Do Custom Videos Warrant Criticism?

[Striktured]

Of course they do. If a producers submits a product for public consumption in order to make money, then it warrants criticism.

I may not have always agreed with your point of view NF, but you seem like a straight shooter. The quality of the product these days is such that there will be plenty to criticize without having to even mention the oddball scenarios that infect this fetish nowadays. There are many reasons why the bottom has fallen out; poor quality videos and repetitive customs are just two of them.

Be objective, be honest, but say what you feel needs to be said. That alone will likely bring the ire of some, but it's largely deserved these days. The community was once large and active, but so many have abandoned this fetish due to repetitive and silly nonsense. It's not the customers fault that so many producers are under Nicheclips thumb or have decided to indulge in using their models for their own means. This is a fetish about violence against women. It seems that is often forgotten. Particularly when it comes to the sexuality. Everyone cannot be vanilla. Not with so many producers around. One reason why I gravitated towards PST.

The amounts of nonviolent and silly sexual situations has became absurd. This is abuse porn, there's a huge audience for it out there, but they simply failed to capitalize on it. That, and the strangle/rape crowd has largely walked away. The path most traveled is too often taken these days. As a former PST fan, his basically becoming PKF was the final nail in the coffin. What's sad, is that before his divorce, his product was slowly becoming hyper-violent and amazing. Then he brought in Alan Stafford on a semi-permanent basis and everything abruptly changed. Gangbangs, zero makeup and vanilla necros become the standard for quite some time. Just like everyone else. Sadly little has changed.

You cannot blame people for leaving the fetish. It simply isn't that good these days. It some cases, it hasn't been good for years.

[Nyghtfall]

Thank you all for your input. It is greatly appreciated. I'm glad to know my own thoughts are in line with the general consensus. JohnM expressed his concerns via PM, and I empathize with his position.

Last month, I watched a documentary about Roger Ebert, titled, "Life Itself". Suffice it to say, it was inspiring. Though my reviews will never be more than another hobby, the documentary inspired me to learn how to take a professional approach to writing them. My goal is to offer objective, constructive criticism on the videos I buy, regardless of my overall opinion of them, or whether they were a custom video. I have no interest in making anyone feel apprehensive about reading them, least of all the clients who commissioned the videos, or the producers who brought their fantasies to life. To that end, every review I write about a custom video will be clearly noted as such.

I'm preparing to write my first three reviews. The fetish review section of my site will launch when I'm ready to post them.

To continue showing my support for the only three fantasy death fetish boards I visit - FetNoir, Femmegore, and PKF Studios - I'll post my reviews in the appropriate section here as well, so people can conveniently comment on them.

Once again, thank you.

[Bluestone]

Hey Nyghtfall,

Thanks for posting your reviews here. I know old habits are hard to break, but this is Femme Fatalities, not Femmegore. G-Man has been very active here since inception and helped me to build FF, but his previous Femmegore site is now just an Internet re-direction to the current owner's video site, and not a discussion forum as per the original concept.

Blue

[Nyghtfall]

I know old habits are hard to break, but this is Femme Fatalities, not Femmegore.

:: facepalm ::

I don't know what I was thinking. Sorry about that.

[Striktured]

I look forward to reading them NF. I have done plenty of PST and PKF reviews myself. It can be difficult to be objective at times with all the oddball and repetitive scenarios. Of course, no one put a gun to my head and told me to buy them. So much of the fetish is now controlled by a few custom buyers.

That said, so many guys behind the camera just don't seem to care as much anymore. That's where I give producers like Bluestone a lot of credit with their production quality. It's hard to buy a flick where the camera guy talks....again...where a thousand skips occur when a producer annoyingly edits out eye blinks; where the girls' break character, smile, flub something, yet it is simply left in. There's a huge wave of apathy present in the fetish now.

I was watching a female kill by PST "Perverted Voyeur Part 2. One of the better female kills I have seen. As the murdered girl is nearly dead, legs spread open, tongue hanging out while she convulses in her last few moments, her murderer says, "why don't you just die already!"

---Insanely sexy line as most erotic-horror is now sadly a silent film. Unfortunately, she was sporting a full smile at the time the line was delivered. If they had wherewithal to redo that instance, added a "bitch" to the end of it....and a bladder release...it could have been... It's just little mistakes like the girl breaking character and a lack of violence/female suffering. It's almost like no killer ever seems to speak anymore and the pace of these films can be brutal at times. The formula is spoiled, but they keep feeding it to the baby.

