The 2000s brought a new decade and a new millenium. Symbolically and literally, it was a new beginning. At the risk of sounding grandiose, it was to be the dawn of a new era. While porn had enjoyed the peak of its popularity and profitability in the 90s, the 2000s saw increasing influence from the emerging Internet. Porn became ubiquitous which fostered an acceptance from mainstream entertainment but, most importantly, societal attitudes towards sex were changing for the better. The sex positive movement that encouraged people to be more open about their own sexuality and more accepting of others sexual views had more influence in every day society. People were no longer afraid to admit they watched porn. Now, no one believed you if you said you didn’t.
Click Here to watch a playlist featuring scenes from these “must see movies” that began the new millenium
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Fashionistas (2002) Coming out of the gate hard, the list begins with John Stagliano’s Fashionistas. It was an epic film for the director known for Gonzo style reality porn. The film stars Rocco Siffredi as Antonio and Belladonna as Jesse, the Easter Egg girl. Fashionistas follows fashion designer Antonio as he tries to blend the fashion world where he works with the fetish world where he lives. It won more awards than can be listed here and is on both the AVN Top 500 list and Paul Fishbein’s list of Greatest Adult Movies Ever Made. It was successful way beyond Stagliano’s expectations. The movie had a hardcore fetish theme that Stagliano figured would not appeal to a main stream porn watching audience, but it tapped into something in the zeitgeist and people wanted more. He followed it up with three more sequels and it even spurred its very own show on the Las Vegas strip that ran for 4 years. |
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College Invasion 1 (2003) The studio Shane’s World made a name for itself beginning in the late 90s by taking the porn to the people. They would round up a bunch of porn stars, put them in every day party situations and then let the cameras roll. In 2003, they decided to go on a college campus tour to see what would happen when you combined nympho, sex loving porn stars with horny, fun loving college students. The results were a grounbreaking reality porn series and a lot of horrified parents. |
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Girlvert 2 (2003) We mentioned the raw hardcore nature of Jim Powers in our previous article of 18 Must See Movies in the 90s . In the 2000s, Jim really perfected his penchant for perversion with Girlvert series . He replaced Keegan Skyy from the first volume with Ashley Blue who took on the series and made it her bitch! If there was ever a pornstar born to play a role, it would be Ashley Blue as the Girlvert. So much so, it would be the title of her Memoir after she retired. In the series, Ashley is in a constant state of sexual flux; she is ferocious, domineering and cruel dressed in pigtails and knee high socks verbally and physically abusing her partners because they are unwilling or unable to be more dominant and abusive than she. Sex with the Girlvert is like a very dark game of “Truth or Dare”. |
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Pirates (2005) There was a lot of hype about this movie before it ever came out. Pirates of the Carribean was hugely popular and this was to be a big budget attempt to capitalize on the popularity. Digital Playground had the biggest stars of the day, Jesse Jane, Carmen Luvana, Janine, Evan Stone, and Tommy Gunn along with award winning director Joone at the helm (pun intended). When the movie was released it blew audiences away, it blew away sales expectations and in a twist of irony, the adult movie was made into a main stream movie that could even be rented at your family friendly Blockbuster store. |
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Catherine (2005) Although the movie didn’t really live up to its potential due to a lack of a cohesive story line or character development, it is a visually stunning and very artistic film about a ghostly woman haunted by her past, if in fact her past is real and not just her sexual desires seeking liberation in a dream. It is porn as High Art and all that you would expect from director Michael Ninn. Ninn’s artistic approach softened the typically coarse and raunchy performances of its stars Audrey Hollander and Otto Bauer which made the sex scenes particularly erotic and a highpoint for Hollander’s career. |
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Re-Penetrator (2005) When the adult industry parodies a well known, classic movie, it tends to be campy. So, what do you think would happen if Joanna Angel, the alt porn posterchild, decided to make a parody of the gory, low brow campy horror movie Re-Animator? It may just win an award for the Most Outrageous Sex Scene. Joanna had been building a following with her alt-porn website, Burning Angel, but this movie made everyone realize that her talent and vision had no boundaries… or scruples. Re-Pentrator has messy, dirty sex mixed with gory special effects that no one else would have attempted in a porn movie. You don’t have to be turned on by it, (if you are, seek help) but you should watch it once just to know it has been done. |
