Man’s Ruin by Winkytiki

Man’s Ruin (2007)
Director: Winkytiki
Studio: Vivid Alt
Producer: Eon McKai
Cast: Melodie Gore, Roxy DeVille, Justine Joli, Mia Rose, Celeste Star, Ava Rose, Satine Phoenix, Stoya, Claire Adams, Lystra, Chris Charming, Jay Huntington, Barry Scott
I am a huge fan of Octavio Winkytiki’s alt, pin-up photography [Winkytiki], so I was really looking forward to seeing what he could do with a DVD camera and jumped at the chance to review his porn film Man’s Ruin when Babeland offered to send out review copies.

Winkytiki is known for his kitschy retro pin-up style photography with many well known models including Masuimi Max, one of my favorite alt models.

The DVD is packaged nicely in a fold-out cardboard sleeve that houses 2 DVDs-one is the film itself, the second features the extras-with a cool temporary tattoo as well.  Right away, the production quality of the packaging impressed me and I was eager to watch the film itself.

The inspiration for the film is interesting.  In the extras section there is a 60s anti-porn propaganda documentary called “Perversion for Profit” made in the US that warns against the social dangers of pornography.  Man’s Ruin attempts to address and mock this documentary by leading the viewer into the depravity of sexual deviancy, which according to the documentary is the “biggest problem facing our nation… [which threatens to] contaminate and weaken our society…”

The premise of the film is stranger still.  Alt star Melodie Gore plays a tattooed, video-game addicted geek who lives vicariously through her video games.  Suddenly, the video game she is playing has a glitch and Melodie is transported into the game itself to become an Alt Heroine who must fight her way through the various levels to survive.  The film’s aesthetic draws inspiration from a [p]ornucopia of juxtaposed ideas including Japanese Manga, crazed Nazi scientists, 70s disco, futuristic Sci-fi, and retro stag films.  The sets are designed by Winkytiki, most of which are in his garage and are very artistic and well-done.  So far so good, right?

The film itself is extremely hard to watch however.  It features Art-House porn technique dissolves, overlays and cutting in the style of Eon McKai (Man’s Ruin’s producer) but is not quite successful in putting this style into action.  For one thing, Melodie Gore shape-shifts throughout the film into various personas, so you can never really follow who or what she is.  In one instance she becomes a stop-motion-animated squid, in other a fetish latex-wearing nurse, and a kung-fu ninja in another.  The storyline (if you can call it that) is very hard to follow and you don’t realize until watching the behind-the-scenes that all these personas are her.  So, art for art sake?  That’s fine, after all Winkytiki is first and foremost an artist.  But, how does it come across as a porno?

No so well.  The sex scenes are the usual mainstream hardcore fair with very little alternative action to interest the viewer.  The sex is very stylized and wholly unbelievable, lacking passion and being way too posed.  Although there is a dungeon scene and a scene featuring a pony-girl, there isn’t any real fetish or S/m play.  It is merely hardcore dressed up in fetish attire.  Even the one scene that had the most potential featuring sadomasochist Claire Adams is so cut-up with strange ambiguous imagery, superimpositions, jump-cuts and bad audio, that you can never really immerse yourself as a viewer into the scene.  This is a real shame as Claire is always amazing.

All in all, Man’s Ruin was a disappointment and failure for me.  Being a fan of Winkytiki’s photography I had high expectations for the film which were never met.  The extras are actually better than the film itself, featuring that propaganda film and some excellent photography by Winkytiki.  I am not righting off Winkytiki as a director of porn yet.  His other film Rebelle Rousers looks much closer to his pin-up aesthetic and I liked the trailer for it, so I look forward to reviewing it in the future.  But, as far as Man’s Ruin goes, if you want to see alt porn that works as porn, I’d recommend Eon McKai’s Kill Girl Kill 3 and Neu Wave Hookers instead.

Check out these films and many others at Babeland.