bonnie Rotten), and Rambone XXX: A DreamZone Porn Parody (dir: Septo). Axel Braun hasn’t fallen from his spot as the leading porn parody director and 2014 saw him release Spider-Man XXX 2, Cinderella XXX, and This Ain’t Game of Thrones XXX for Vivid, Wicked, and Hustler respectively. (For Dusty’s complete top ten – what, no love for One Flew Over the Cuckold’s Next, really?)

Although unique entries like Miley May’s first cover feature, the Miley Cyrus-spoofing Molly’s Wrecking Ballz and and Not Jersey Boys XXX (a genuine porn parody musical) made for some interesting viewing, most of the parodies included in Dusty’s list fit the usual bill: superheroes, perverted takes on Disney characters, and two Scorsese movies lampooned in a most lusty style. Fun, sure, but not exactly ground-breaking.

Are porn parodies growing stale or are they gradually getting better, bolder, and more outrageous? Perhaps 2015 will hold the answer, but if Axel Braun’s got anything to say about it it’ll be all spandex sporting sexual spoofs of waning interest to so many porn fans. Is pseudo-incest set to burst into the mainstream the way parodies did a few years back? Will they take over as porn virgins’ first viewings or is something else, something even more risque and tantalizingly taboo on the horizon?

Whatever the case, whether it shuffles off to let pseudo-taboo themes take center-stage or is reinvigorated by new talent and new ideas, 2015 is going to be an interesting year for parody porn.

Check out Adult DVD Empire Unlimited and VideoBox for more Porn Parodies.

It’s a Bat-Porn Party

Batman

Known by many names – Bruce Wayne, The Caped Crusader, The Dark Knight – the superhero most know as Batman was created 75 years ago this week by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. With the roaring success of Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed Dark Knight movie trilogy only just winding down, it seems an appropriate time to investigate other arenas in which to see Batman tussle with trouble. Yes, even if some of those arenas are inappropriate for the young’uns. Oh, you’re all miffed about the corruption and perversion of an iconic character of fiction? Don’t blame me, dude, blame Axel Braun.

Arguably the first and most influential adult film to combine a contemporary take on classic superheroes with explicit sexual activity, Axel Braun’s 2010 feature, Batman XXX: A Porn Parody put Dale DaBone in the grey, black, and blue duds and cast then up-and-comer James Deen as Robin, Lexi Belle as Batgirl, Tori Black as Catwoman, Evan Stone as The Riddler, and Randy Spears as The Joker. Cleanly directed by Braun with a heavy dose of ironic humor, the Vivid release saw much success and brought more comic book fans to porn than 1970s Lois Lane, Margot Kidder appearing in Playboy. Soon, superhero porn parodies were flooding the market and Batman remained chief pussy-pounder among the heroes now dropping their drawers for your entertainment.

BatFXXX: Dark Knight Parody came along shortly after Braun’s feature, directed by NIcholas Steele for Bluebird Films and starring Nick “Droppin’ loads!” Manning as the titular cape-wearer, Madelyn Marie as Katwoman, and Krissy Lynn as a female Robin named “Robina.” Also in 2011, Extreme Comixxx released The Justice League of Porn Star Heroes XXX, which saw Evan Stone, who’d previously played one of Batman’s arch nemeses, now picking up the mantle with glee. Battling an evil threat to the very existence of porn itself, the intrepid team of heroes ends the picture draining their, uh, “powers” all over Wonder Woman for a truly childhood-destroying climax.

Braun brought it all back home to Vivid in 2012 – or, more specifically, to the company’s new Braun-directed line of comic book parodies, Vivid Superheroes – with The Dark Knight XXX: A Porn Parody, his take on Christopher Nolan’s dark and brooding Batman trilogy. This time with some thoroughly impressive costuming and special effects, and with Giovanni Francesco the latest actor to portray Kane and Finger’s globally famous vigilante, saw the biggest and boldest comic book parody yet. It was also less a traditional parody and more an explicit re-imagining of the recent blockbuster films, ditching the humor and instead aiming for high drama with hardcore fucking, spinal mutilation, bizarre appearances from Zatana and John Constantine, and villain Bane (Derrick Pierce) seemingly breaking Batman and making off with the tightest of his many squeezes.

With Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice due to arrive in theaters in May of 2016, we’ll likely see a couple of hardcore parodies of DC’s two biggest heroes hit the real and virtual shelves in the lead up to its release. And this time, whoever is cast as Batman is only going up against Ben Affleck, so they’ve probably already secured the fan’s allegiance and should coast to monumental sales. Me, I just want to see a porn version of Mister (or even Miss) Mxyzptlk. Make it happen, Braun!

Oh yeah, and happy birthday, Batman.