Studio: Pirate Booty Productions
Director: Benny Profane
Cast: Zoe Matthews, Dahlia, Zenova Braeden, Kandi Kaos

When people say "there's no accounting for taste" they of course mean "I am making a major acccounting of your aesthetic choices". There is not a porn-safe "something for everyone" aspect to Profane's Psychocandy series, but if you are the type of person who likes the type of women Profane casts (and I do), there is still some work that needs to be done to get around some filmmaking shoddiness that can't be confused with artistic choices.

The opening scene stars pinup-worthy Dahlia in a room hung-round with Transformers (robots in disguise). So far, so good, but then in walks Chuck Mangione.

It is not actually Chuck Mangione, rather it is a fellow named Schno, but even the children of Sanchez would get confused. Dahlia and Schno get it on while stray flashbulbs pop in the background and "Feels So Good" does not play. With Dahlia's jet black hair, floral print dress and fishnets, the scene has the feel of Greg Allman stopping in to a gypsy fortune teller's house in Mexico.

Profane chooses certain types of talent in certain types of settings; it's not just a girl on a bed. The talent looks like they regularly bump into each other at coffeeshops along Alvarado or while browsing through vinyl at Los Feliz record stores. But the pleasure of seeing amateurs who might be holding down day jobs does not compensate for poor lighting and focus. It does, however, make films like Psychocandy a worthy document of neighborhood life. These people really look like they know each other.

In the segment "Cave Painting", newcomers Kandi Kaos and Jason Krass meet on the same Transformers bed with a jangle of piercings. They look happy to be there. So happy, in fact, that he starts to fuck her before the mandated blowjob. They rectify that, the camera jerks up, giving us a shot out the window at the neighborhood. It's the thought that the girl next door in the purple knee socks isn't just blogging that makes this scene effective.

In "Cooking with Zoe", Zoe Matthews drops by Profane's house for his birthday and negotiates his cock piercing in the kitchen. There is incidental dialogue in the scene but it gets lost in the soundtrack. Is it not important? If it's not important, then it shouldn't be there. The payoff is that Profane batters his own batter and serves the cum-cake to his party guests.

Still, if that small amount of effort was made to include some "business", the actors should have been miked and some thought should have been given to the shots. It is this lack of attention to detail that provides a window for all the altporn detractors to attack what are otherwise fun, thoughtfully art-directed gonzo movies with enthusiastic casts.

The final scene, a continuation of Profane's and Matthews' kitchen tryst, features lingering shots of Zoe's face while Profane eats her ass. Her reactions are wonderful, doubly so because I'm not into watching ass-eating. An extra scene with Dahlia and Schno will satisfy finger-bang enthusiasts.

Profane has described himself as "the black sheep of the altporn world". As a regular-looking guy who makes and stars in movies with his friends in his apartment, he is also the most courageous and groundbreaking. I hope that his next film has a bigger budget for a crew and also that Kandi Kaos moves next door.