Review of Edge Play

Edge Play (2001 Video)
'Are the babies sleeping?'
27 July 2022
Big budgets and Porno Chic were alive and well at the turn of this century during the VHS era, exemplified by this Marilyn Chambers vehicle from major label VCA Pictures, directed by Veronica Hart during her tenure there. I enjoyed watching it for the first time, noting it as a forerunner of fellow actress-turned director Kayden Kross's current success with glamorized gonzo.

Title refers to BDSM practice that approaches (but not crosses over into) dangerous activity, hence the thrill. Consent and safe words are employed for protection. Tyce Bune and Brooke Hunter operate Edge Play Productions, which provide scenarios for willing customers, here depicted as women only, that fulfill their sexual fantasies in real life generally as sex in public, with a surprise element, i.e., "springing" the scenes on them without advance warning. The consent element consists of someone asking "Are the babies sleeping?" as a scenario unfolds, with Yes indicating a go-ahead by the client.

Director Hart uses this story premise to depict a series of sex scenarios that involve kink and BDSM content, but portrayed in the glamorous, big-budget approach of a VCA production, thereby mainstreaming outre porn. Lots of double penetration is included but the ugliness of amateurish porn is avoided (and safe-sex condoms are utilized). This lavish approach is now seen in Kayden Kross's work but with far less interest in traditional story material -mirroring the industry's general swerve away from storytelling to present gonzo content instead.

Two successful real estate executives played by Marilyn Chambers and Keisha are the clients of this service, with the movie covering Marilyn's gradual acquiescence after initial apprehension (almost comically she expresses her fear of penetration, yet ends up in her big scenario receiving double penetration in a "check-up" at a gas staton).

Sexual content is strong, beginning with an award-winning solo by Kim Chambers that features over the top exaggerated squirting in a parking garage. Centerpiece combines disco dancing elements with a suspended from the ceiling in a swing superstar Chloe (playing a client named Carrie) getting gang-banged by men and women including Tyce and Marilyn. Guest star Jamie Gillis is well-cast as a perverted doctor (role-play of course) examining Marilyn in a limo as she is under bondage from Kyle and Brooke.

I was a big fan of so-called Porno Chic in its heyday, as well as its rather gonzo-fied current representation from KK as well as other art-porn practitioners like Roma Amor and the folks at SexArt. And I miss the story/character-driven approach that once made Adult Cinema an extension of the mainstream, so this VCA combination of ingredients is satisfying as an artifact of that nearly extinct approach.
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