Snake Pit (1996)

Given their radical, surrealist approach to adult films and the fact that both are often labeled as the godfathers of “alt-porn”, the names of Gregory Dark and Stephen Sayadian (Rinse Dream) often seem intrinsically linked. While there are obvious parallels that can be drawn between the two, just like whenever Jess Franco and Jean Rollin or to a lesser extent Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, are held-up alongside each other, the results are the same. Similar in some ways, yet ultimately the styles of both are entirely singular. With that in mind, one undeniable trait that both share is the way in which both, in their own unique ways, managed to subvert what the adult video had become in the 90's when plotless, all-sex gonzo became the industry standard. Sayadian did this brilliantly in both Party Doll a Go-Go! (1991) and Untamed Cowgirls of the Wild West (1993), pulling the rug out from under unsuspecting video store back room patrons expecting typical adult fare. While his films were always out of the ordinary, Dark's work in the mid to late 90's became even more experimental and confrontational with Dark exposing not only the bodies of his performers but their minds as well, a tactic that began with Snake Pit, a fairly extraordinary and at times distressing piece of video art that delivers exactly what it's cover promises, “the ultimate descent into erotic insanity.

Described at the time of its release as a porn take on Bergman's The Seventh Seal (1957), it wouldn't be fair to label Snake Pit as 100% plotless, though the film is one of Dark's most abstract, rendering any narrative cohesion obscure from the get-go. Structured around a back alley dice game with toy bones, skeletons and grotesque masks with “Hatman”, as he's billed, being the luckiest player, Dark segues to a sex scene when Hatman dons a new mask. The first thing that stands out about Snake Pit is the grungy, shot-on-video look and feel of the film. Whereas Dark's previous features were notable for their striking and colorful design, Snake Pit is scaled back considerably and as a result feels more prurient and dirty. Being a Dark film, of course the masks from the dice game come into play during the sex scenes and with there being no context to speak of for the actual sex, the addition of the masks makes an already uncomfortably odd film feel slightly more sinister, further subverting the formula of non-narrative sex videos. The film could also be seen as the culmination of the editing techniques Dark had been experimenting with in films like New Wave Hookers 4 (1995) and The Devil in Miss Jones 5: The Inferno (1995) with Dark loading the film with mind altering, almost subliminal cuts that are somewhat reminiscent of the flash cuts utilized by Alain Robbe-Grillet in films like Eden and After (1970) and Successive Slidings of Pleasure (1974).

What makes Snake Pit such a fascinating watch however, are the interview or “interrogation” segments that bookend the sex scenes with Dark getting inside the heads of his performers with a series of questions Dark developed along with a psychologist. Just as his films are worlds removed from standard pornography, the kind of penetrating questions Dark asks go far and beyond the realms of cliché casting couch Q&A's. The question of whether or not the girls in the film see themselves as sluts comes up often, along with more existential questions regarding the nature of evil, what scares the performers or do any of them see themselves going to Hell. It's especially interesting to see how each girl differs in their answers, some a bit more coy than others, some confused while some hold nothing back, almost to the point of concern. Kim Kataine, for instance gives one of the most memorable answers claiming that she doesn't fear Hell as she feels like she's already there, but it's Roxanne Hall that outdoes everyone in both her interview and subsequent sex scene. Among other things, Hall states that she believes it's her destiny to burn in Hell and that she fears herself, knowing that one day she's going to take things too far sexually and die with a smile on her face. “...I brought too many fucked up things out of her fucked up head” Dark told Psychotronic Video. “We were just moving her through her psychological landscape and she just overloaded... went crazy.”

Shorty after Snake Pit, Dark made his first foray into music videos, collaborating with the brilliant band the Melvins, directing the video for “Bar-X the Rocking M” off the masterful Stag album. Much of the videos imagery is informed by Snake Pit, including multiple instances of a dancing Hatman, the band playing a similar game with the same bones and skeletons as in Snake Pit and most startlingly, flashes of Roxanne Hall submerged in a bathtub full of worms, extended scenes of Hall featuring in the full uncut version of the video that played in select night clubs. Hall would take an extended break from adult films following Snake Pit, though she didn't think twice about doing the Melvins video with Dark. “...I didn't push her too hard in this video” Dark joked to Psychotronic Video in 1997. Dark said of the Melvins video “I really believe it's the best piece of film I've made in eight years, even though it's the first music video I've done”, though it was soon to become a full-time gig for Dark as the 90's drew to a close. Dark would incorporate flashes of the Melvins video in his follow-up to Snake Pit, Shocking Truth (1996), which would also take the interview concept even further, dispensing with narrative entirety, Dark fully taking on the role of psychoanalyst and pushing the psychological comfort levels of adult video viewers.