Chained (Bizarre Video) Review

Distributor: Bizarre Video Edition Details: Standard Streaming and Download Movie Specs: Genres: Golden Age Classic, Feature Film, BDSM, Vignette Run Time: 70 minutes Rated: XXX Release Year: 1980 Director: Morty Gordon Written by: uncredited Cast: Stephanie Boyd, Blossom Leigh, Michael Morrison, Richard, Jamie Gillis, Serena Release Specs: Audio: English MPEG Mono Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: Streaming and Download Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): N/A Number of discs: N/A

Chained is one of the early shot on video BDSM movies made by Morty Gordon for his company Bizarre Video. Chained is a feature-style movie; however, there isn't much plot for the movie at all. The plot is a series of lightly set-up vignettes that glue the sex scenes together.

The plot behind Chained is that Stephanie (Stephanie Boyd) finds herself becoming excited by the thought of BDSM. She tells her friend (Blossom Leigh) of how a bondage scene she saw with Jamie Gillis (Jamie Gillis) and Serena (Serena) turned her on, so Stephanie's friend introduces Stephanie to her friends Michael (Michael Morrison) and Richard (Richard), who are into BDSM.

The plotted portions are as little as possible to get the movie from each scene to each scene. Unfortunately, the BDSM scenes are as light as the plot is in the movie. There are five sex scenes within Chained. Not all of the sex scenes have BDSM aspects in them, and, except for one scene, the BDSM aspects when present in scenes is BDSM-lite at best.

The best BDSM scene in the movie, by far, is the scene with Jamie Gillis and Serena. Unfortunately, this scene appears to have been made for another Bizarre Video movie — most likely The Submission of Serena — by, this reviewer suspects, a different director and cinematographer and spliced into this one. This scene stands out from all of the others because of the intensity and shooting style of the BDSM scene. Had the rest of the movie had the intensity and look of this scene, Chained would have been a far better movie.

The sex in the scenes is disappointing as well. Michael Morrison is usually a top-notch performer, but he seems to be having issues in this movie. He seems to have problems performing; however, this could be due to circumstances on set and poor editing in post-production.

Chained itself appears to be a rushed and cheap production. Often sheets or blankets are blocking off parts of the set. The sets themselves look cheap and makeshift. Camera flashes from still shots can be seen in the final movie. The haunting music used for the movie does little to hide that the movie itself is very tame.

Despite having one excellent BDSM scene, which was likely pulled out of The Submission of Serena, Chained is a colossal disappointment. The BDSM scenes are BDSM-lite at best, the sex scenes are a letdown, and the story is a loss. The cast may look impressive but Chained is best skipped.

The edition of Chained screened is the streaming and download edition available from HotMovies. Bizarre Video has done an adequate job with their streaming and download edition of Chained. Chained was shot on video. This reviewer is unsure if a master videotape was used for this release. Chained is presented in the Academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 in 480p. As can be expected for a 39-year-old shot on video movie, the image contains glitches, some worse than others. The colors are a little over saturated. However, Chained isn't horrible for a video release of its age.

Chained is presented with an English MPEG two-channel monaural audio track. The audio doesn't fare as well as the video does in this release. The sound quality is rather poor with a heavy hiss throughout the movie. There is distortion, and there is a whine present at times. The dialog in the movie is usually discernible.

Bizarre Video hasn't included any extras for their streaming and download edition of Chained.

Chained is a BDSM feature movie from the beginnings of Bizarre Video. Unfortunately, the story, the BDSM aspects, and the sex itself aren't very good in Chained. The production itself looks cheap and, unfortunately, has little to offer the viewer. Bizarre Video has done an adequate job with their streaming and download edition of Chained with video quality that is acceptable for the age but poor audio quality.

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