Fashionistas Safado: The Challenge Review
Evil Angel
Studio: Evil Angel
Category: Feature film
Directed by: John Stagliano
Starring: Mark Davis, Caroline Pierce, Rocco Siffredi, Erik Everhard, Nacho Vidal, Chris Charming, Voodoo, Lia Baren, Belladonna, Nicole Sheridan, Jewell Marceau, Mr. Pete, Jenna Haze, Gianna Michaels, Jazz Duro, Sandra Romain, Katsuni, Melissa Lauren, Jean Val Jean, Marie Luv, Flower Tucci, Sintia Stone, Adrianna Nicole, Sasha Grey
Released on: 9/29/2006
Crucifixio Jones's ratings for this movie:
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Reviewed by Crucifixio Jones on 10/11/2006
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The most eagerly-anticipated release of the year doesn’t disappoint |
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  2006, 4 hours and 10 minutes Evil Angel Directed by John Stagliano. Starring Belladonna, Katsumi, Flower Tucci, Adrianna Nicole, Jenna Haze, Gianna, Sasha Grey, Nicole Sheridan, Sandra Romain, Caroline Pierce, Jewell Marceau, Lia Baren, Sintia Stone, Vanessa Hill, Peg, Judith Fox, Annette Schwarz, Oona, Dunya, Constantine, Rocco Siffredi, Manuel Ferrara, Nacho Vidal, Steve Holmes, Erik Everhard, Jean Val Jean, Chris Charming, Mark Davis, Christian, Mr. Pete, Voodoo and Jazz Duro. | |||||
| The Story | |||||
 Who or what is Safado? It is this question that mentally torments Antonio (Rocco Siffredi) and strains the romantic relationship between himself and his significant other slash business partner, Jesse (Belladonna). The star-crossed pair are now the sole owners and creative force behind Fashionistas after Taylor St. Clair’s manipulative and domineering Helena abandoned the brand at the conclusion of the first installment. They are clearly having a great time enjoying the excesses afforded by their successes and have staged a lengthy and elaborate performance to show off their new line of latex and leather fetish gear. The presentation goes off without a hitch but as Rocco and Bella field questions from a small circle of reporters (watch for a cameo by Nici Sterling as one of the inquiring journalists) an astonishing video mysteriously begins to play on monitors onstage. In it, Katsumi stands amidst creatures adorned in wildly creative fetish ornaments, engaged in harder-edged sexual situations than ever previously explored by Jesse’s vaunted creations and inventions. Rocco is not only intrigued, he becomes borderline obsessed with finding out who is responsible for what he just witnessed. As the back boxcover succinctly states, in the first Fashionistas Rocco decided to go after fetish. Now the tables have turned. Fetish is going after him and its name is SAFADO.  At a small mansion party thrown for the models and dancers who participated in the fashion show, an impromptu orgy breaks out amongst the latex-clad partygoers. It features the likes of Flower Tucci, Adrianna Nicole, Nicole Sheridan, Sandra Romain, Marie Luv and newcomer Sasha Grey (making her first-ever onscreen hardcore performance). A dark-haired and business-suited sinister looking fashion journalist (Melissa Lauren) first seen in the audience at the opening, skirts the fringes of the swarm, choosing to merely observe and wait for an opportunity to interview Rocco who is a bit pre-occupied: first with oral attention from Sasha Grey and then in private with the curiously converse pair of a slight and angular Jenna Haze and the voluptuously full-bodied Gianna. Her voice tinged with near-disdain, Lauren’s questions seem more like an annoyed interrogation than amicable interview. Frustrated by Rocco’s perceived arrogance and unattentiveness, Melissa hurriedly excuses herself and we get our first true sex scene of Fashionistas 2 between the three powerhouse performers left behind, Rocco, Jenna and Gianna. It easily surpasses whatever expectations one would have for a scene of this nature.  As their threesome ends, the orgy outside rages on. The number of participants involved makes it increasingly difficult to give pairings and groups the sustained camera time performers of their caliber deserve and dedicated strokers will no doubt desire. During the orgy, Melissa Lauren, Belladonna and Manuel Ferrara all eventually insert themselves into the fray and the mass of writhing and twisting flesh but the trio slinks off to somewhere more private and share a penetration-less encounter of their own alone.  Through a talk with Mark Davis, who happens to have a little background information on Katsumi, Rocco discovers the SAFADO website. He becomes so thoroughly engrossed by what he views there, Bella is left with no choice but to express her concern about Rocco’s latest infatuation and inevitable dalliance. Time and time again she’s witnessed first-hand his wandering eye and she feels as though she may be slowly losing him, a feeling that to her, is unbearable. In an attempt to assuage her fears, Rocco reaches out to Bella in the only way he really knows how. Their steamy session, however, is interrupted abruptly by an emotional breakdown by Bella who implores the emotionally distant and distracted Rocco to go to Berlin to find out what SAFADO is really all about, their relationship possibly at an end. | |||||
| Analysis | |||||
