Let me state, for the record, that I love Joanna Angel. Not like, “in love” love. Joanna’s really cool and nice and all, but it’s not like that. What it is like is that she makes these fun, irreverent, stylish skin flicks that spoof the ideas of mainstream movies, make fun of porn movies, flaunt tattoos and piercings and retro-punk style, and are somehow still really hot. Like Fuckenstein. (Best porn title ever? That’s a tough contest, but it just might be.) And then she screens them–for free–in the back room of Shag, a super-chic sex shop in Brooklyn, and gives everybody free PBR.
In case you were ever wondering why she’s so popular and her company, Burning Angel, is doing so well when most porn companies are struggling… that’s why.
Last night I smooshed myself into a small back room in a tiny Brooklyn sex store with a crowd of sweaty strangers and watched a porno movie while consuming alcohol, and rather than it being awkward, with Joanna watching the goings-on from the back of the room, it was fun. The crowd laughed at all the right places (and a few, slightly less-right places… I think… maybe I just watch too much porn so things like double-cock slurping don’t strike me as uproarious), opened beers, cheered when Joanna had an orgasm, and loudly complained the Igor didn’t get any while the Monster and the doctor got to double-team Joanna in a wide variety of positions. We had a freaking blast. And the movie was fabulous–not too long, not too complicated, and with just four characters, a little gore, and a lot of humor, Fuckenstein, like many of Joanna’s other movies (see: Doppleganger) strikes the perfect balance of scorching sex (Joanna, the only woman in the film, is plainly not faking her eagerness to use the Monster for her sexual gratification, and the chemistry between herself and costar/ex-flame James Deen is visibly genuine) and light-hearted humor. With a title like Fuckenstein, the movie can’t be expected to take itself too seriously, and it doesn’t. It doesn’t stretch on forever with some absurd plot that tries to mimic the book or even the original movie. It just takes a concept, has some fun with it, cums all over its face, and puts it away. And then keeps on handing out free PBR. I find myself giggling and going, “Thank god someone is doing this!”
Joanna, you got me. I’m yours. (And people who aren’t Joanna, check out the teaser trailer for Fuckenstein here.)