XXX Dark Web Review from TetroVideo!
All fanatics and casual viewers of extreme films should see and categorize 2018’s Deep Web XXX (see review of Deep Web XXX here) as a masterpiece in the field that totally caught the moment and imagination. Fluid and almost organic, taking such sexual (supposedly taboo) subjects and making them into a wonderful centerfold art form that lasts in your mind long after the finale.
Welcome, one and all, through the weeping sore gates into XXX Dark Web, which isn’t a sequel, according to Severed Cinema regular, Domiziano Cristopharo, it’s a kind of reboot. We’re in 2020, and after the rocky distribution history of its predecessor (which Severed became briefly involved in), this one will be released via TetroVideo safe and secure.
My only concern before I watched this had to be would lightning strike twice? Would this one feel as good (that’s a weird description to use I know, but it feels right) as Deep Web XXX? Or would it just go for shock value and absolutely no build-up or substance?
From how the originals wraparound segment had a middle-aged bloke surfing the web, this time it’s a young Star Wars nerd kid, minus his pants. He types in ‘Queen of Hearts’ into the domain address, aha, so that theme is still prominent. In the first, each episode featured a QOH card held up to the camera at one point or other. The first place he clicks has Domiziano regular, Chiara Pavoni dancing in strobe sickly red lights. This lady is a marvel and has done wonders in Xpiation (see review of Xpiation here), Just a Child (see review of Just a Child here) and many more flicks. As she gestates and moves about, her fingernails draws blood from her body, all to some techno beats sounding similar to the original.
Chapter two has a bandaged-faced chap masturbating furiously on his bed. It’s worth noting the painful suffering I went through trying to get a screen-shot of this. Each time I tried, his hand was a blur. I sat through his wanking more times than I wished to just to get an almost good picture! His exciting stimulation turns out to be decomposing corpses photographed in all their glory. These and newspaper articles documenting crimes. Fuck me, he’s having a right good hand shandy, nearly tugging the poor old bishop in two. I found myself chuckling as the guy properly contorts himself and his eyes behind the bandages widen. Then we go into what is possibly a fantasy dream or flashback? Not sure. Two masked blokes gobble down a moaning man whilst he’s tied up, chewing out his arsehole as well for bonus points. C’mon though, where would we be without a bit of penis violence? Yeah, what comes next is nice and graphic just how we like it. And it doesn’t stop there. Let’s think back to the now infamous scene that caused Deep Web XXX all the bother – the fisting that turned some poor lad into a glove puppet, mouth operated, etcetera. Hahaha, this time round it’s kind of like saying, “Hey, we’re distributing this ourselves, fuck you! See how far we can go!” Honestly, like the first, if you watch this thinking it’s going to be some tame housewife porn, you seriously need to leave, and collect your fallen chin on the way out.
Back to our wraparound kid, and he’s getting frisky, leg shaking, and so on. Off come his boxer shorts. Ooooh, here we go, next part begins and we’re really getting some meat on the bones now. Man in a mask and a butchers apron starts hacking into a headless mannequin. He begins with the severed head, carving his knife deeply into the plastic as ominous sounds play. Our friend then moves to a nude female cadaver and starts mutilating it. Oh my God, and the pay-off is incredible! This chapter is called Dolls, and it’s by Emanuele Marchetto who created the goddamn showstopper in Deep Web XXX, Stalker. I described that as a “complete mind-fuck”! Dolls goes further, shoving a huge throbbing diseased member into your face. If Emanuele ever forms a larger monster, a full feature, I think it will totally destroy many of what we see as classic extreme films. He is gifted in showing us the darkness.
I pity the next one after that. Deep Web XXX wisely kept Stalker until the end (aside from the quick closure to the wraparound) this time Dolls is in the dead centre. Not to worry, in fact Adam Ford’s, Deconstructing Roberto is like nothing else in these anthologies. To describe Adam’s baby here would do injustice, I have to leave you some shocks and surprises. It’s a lot calmer in tone that what came before, but that doesn’t mean it becomes a pussy and wets itself, oh no, all I can say is, you will not forget what you witness.
