Fumetti Company, The Review

Distributor: Harmony Concepts Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Feature Film, Fetish, Bondage Also known as: Gaillo Fumetti Run Time: 59 minutes Rated: XXX Release Year: 2002 Director: Oak O'Kork Written by: uncredited Cast: Sadie Atkins, Sass Lynn (as Sass Lyn), Ryan Conner, Angelique Lei, Carolyn Monroe, Summer Cummings, Sadie Belle Voices: Oak O'Kork Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1 Disc: DVD 5 (SS, SL) Special Features: Full Bondage Scenes, Outtakes, Photo Gallery DVD-ROM Special Features: none

Synopsis:
Sass (Sass Lynn) works as a story board artist for Sadie (Sadie Atkins) at a Italian style fumetti comic company. Sadie wants Sass to work on a story board on a stranger tying up women in their places of business, which is currently going on in their area.

Audio/Video:
The Fumetti Company is presented with an English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround track. Don't let it trick you though, from what I could tell it is just a two-channel monaural track. The dialog is clear and easy to hear though for those who want to follow it. Harmony Concepts hasn't included any foreign language tracks or subtitle options for the feature film.

The Fumetti Company is presented in the full screen aspect ratio of 1.33:1, which I'm positive is the original aspect ratio for the feature film. It is obviously shot on video and with the exception of a portion being shot incorrectly is crisp, clear and clean. In the beginning the presentation is extremely grainy which I think came from shooting with way too little light present, don't worry when you see that it clears up rather fast. Other than that, no one should be upset by the video presentation.

Special Features:
If bondage is your thing then you should enjoy the extras that are included on the disc for the most part. The full bondage scenes exist for many of the women in the film, not just the shorter ones in the film. There are full bondage scenes for Carolyn Monroe, Sadie Belle, Summer Cummings, Sadie Atkins, and Angelique Lei. There are some outtakes, of which some were amusing. There was an obviously made to try and be funny Found! scene where they redubbed the audio for one of the dialog scenes. There is also a photo gallery on the disc that contains 33 stills on a track.

Disc Design/Navigation:
This disc is poorly mastered and reminds me of Caballero's releases. The film spans multiple titles, not just chapters, and there is no chapter menu at all. With the exception of the photo gallery, the extras continue on after the film ends and span another title and a half. Each of the titles has a time code but it is rather useless as the film spans over three titles and the extras start half way though the final title that the film is on and continue on through another title. At least there isn't a watermark on the disc.

General Review:
I haven't seen much of any bondage films in my day. I've seen a couple of the old ones from Avon and if HOM/London would release more of their back catalog I'd check some of theirs out but I wasn't quite sure what to expect going into this. This is nothing like what Avon produced back in the day and wasn't at all what I was expecting. There is no sex in the film at all. Nor is there any lower body nudity and most of the females in the film are fully clad.

The film has a skimpy story, which kind of peters out rather quickly and comes back as it feels like to explain the bondage scenes. The concept was amusing at first but then grew less so as the film went on to nowhere. Apparently the film wanted viewers to feel that it was a gaillo film, as it kept mentioning that, it isn't. It just appears to be a cheaply made film where women end up tied up and struggling.

They tried to make this into a feature film, but it really doesn't work at all. Most of the early scenes of women in bondage are what Sass Lynn is thinking as she is making the story board featuring most of the female cast members. Then at the end of the film they are Sass Lyn and sometimes Sadie Atkins as the photos for the fumetti comic are supposedly being taken. I expect that if you are into the bondage in the film you'll want to skip over the “plotted portions” and just watch the bondage scenes.

If bondage is a fetish of yours and you aren't looking to see some sex with it this kind of film might be right up your alley. The women look nice and I really wanted to see them undressed — hell I still want to see most of them undressed. The women end up tied up, you don't see this happening, it is just accepted that it happened. Then the woman struggles for a while. Then film goes back to the plot, or to another scene of a tied up woman struggling when the plot finally gives way and becomes non-existent.

Parting Thoughts:
Apparently this film wasn't for me. If you are a fan of watching women who are tied up struggle, you might try renting the title. If you aren't just give the film a pass as there isn't anything here that will interest you. Personally I doubt I'll ever watch one of their titles again.

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