The Altar of Aphrodite

From the unlikely all-sex source of Kelly Madison Prods., comes this intriguing and occasionally gripping thriller: primarily gonzo in content but also providing some characters and narrative worth watching. In today's porn market the balance here is no surprise, given audiences having largely turned away from the old story-line movie form of Adult Entertainment.

Angela White gives a solid performance as a blogger caught up in a sex cult investigation thanks to the cry for help and subsequent disappearance of her friend Chanel Preston. She ends up enlisting reluctant private eye Ryan Ryder to help her, and there's plenty of strong XXX BDSM sex en route to a downbeat surprise ending.

Much of the movie's exposition is crammed into a lengthy, static scene of Ryder filling Angela in on his knowledge about the cult, punctuated by a flashback of a cult victim (played by femdom star Aiden Starr) humped by Codey Steele. Finale is a threesome for Angela serviced by Flash Brown and Chad White.

Half a loaf is better than none sums up my reaction to this addition of solid story, albeit limited in duration, to the current standard of 30-minute plus sex scenes. Apparently there is no going home again to the concise feature film approach that made for classic Adult Cinema back in the '70s/'80s theatrical era.