Between Deranged and The Red Room, one thing is certain about Seth Gamble as a director: the man has a vision. Gamble takes his penchant for the dark and moody to his first full-length feature. The film follows a criminal psychologist, Dr. Charlie Hayes, as she works to get involved in the hunt for information on other suspected murders by the incarcerated Joseph Curwen. But not everything is as it seems in this twisted tale of death, sex, and betrayal.
Clip 1: Maddy May and Cody Steele
We open with Dr. Hayes listening to a recorded interrogation with murderer Joseph Curwen. Curwen not only admits to cold-blooded murder, but intimates that there have been other murders that he’s not yet been pinned to. He alludes to getting sloppy after having enjoyed himself too much. And we flashback to the murder. Maddy May plays a woman Curwen is having an affair with. He is supposed to hook up with her, but her man (Cody Steele) is not leaving fast enough. Cody begins to get suspicious, and so Maddy pounces on him to throw him off the scent—much to a waiting Curwen’s chagrin. The sex is forceful and vigorous. Maddy says, “I want you to fucking use me like a toy,” as she’s bent over a piano… the keys playing the errant notes of unhinged passion. It is a raucous beginning to a deeply disturbing film, and it very much sets the tone. For as much pathos as there is in the film, it is met by an equally high degree of lust.
Clip 2: Kenzie Taylor and Derrick Pierce
The interrogation tapes are absolutely brutal—crudely talking about the sexual pleasure Curwen derived from the killings and dismemberments. He even references skullfucking. Mr. Rogers, this movie is not. But Dr. Hayes (played by Seth Gamble’s real-life wife, Kenzie Taylor) appears engaged and unphased by the vulgarity. She is interrupted by the arrival of the prison warden, played by Derrick Pierce. It is made clear she’d been listening in his office, waiting for his arrival. She asks to be put onto the Curwen murder case, seducing him for access. It’s made clear that they have had relations before. But the tactic doesn’t work despite Charlie’s best efforts (side note: if Kenzie Taylor gets on your desk and pulls her panties aside to show you her pussy, you say yes). So Charlie hands the warden a court order, and he is astonished that she is fucking a judge as well.
Already defeated, Pierce gives into his passions. He has Kenzie pull her panties aside once more. The sex is all Kenzie; she is calling the shots. They make great use of the desk, and Kenzie riding Derrick cowgirl in the desk chair against the office window is visually stunning. After Derrick busts and the two begin getting dressed, he has the post-nut clarity of regret and swears he’ll never give in again. Kenzie sternly informs him that they are over only when she says they’re over, and that that’s only when she has no more use for him.
Clip 3 – Kenzie Taylor and Tommy Pistol
Dr. Charlie Hayes (Kenzie Taylor) goes down to visit with Joseph Curwen (portrayed by the sinister-when-he-wants-to-be Tommy Pistol). Kenzie insists that she is left alone with Tommy with no guard. The guard protests but does as he’s told. Tommy’s killer character jumps into his tough and deranged routine to scare her off, but when he sees that she is not backing down, it occurs to him that she might be a “fan” of his work. He then begins to get lascivious. Without any hint of emotion, she begins to tease him—letting him think that he has the possibility of getting his dick wet. She insists on a barter of skin for information, and he obliges. She undoes her white blouse to show a lingerie bra holding in her bountiful orbs.
She then pulls keys to handcuffs from her pussy, and lets Tommy sniff them. She strips down to her lingerie after he undoes his cuffs, and gets her high heels up onto the interrogation room table. He takes one heel off and begins worshiping her stockinged feet as she rubs herself. He takes off her other heel and begins licking and sniffing it while she uses her feet to rub on his hard-on through his prison jumper.
Despite being a serial killer, he willingly submits to Kenzie. And all the while, he is talking about his past murders. At one point Kenzie is going down on him and he confesses, “I used to pay homeless people to suck my cock. Just like that.” And then Kenzie takes her saliva and has him rub it all over his face as she keeps him spilling his secrets. It’s a really bizarre scene, the juxtaposition of him discussing all his brutal acts of violence as she handles and fucks his cock. It is arousing, but it is disturbing and arousing simultaneously.
Clip 4 – Jane Wilde, Lily Larimar, and Mick Blue
And then, after an interesting turn of events, we are confronted with a seemingly unrelated scene. Is this a flashback? Is this one of Curwen’s other unfortunate victims? It’s really unclear (until we find out the truth at the end of the scene– preempting a twist you’ll never see coming). But we see Lily Larimar sitting outside a bar on her own, and being approached by Jane Wilde. It’s an unsettling interaction, appearing as though Jane were trying to pick up on Lily, but Lily being aggressively standoffish. She drops the hint that she might be more receptive to some company if it meant a place for her and her sister to spend the night. And Jane presses a card into Lily’s hand and assures her that she will want to use it.
Flash-forward to Lily showing up at a house, where Jane and a smug-looking Mick Blue are getting intimate on a couch. Jane informs Lily that Lily can either watch or join in. Jane then proceeds to start sucking Mick’s cock. Lily cannot remain a passive observer in such an erotic atmosphere, and spreads her legs to rub her pussy. Lily is then beckoned over, and a wonderful threesome begins. Jane talks repeatedly about how much she’d like to ravish Lily, and Mick encourages Jane to see her passions through. Again, this scene carries with it a sense of menace—but it is more ephemeral than the serial murderer interrogation-by-pussy. It is tough to figure out why things feel off. And it is only later relayed through exposition after the cumshot that we find out why. It’s an interesting, quirky way to end the film… but any way to end a film that lets us see a threesome involving Jane Wilde and Lily Larimar is one I’m onboard with!