Dubbed many things by film buffs and concerned citizens alike (from a “SAW rip-off” by SlashFilm.com to a “torture porn genre exercise” by The Hollywood Reporter), the film Captivity’s Tuesday night party had even critics calling it “the most interesting premiere party ever.”
The somewhat sick soiree (read: man with four-inch hooks piercing his skin suspended from said hooks inside a cage) managed to pull off more awe than kitsch and earned a place of distinction amid its typically polished and pretty premiere party predecessors. The event, held at Privilege nightclub in West Hollywood, was just as lascivious as After Dark Films CEO Courtney Solomon had predicted.
On the red carpet, two SuicideGirls in boy briefs and electrical tape nipple covers joined the Hollywood stars for photo opps, delivering quaint spankings with leather whips along the way. While Captivity’s star Elisha Cuthbert was noticeably absent from the festivities, male lead Daniel Gillies walked the carpet in an all black suit-and-tie ensemble complemented by wife Rachel Leigh Cook’s dressy black tank and pants, and Gillies lauded the paparazzi for being “so nice.”
Former American Idol performer Ryan Starr stood out in a camo-casual scoop back (make that all the way to her waist) tee and Daisy Dukes. Bai Ling of Entourage wore a Jetsons-cut white dress with silver trim and eye-hugging shag bangs. Soap star Alicia Arden posed it up for the cameras, joking, “I love this dress, but I want more cleavage.”
Inside the Privilege nightclub, naked dolls were strewn on random seats, bloodied and full of sutures, while faux pig carcasses hung butcher-style at eye level. Heavy metal music raged as numerous SuicideGirls gyrated and groped one another while chained down to rotating tables – or lashed whips across bare-bottomed men. Even Madonna circa her “Erotica” phase would have blushed.
The crowd was a dichotomous mix of trendsters and horror film fanatics. Actors Ryan Gosling and Ken Davitian made appearances, and Dave Navarro hosted. As one British-accented partygoer responded to a girl who asked if she could smoke by the bar, “I mean, they’re beating people over there. I would say you can smoke anywhere.” And another woman (obviously fetish uninitiated) said of one of the performers, “I mean, that girl must be a real dominatrix.”
Solomon continued the movie’s controversial underpinnings, as the very posters he told The Hollywood Reporter were “over the top” (and which MPAA demanded be removed from billboards and taxi tops) made a brief appearance outside the venue before being removed by the ad police on hand.
The movie debuted Friday the 13th in theatres everywhere, which Reuters predicts will draw in below the $5 million mark, in part because it’s showing on half as many screens as Lionsgate’s ”Hostel: Part II,” which itself didn’t rake in the dollars. The film is, in brief, about a fashion model (Elisha Cuthbert) and a chauffer (Daniel Gillies) who are kidnapped and put through mental and physical torture. Solomon has previously told reporters it’s about “female empowerment.” Ahem. Paris Hilton is said to have been partial inspiration for the movie, which was written by Larry Cohen and Joselh Tura, and directed by Roland Joffee, who also directed 1984’s Oscar-winning “The Killing Fields.”
Captivity has garnered the much sought-after buzz even bigger budget films crave, especially in what Bloody-Disgusting.com calls an increasingly boring horror genre. And the party itself, put on by After Dark Films and Jenn Laskey of RedLight Special Events, was definitely the sexiest – and strangest – ticket in town. Although, I must admit I was left wondering what the undisclosed, climactic moment Solomon had promised turned out to be.
Perhaps I was too caught up watching the lashings of a pretty boy in boxers and a guy in backless chaps. Or seeing two demure girls kiss the boots of the older man who had just made their china-skin turn red with welts. And yet there was a bit of consolation for the bondage-beating-virgins among us. Despite their obvious pain, these girls were Hollywood performers too. As they knelt, kissing their abuser’s boots, they moved any stray hairs out of their faces, looked seductively up, and posed perfectly for the cameras. Solomon must’ve been proud.
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