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Fetish Fanatic Chapter 4 (2006) In the Naughty Aughts many female performers began to come into their own. They were not only directing their own movies, but they were unafraid to be themselves. They began to explore their own sexuality and express it in their movies. As a performer, Belladonna was bold, brave and limitless. As a director, she was able to take that to another level. In her scene with Sasha Grey, she says every emotion in the scene was real. With Sandra Romain, she subjects herself to one of the roughest G/G scene she had ever done. And for the final scene, she does double anal with two trans performers, Daniella Fox and Vicki Richter which helped to usher in a new era of Trans Lesbianism. |
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Tristan Taormino’ s Chemistry: An Experiment (2006) “This is the true story of 7 porn stars picked to live in a house for 36 hours.” The film offers real, in-depth interviews and perspectives from 7 real life pornstars and follow them over a 3 day period where they are left to their own devices. Unlike the other reality shows that thrive off of conflict, director Tristan Taormino’s goal was to “not direct” the performers and show how adult films stars work with each other to find that one thing that is so necessary for a good sex scene – Chemistry. |
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Lil Jon’s Vivid Vegas Party (2006) Rap artists tend to be fearless when it comes to their art and in the early 2Ks a couple of the biggest Rap artists crossed over to make some porn. But, not in the way you think. Snoop Dogg collaborated with Hustler for his Diary of a Pimp in 2000 and then Lil John paired with Vivid for the Vegas Party which follows Lil John around Vegas as he attends that years AEE show along with all the sex happening between the Vivid pornstars. Neither artist performed (on camera) but it was nevertheless a milestone moment where mainstream artists were embracing the popularity and marketing potential of the adult movie industry. |
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Afrodite Superstar (2007) This is the first movie released under Femme Chocolat line by producer Candida Royalle. It was her attempt to take on racism in adult filmmaking in the same way she took on sexism. The director, Venus Hottentot, shared Candida’s vision and the two set out to make a really good film featuring people of color. It worked. The movie earned several award nominations, including Best Director and Best Screenplay. Simone Valentino received the award for Best New Star for her role as Aphrodite Superstar. |
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Pirates 2: Stagnetti’s Revenge/(2008) The first Pirates movies so hugely successful, you knew there was going to be a sequel. And there was. The main cast all return along with the additons of Belladonna , Sasha Grey , Stoya and Katsuni as an Asian empress in the employ of Victor Stagnetti who has recently returned from the dead. If the first one was a must see then we have to include the sequel to this list. It won all the major awards for 2008 AVN awards – Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor. Many thought the series would end up as a trilogy, but it was not to be. |
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It’s A Mommy Thing! (2007) The movie Taboo spent decades as a bit of a unicorn. It was hugely popular when released during the “Pornochic” era, but attitudes towards adult films quickly changed. The movie remained popular decades after it’s release, but it touched on a subject any major studio found too risky. During the new millenium, many small producers were able to make a decent living making and selling niche clips. Most of them found the “fauxcest” genre to be very popular and many began producing them. But most major studios still stayed away. In 2007, Elegant Angel released Its a Mommy Thing which ushered in the fauxcest genre and everyone else was soon to follow. |
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The 8th Day(2009) The decade closes out with Ren Savant’s epic four and a half hour masterpiece The 8th Day. It is a apocalyptic erotic adventure starring Kayden Kross as a woman who wakes up from a cryogenic sleep to find that there are only 8 days left before Earth will be destroyed by nuclear reactor meltdown. You don’t want to skim this one. Set aside time to sit down and watch the movie. It is one of those rare porn movies that will have you watching for the plot. The entire movie spans 2 discs with two other discs for BTS and bonus footage. |
Click Here to watch a playlist featuring scenes from these “must see movies” the closed out the millenium.