Hola mis amigos! I'm back with another review of a mainstream movie. If fast-approaching Cinco de Mayo hasn't put you in the mood for everything Mexican, Scherzo Diabolico might. This has kidnapping, bondage, a few electric shocks and a really good forced stripping scene. Oh and the victim is a schoolgirl, so there's that.
The story centers on a harmless looking dude who works really hard but never gets a raise (join el club-o), and finally he's had enough. So you're probably thinking "he simply found a new job, right, Insomniac?" Wrong. He did what's surely the next most logical thing: kidnap the boss's daughter and terrify her for ransom.
He stalks her for a while before finally donning a mask and making his move. He puts her in a sleeper hold and throws her gagged into his trunk before driving her to an empty warehouse and securing her to a post with a collar and leash.
There are a few scenes of her in captivity that are pretty good. He yanks on her leash a lot to make her flail about. He doesn't say anything, opting instead to give her orders by holding up signs. The first one demands that she beg for her life on camera. When she hesitates initially he shocks her with a taser.
The best scene is when he decides that his boss might not be concerned enough by her mere kidnapping, and that sexual humiliation is in order to really hammer the point home that he means business (there's some Alice Creed envy here, not that I'm complaining). He holds up a sign telling her to get naked. She eventually strips down to her bra and panties and then stops, hoping that's enough.
He pulls his taser out again and turns it on to indicate that she's not done until everything comes off. The actress does a pretty good job here of looking scared and humiliated as she proceeds to go full frontal. We get a few good money shots from different angles before it's over.
After that he lets her go like a dope, and in the final act she gets a baseball bat and goes on a revenge rampage.
I didn't think this was bad for what it is. I wish there had been more captivity scenes and that she had not been allowed to get dressed again. The movie was clearly treating the stripping scene as a necessary evil rather than the highlight of the film (as is the case most of the time with mainstream). Still, I give it a B for the good nudity and acting. I got an advance copy; this actually doesn't come out until tomorrow (Tuesday). It'll be available on a bunch of on demand platforms, including Amazon.