I watched a DD last year where the girl broke character at least a half dozen times by smirking, smiling and even laughing. Just awful. Eventually, even I stopped buying. I revisited PST when he pulled Alex Tanner a few months back, a popular new porn girl, yet the movies were...familiar. Since then...strangled on a bed by a guy that rarely makes a peep and a boring one cumshot necro, seems to be the standard. Just another serial killer ending her everything for robbery and rape, but that one quick cumshot will do it? Come on. Do better. Easily my favorite scenario, but...yeesh. Missed opportunities. Remember when it was the makers of this products responsibility to attract customers? PST doesn't even have a fan board anymore. Yeesh.

I'm certain they were all customs, but they deserved a lot of criticism. That's always been a JohnM staple when being critical of his product: "It's a custom."

That's just not an viable excuse anymore. I admit that I don't buy customs, but I have sank thousands into the industry. I deserve some respect for my purchases and opinions as well. It's not like the descriptions for these movies are always accurate or completely honest. I can't tell you the number of rapes that were tepid 10 second assaults by a fully clothed guy that never came near the victim. Certain producers just won't pay for blood tests anymore. That doesn't stop them from trying to sell it to you by claiming how brutal the assault is within their descriptions.

The consumer deserves a voice as well. I actually wish every movie was reviewed by someone trustworthy and accurate to my desires.

[Chris B]

Thanks a great deal for your post and all the support over the years(whether my vids or not) and the straight talk about how you feel these days about the market and customs in general.
That is really too bad that you feel quality and attention to the fetish has gone down hill. I suppose when you add up all the volume, model producers, and fly by nights, you are correct about poor quality and production, not to mention bone heads like me who take years to figure out how to encode a video into the right codec and file size(still learning) so your videos don't blur during the action. I think what makes me even more bummed is that my idols and mentors, both of which you mentioned, are falling into the same category, in your opinion, due to the custom market and change of business partners, or help they have hired. I have not heard that anywhere else, but I do know that every once in a while we all make little mistakes, or have a model that smiles during a take. I mean i refuse to use any of those takes, that is why after 99.9% of my vids you will see outtakes and deleted scenes after the credits. This serves two purposes, one to show the models aren't really being hurt or abused, and for the customers who re edit their own versions(maybe there is an angle they prefer in the Deleted Scenes)so they can have exactly what they want.

I really hope the stigma of a few people's customs clouding the market and making fetish videos worse and with less attention. I know first hand, for example, my "SLAUGHTER SERIES", I have a customer that really likes the way I do them, and he fully funds them. I have so many that they hardly sell more than 10 or 15 copies in a year each, unless they have Coco...lol. Now should I stop giving the girls work, and stop giving this person their fantasy, the way they like it served, for the better of the community? Should I stop doing Monster Rape videos because they are a weirdo scenario(to some, maybe not others)?

Should I have foregone the wonderful opportunity to produce ten Shakespearean Death Fetish Films and write a book about it because, they don't sell very well, or because someone thinks it is "gay" or weird to mix Shakespeare with strangles and shootings? Methinks not.

I know for a fact that when people buy my videos, which are very fairly priced, well produced and soundtracked, as well as being 96% customs, they are getting a good product for their money. I can't be any more clear about my take on custom videos and reviews of said customs. All publicity is good publicity. Even though what was pointed out about certain producers in this thread, will do more good for them than harm. Patrons will actually buy a couple just to find out what you meant, or make their own decision about the matter. I think they still make the best vids in the business PT and PKF, when it comes to R&S, hardcore, top hot sexy models, and shooting fx(PKF) regardless of my past history, or who's who.

I make the same salary as a McDonald's employee after tax business etc. every year, but I really enjoy making customs and other people's fantasies come to the screen. I'm going to continue until I can't anymore, and do it all to the best of my ability, then after I die, i already have my replacement in place ready to go. CB

[Chris B]

Show stopper! CB

[Nyghtfall]

After giving it a lot more thought, I've decided to scrap the idea. The market does well enough on its own making informed buying decisions, and I would rather focus on more fulfilling creative endeavors.