Hotel Hyde Review

Reviewed by cv  on  3/6/2005

Tanya Hyde (the video nom de plume for a London fetish personality) has been making fetish movies for years: several years ago for Private and more recently for Harmony. While I've seen trailers and excerpts from Tanya's movies before, I've never watched one in its entirety. Evil Angel has picked up the distribution rights for Harmony in the United States, and Hotel Hyde is the first title to be released.

My interest isn't BDSM; the discipline part doesn't do anything for me, and I don't care for pain, even if it is between consensual partners. Basically I'm hoping to enjoy some of the fashion/aesthetics of the genre, particularly the women's outfits; I happen to like the counter-culture urban chic of latex, leather, and PVC. Here in San Francisco, there are venues similar to those depicted in these types of movies, albeit not as well-lit or with the same proliferation of attractive clientele.

My expectations for fetish films are markedly different from standard gonzo or feature flicks, so I will rate Hotel Hyde based on different criteria than I would for, oh, let's say Jules Jordan's Flesh Hunter 8. I expect there to be artistic license in the video production, including slow-motion, dramatic lighting, creative video effects, dubbed audio, different camera angles, etc.

Well, it's time to check into the Hotel Hyde. I've heard some good things about this place, but I don't know how much sleep we're going to get.

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The Bitches Room

After being greeted by the Hotel Hyde reception desk clerk (naturally clad in fetishwear), we ascend the candle-lit main staircase and are passed by some masked hotel visitors who are departing. The whole double-take/head-turning reaction ("Did I really just see that?") quickly sets the mood.

The Bitches Room has three cages; two are occupied by masked men in leather chest harnesses and black tights which expose their genitals. A third cage appears to have a woman. A pretty corseted brunette walks into the room and starts with the dual handjobs/blowjobs as the two males' cages are side-by-side. More accurately, she puts most of the attention on one guy and the other is frustrated by the lack of attention. The first few minutes sets the tone on what we should expect in audio/video style: slow motion, stop-action/dropped frame, dubbed narration, and a hip soundtrack (no audio from the set). The brunette fondles the blonde woman in the cage, and soon the two males are free; their hoods are removed for better pussy-licking freedom. The blonde babe gets the full attention of the two guys; she sucks one guy and gets her pussy penetrated by the other.

Rather abruptly, we're transitioned to the brunette (missing during the entire time the blonde was getting pounded) in a leather sex harness (hanging from the ceiling). That lasts only a brief moment and then we find the two women getting bones by the boys side by side. Despite the tricky high-key lighting, there are some good penetration visuals here. The blonde gets a monster blast all over her face; the brunette gets her pussy pumped before the guy pulls out and unloads a good sized load on her belly.

The Rubber Room

In an odd gender twist, we find a guy wearing thigh-high black latex high-heeled boots, clear goggles, and elbow-length black gloves perched on some chair with stirrup-like supports holding his thighs wide apart (a ob-gyn's chair?). A blonde wearing white sunglasses rubs his cock through a yellow-latex scarf, then proceeds to perform a vigorous blowjob.

Next, a white-latex clad woman (the boxcover chick) enter a cage that has a man in what appears to be a black-latex body bag restraining his body. His head is free so he's able to lick her pussy as she sits on his face. Curiously, this latex body bag has a strategically placed zipper and the woman performs an energetic blowjob (for a few moments the images switch to a negative-value reverse-colored image, more of the artistic freedom that I expected from Tanya Hyde).

We move to a brunette woman (wearing the same sunglasses) reclining on a chair with a hand-cranked mechanical dildo pumping her pussy; a white-latex clad man is spinning the flywheel that pumps the dildo in and out as another white-latex clad man is getting his dick sucked. The guys' outfits are very odd; almost like white skirts with white aprons. We transition back to the original chair but this time it's the brunette with her legs up in the stirrups, one guy probing her pussy alternating with most of the fingers of one hand and a large red corkscrew style dildo. The brunette's sunglasses eventually come off, right around the time her pussy finally gets penetrated by live cock. We then get the blonde woman getting her anus rimmed by one of the guys. She gets dp-ed, the guy in her ass clad in a black latex condom; one guy cums on her tits after which the other guy pumps her ass and finally jerks off, although little goes into her sphincter. (The brunette is absent from the last part of the scene.)

The Wedding Suite

A young couple is getting married by a priest; the groom is in a pinstriped gangster-style suit, his blonde bride wears the traditional white with a veil. She sure looks mighty experienced sucking his cock in the wedding suite at the Hotel Hyde (the woman's voiceover has a Southern drawl). It's her turn as he laps her labia as she squats on his face. Inexplicably, a pretty brunette in a black pillbox hat joins the happy couple; the two women lavish sapphic affection on each other while the guy disappears for a while (maybe he's in the other room watching TV). Oh, the brunette has strapped on a black dildo and has taken over in the traditional wedding night duties for the guy; the blonde bride is energetically bouncing up and down in reverse cowgirl.

Oops, I guess Sportscenter is over. The guy is back in the bedroom, and is pumping the bride's sphincter as her brunette friend provides vaginal coverage. Just like that, the brunette is gone and she's bouncing along in reverse anal cowgirl before a quick facial from her new hubby.