Hey, it’s my friend, Daniel Valient, aka White Gardenia — I recognise some of the material on show here from the short films I reviewed a while back (see review of White Gardenia Shorts and Bondage Clips here). If you know his priors, you’ll know what to expect. Sexual self-mutilation done quite artfully but with a sly wink in the eye. I’ve been told some of the mutilation crowd deem his works as trash. Man, that’s a compliment anyhow, but let’s be totally honest here, a lot of circles in any scene have a tendency to take everything way too seriously, thus probably alienating each-other. All grumpy bulldog faces, only smiling to one another. C’mon, lighten up or you will suffer high blood pressure. Humour to me is pivotal, and means you notice so much more than your narrow minded beliefs would normally allow you to! White Gardenia’s stuff isn’t po-faced, it’s low key and he commits his suffering and pain to camera with a slick dose of horror. Helped along the way by his merry band of misfits in front of and behind the camera (as per reflections) it’s stabbings, chopping, nudity and real blood galore, plus licking of said real blood whilst Daniel looks eternally pissed off and sometimes confused. It’s basically a replay of some of his shorts with added bits. However if you haven’t seen White Gardenia before, be prepared to be smashed in the face – it’s all real whether you like it or not.
In an alternative world, Daniel is a regular death match wrestler, appearing at Combat Zone, H20, GCW and many more. In reality, this guy loves pain and the sight of his own blood, which is a step to signing a death match contract anyhow. In conclusion, does he go too far? Watch and decide…
The overall tale of our young lad at his Mac actually continues after the end credits and reveals exactly why it is called, Curiosity Killed the Cat. Well worth waiting for.
Luis Bunuel once stated in a book that he saw gin as drink for a thinking man. I see XXX Dark Web as a film for a thinking man, whose thoughts are unlike what society would term as ‘normal.’
XXX Dark Web has segments which mess with your mind, some with your soul, some with your nerve endings. It cannot be compared to the first, honestly. Even though the concept and structure is similar, nothing is the same within. Like a new partner who may look and act the same as a previous one, it feels so different this time. My one gripe is the lack of the card. That was a nice touch in the first and I truly thought it would be heavily continued this time around, but never mind, that’s a small dissatisfaction and compared to the whole picture it is a minor detail.
Domiziano and his grim gang of oddballs have truly pulled out all the stops, held back no beatings to your eyes, why should they? Like I said prior, you aren’t entering this realm expecting some pointless pop Hostel or Saw hokum are you? As Jarvis Cocker sang once, “… this is hardcore, there is nowhere back for you…”
Put your money where your mouth is. With XXX Dark Web, you may enter the room with a poker face, but it won’t last.
Directed by: Domiziano Cristopharo, Alex Hernandez, Emanuele Marchetto, Adam Ford, Daniel Valient, Lorenzo D.Zanoni | Written by: Domiziano Cristopharo, Alex Hernandez, Emanuele Marchetto, Adam Ford, Daniel Valient, Lorenzo D.Zanoni | Produced by: TetroVideo | Cinematography by: Domiziano Cristopharo, Alex Hernandez, Emanuele Marchetto, Alex Ford, Daniel Valient, Lorenzo D.Zanoni | Music by: Deep Notes, CO.AH Music, Francesco Zuccarello, Coulson Rutter, White Gardenia, Oval, Markus Popp, Domiziano Cristopharo | Special Effects by: Athanasius Pernath, Baco’s Props, Grazia D’Amaro, | Cast: Franz Dicarolo, Chiara Pavoni, Enrique Diaz Duran, Juan Manuel Martinez, Valerie Non Otto, Emanuele Marchetto, Alex D’Alascio, Daniel Valient, Allison S., Cher Nevin | Year: 2020 | Country: Italy, Mexico, UK, USA | Language: Italian, English | Color: Color | Runtime: 1h 28min
Distribution: TetroVideo