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As creatively bankrupt as Hollywood is as of late , there are a few tried and true, time-tested conventions of screenwriting that everyone should know. One such tenet is the paradigm of dramatic structure. To keep your audience’s attention, it is necessary to provide the setup in the first thirty minutes or less, preferably with some dramatic “action” or a situation to start your movie with a bang. Whether an act of convenience or just pure conceit (the featured dancers and aerialists in the opener are from Stagliano’s own Las Vegas show) I think most viewers will come away agreeing that going twenty-plus minutes without any hardcore action or even dialogue wasn’t the best way to begin Fashionistas 2 (though, Jenna Haze and Gianna attending to Rocco as he watched the show served as subtle foreshadowing of things to come as green-eyed Bella watched from afar). Trimming this portion, tightening up the footage of Jenna, Gianna and Rocco and getting to SAFADO’s first video a little sooner would have alleviated the poor pacing. As is, the first act begins somewhat lethargically and we are made to wait an interminable amount of time before the first plot point of interest finally surfaces (though one could argue that Rocco blatantly straying from Bella with Haze and Gianna is a point of great interest, storyline-wise). Fans of the first Fashionistas movie will be pleased to see many elements of the original (an oversexed designer is terrorized and taunted by an enigmatic and ambitious professional rival) retained albeit with a more disquieting and darker bent. Everything is, for lack of a better term, bigger, better and bolder; juiced up on cinematic steroids. The costuming, replete with exposed asses and easily-accessible tits, is even more garish and visually striking than the first installment for which the latex outfit were, for many, a definite high point. Modern technology remains a device that helps to move the story forward; it is Rocco’s intense and relentless examination of SAFADO’s DVDs and website that gives viewers a glimpse into the erotic dystopia Stagliano’s mind has fashioned to represent their movement.  On the subject of SAFADO, I was initially apprehensive about the inclusion of Katsumi in what I believed would be an important and central role in the story (just how integral still remains to be seen) but here she, like everyone else, is perfectly cast. Called upon to not do much more than be her delicate and exotic self through the first two acts, in our first few glimpse of Katsumi she utters not a word, opting to merely cast ice-cold and emotionless glares at the camera and strike stationary, superior stances in her exceptional outfits. It isn’t until later that Katsumi truly shines, doing what she does best as a performer: her masterful mouth work on Nacho Vidal is guaranteed to receive consideration at the AVN Awards in January and she follows that with an all-anal excursion with the baby-faced Jazz Duro.  Rocco Siffredi remains a loveable lumbering lothario. His philandering provides Fashionistas 2 with one of its many highlights as he has an extended anal tryst with the tiny Jenna Haze and slaps Gianna’s full tits and big round ass until the blood rises to the surface, making her various naughty parts resemble the hue of ripe red cherry tomatoes.  The most enjoyable and surprisingly adept member of this ensemble is still Belladonna. It is amazing that a woman as sexually confident and uninhibited as we all know Bella to be can effectively and convincingly portray the generally unsure, timid and emotionally vulnerable Jesse. In a flimsy tee and denim cutoffs, she is Clark Kent, demure and soft-spoken, tossed around helplessly like a leaf on the wind by her love for Rocco. But in form-fitting red latex she’s Superman, prowling assuredly through orgies like a predator and completely in her element in the nude. | |||||
| Overall | |||||
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Stagliano has proven once again why he is head and shoulders above his peers and why they revere him so. His directorial talents are indisputable and clearly evident (moreso when he shoots his sex scenes in the classic “Buttman” style we’ve all come to know and love) even if he occasionally and unwisely treads into Ninn-ish territory unnecessarily, coupling ominous and forboding music with slo-mo for dramatic effect. Fashionistas 2 favors tease and anticipation over instant or immediate gratification and eschews the sense of urgency surrounding sexual contact we’ve grown accustomed to seeing. Rather than having every male tear into the women as if they simply can’t wait to get their hands on them, Stagliano forces viewers to be patient and builds expectations (sometimes at a teasingly painful pace) making the impact of the denouement a more powerful, meaningful and gratifying experience. This goes not just for the individual scenes but for the feature as a whole (especially what would normally be viewed as an anticlimax of an ending) as it perfectly sets up whatever is to transpire when Rocco arrives in Berlin in the final, impending chapter. I can’t imagine a soul not being a tad excited at that prospect after watching Fashionistas 2. Special Features:
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The opinions expressed in this review of Fashionistas Safado: The Challenge from Evil Angel are not necessarily the opinions of Adult DVD Talk. Adult DVD Talk provides a public forum for consumers to post their DVD reviews. Adult DVD Talk does not edit these reviews.