Digging Up the Past

This pair of Pure Taboo segments may leave you in a bad mood, since both have very poor endings.

Writer Penicio Del Toro put zero effort into the title scene, and didn't even provide a proper ending. Fans tuning in and expending a twist or plot switcheroo at the end are out of luck.

Parker Ambrose plays a young guy out for retribution -his dad abandoned his mom who had been his mistress, leaving her to waste away in disappointment and Parker to grow bitter. He visits the guy's adult daughter just after his death and informs her what a scumbag her old man was, and that he plans to tell all the funeral.

Millie Morgan as the daughter too quickly adopts the porn cliche of "I'll do anything" to prevent Parker bad-mouthing her dad in public, so immediately she's servicing him sexually. That's all she wrote.

Morgan's acting is quite poor -she drops her character completely once the sex begins, and overdoes the fake throes of passion. Parker plays the bad guy in one-note, sullen fashion. Scene is directed on auto pilot by Ricky Greenwood.

Stella Smut does a poor job of directing (not helped by a Midnight-penned script with lousy dialogue) "The List", an attempt at a suspense thriller. Other than Leana Lovings' okay acting and sexual appeal, it's a dud.

Add another poor performance to Seth Gamble's recent string of dozens of lazy porn walk-throughs to ensure this vignette generates maximum ennui. He plays Leana's boyfriend Harvey, and in a phonecall to a friend Leana gives us plot exposition that she hopes to move in with him.

Story is ludicrously simple, so straightforward that the intended suspense is nil. Leana brings her stuff to his place and finds a piece of paper in a drawer there with a list of girls' first names on it, all crossed out except hers at the bottom. Typical of a sloppy production, her name is spelled Leanna with two n's, not part of the story, just carelessness in production.

When Seth gets home she has a tedious converation with him, strictly one-sided as he barely answers her in monosyllables. She's trying to trick him into revealing what the list might mean (is it sinister or merely his toting up of sexual conquests?). She opts for role play and suggests they pretend to be complete strangers and then make love, with her taking the name Stephanie (a name crossed off the list).

They hump away for the duration of the video, and the "shock" ending afterward is predictable and dull, not living up to the promised cheap thrill.