Director – Louis Justin (The Power is in the Blood, Return to the Quadead Zone) and Joe Rubin (Like a Moth to a Flame, Live for Sex…Die for Love)
Starring – Katrina Zova (TS Pussy Hunters, Sperm Diet), William Margold (Hackin’ Jack vs. the Chainsaw Chick 3D, Jumpin’ Jack Slash), and Richard Wright (Becoming Nia)
Release Date – 2018
Rating – 3/5
A couple years ago I was attending Cinema Wasteland, like I try to do twice a year when they are having it, when some friends of mine was telling me that Louis Justin, of Massacre Video, was screening his new movie in his hotel room. Justin and I have several mutual friends and one of them asked if I wanted to tag along. I politely declined so I could hang out with some other friends that I hadn’t seen for some time. A few days later I discovered that the film was called Portraits of Andrea Palmer and it was a collaborative effort between Justin and Vinegar Syndrome’s Joe Rubin.
I started receiving press releases for the film sometime later in regards to the blu release. Since then I’ve heard several of my horror community friends praise the film but I never had the opportunity to see it again this most recent Wasteland. Director SamHel (Let’s Stop at the Morgue, Love Dump) was working the Massacre Video table and had a few copies of the film for sale. I snagged one and while I was out of work with Covid I decided it was time to finally watch it.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows Andrea (Zova) who is am amateur cam girl. However, one night she starts to struggle while she is live. Questioning herself and her redeeming qualities, she soon receives a call from someone offering her a job if she travels to L.A. She gladly accepts but after arriving she realizes she was stood up. She turns to sex work as a way to make some quick cash and finds herself responding to an add on Craigslist. The director scams her out of her first paid gig and she turns to escorting. It starts out innocently enough as an older gentleman offers up advice but each time after that becomes more and more violating until she completely loses herself. **Spoiler Alert**
Portraits of Andrea Palmer is a unique film in that it combines erotica with horror. The story itself is not really a horror tale BUT the film itself is shot like a horror film which makes this one stand out when you try to categorize it. It’s not an extreme horror film, not necessarily a sexploitation flick, and not a horror film in a typical sense. However, it has all these qualities to some extent making it a strange, yet highly entertaining flick.
The acting in this one is one of the few parts of the film that I didn’t necessarily care for. The cast, when not in as sex scene, feels extremely up tight and awkward to watch. I’ve watched no budget horror films made by pre-teens in their parent’s basement and I’ve seen porn parodies of horror classics from companies like Burning Angel and Hustler but the acting in Portraits of Andrea Palmers lies somewhere in between. The cast has some credits to their names but they are not as comfortable acting as they are fucking.
The story for this one is such a strange film yet it completely mesmerizes me. It’s a dark drama erotic film that was shot like it was a horror film. It has elements of extreme horror and sexploitation but never fully explores either. Instead, it walks the fine line between genres without dedicating itself to anything other than the story itself. Some may argue that the film is about how sex work slowly chips away as the person until they is nothing left. In fact, I’ve read posts on social media about it claiming that same thing but I don’t necessarily agree with that.
Finally, the film has a little smidgeon of blood and a whole lot of nudity. If you are looking for great practical effects and memorable deaths then you will be disappointed. If you are in the market for a skin flick then you are in luck. Overall, Portraits of Andrea Palmer might be a disappointment to some but I honestly enjoyed it. It’s an adult film with a story that is about sex instead of sex just written in and filmed in the style of a horror film. It’s very unique and one I would recommend to genre fans that enjoy the sleazier side of cinema.