Next, we have the priest chilling out, drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette, until the brunette shows up to confess. She confesses sins of the flesh and goes out to prove it by sucking his cock through the confessional gloryhole: you gotta love those Catholic girls! She has a heavenly expression on her face as he licks away and maybe even more so once he sticks his rod into her tight twat. The action continues to heat up as he nails her ass; inexplicably, he's wearing a ring with an enormous blue stone on his right hand. She (Luisa De Marco, I think) looks great with her white gloves and bowtie, black pillbox hat and fishnet stockings, first in reverse vaginal cowgirl, then in reverse anal cowgirl before the padre cums over her belly.

Gang Bang Boudoir

Clad in black lingerie and long black gloves, a gorgeous brunette (Luisa again?) relaxes in a crimson bedroom, decorated by a series of portraits on the wall. She lets her fingers do the walking and they are busy probing her pussy. Suddenly, three penises poke through three of the portraits on the wall and naturally she sucks each one in turn. As she sucks the one in the middle, the two on either side disappear, so I think it's safe to assume that they'll reappear with bodies attached to them. And when they do, she ignores the one at the wall and starts sucking away at these two hooded newcomers. Well, the pattern is set and the third guy appears.

After sucking two guys and have a third one finger and lick her pussy, the penetration starts doggy style as one guy pumps away and she continues her oral administrations. She looks even better bouncing up and down in reverse cowgirl which blowing the two others. All three Eurostuds have pretty generously-sized cocks, so the visuals are pretty good looking as they penetrate her. She does eventually get all holes filled, but I'm not sure if I'd call three guys and a girl a "gangbang".

No matter, the first guy unloads on her belly and pubes for which she looks very grateful; the next guy cums on her upstretched ass, most of his jizz dribbling down across her pussy. The last guy's load is a quick facial exclamation point and like that, the scene is over.

Chamber of the Undead

No subtlety here, the vampiric overtones are like a sledgehammer. Can we get Julie Benz to participate? No? Well, a couple of cute Euro goth chicks would be okay. And so we do, one getting a deep vaginal probing with an odd black dildo (which might have been designed as an anal toy but sure looks good in her ass). The sex toy play continues and we periodically see a statuesque beauty ascending the staircase. She arrives at a room and removes a coffin lid to find a sleeping male inside. Maybe he's undead, but he's not unhard.

Luckily, Hyde has not outfitted the actors with silly vampire fangs which really would have been distracting (the guy does have some makeup which is already on the comical side). Our undead stud gets to pump her pussy with his thick cock in a variety of positions. Man, this is the footage we were missing in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He pounds her and finally plasters her face with a generous load. Just like that the movie is over as the credits zoom by.

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Production Values

The image quality is very good (it looks like the movie was shot on video) and a lot of care was placed in the lighting of the set and actors. Yes, there is stop action, slow-motion, and some artistic post-production tricks, but I think they are to be expected in an arty film. They mostly do not detract from the movie, and occasionally they do add to the surrealness.

I am probably not alone in wishing that there was real audio from the set, but the behind the scenes footage hints at why this might have been pretty tough. At least one of the days of the shoot, London was unnaturally sunny and warm (some of the talent are sunning themselves). Combine a high ambient temperature with the heat from the movie lights, the set was probably scorching. Some fans were brought it to cool down the place, they were probably too noisy. On a mainstream Hollywood soundstage, they have the air conditioning on until the camera starts rolling, and your 20 million dollar A-list superstar doesn't step into the lights until the last moment, lest he/she starts sweating.

The DVD menu is very simply designed, but nicely complements the overall tone of this movie. I wish there had been a slate with the cast pairings for each scene (like Jules Jordan has done) since I'm not familiar with any of the talent here.

DVD Extras

Trailers - the two trailers (75 seconds apiece) are okay, but I'm rather surprised there weren't a few more.

Trevor Watson's 'Kink' - this photo slideshow has just a few shots from Watson's fetish coffee table book, but nothing particularly astounding. It's hard to appreciate nice B&W photography at NTSC resolution anyhow.

Backstage - I love good behind-the-scenes footage and these folks are having a jolly good time before they get serious for the camera. Since there's no audio from the actual shoot, it's particularly interesting hearing the actors' voices. None of the women appear to be teenagers and there's a worldliness or possibly a maturity that's simply not present with your average SoCal gonzo teen. There's a matter-of-factliness that is neat to see that I don't always sense in American productions. With the costumes (latex and leather) combined with the camera lights, it's probably scorching hot on the set.

Oddly, there are multiple chapters to the BHS footage; just then you think one chapter is over and you'll be returned to the main DVD menu, there's another chapter. An extraordinary number of grips, best boys, costumers, set designers mill about, so it feels much more like a feature shoot. Some of the other highlights include the women trying on outfits and watching the craftsmen build the sets. Also, you see a shot or two of talent hugging each other, presumably at the end of a scene. Simple stuff to be sure, but it's a nice reminder that movies are made by real people. There's the requisite amount of on-set goofiness, too.

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Conclusion

The film is a refreshing change from the SoCal all-sex gonzo shoots that more frequently inhabit my DVD player. It's also a pleasure to see mature women having sex and take a break from the constant stream of pierced, tattoo-festooned bubblegum-snapping mall rats (who are still a joy to watch in their own right).

The first two scenes have a much stronger bondage component than the latter three; I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite although I think the vampire scene was a wee bit contrived. The Rubber Room outfits were probably the most eye-catching, and the sex from the Gang Bang Boudoir may have been the hottest though.

This is clearly the product of one person's vision, Tanya Hyde's, and it represents a very metropolitan, sophisticated side of erotica. While not every scene clicked for me, there was something interesting in each one; I will be looking more of Tanya's work since I feel that this type of entertainment is underrepresented in my library.

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