ZFX is finally back with its first new release of the year, this time with an homage of sorts to the 1980s bondage classic Bittersweet Revenge. This new version is called Bitter Sweet Persuasion and quite simply, it's a lot of fun.
The story opens with blonde cutie Suzi Sexton (who previously starred in ZFX's Dark Offering) playing the boss of a lingerie shop and ZFX veteran Travis Lee as one of the store's janitors. She happens to catch Travis whacking off in the break room and fires him (what, a guy can't relax on his break?). This enrages Travis, and he decides to take revenge on Suzi by grabbing her, wrestling her to the ground, and tying her hands behind her. After gagging her with a cloth tied into her mouth, he leads her out of the room and into the backroom of the store. He's about to make her pay.
Travis binds Suzi with her arms over her head, kicking away her support and watches as she hangs suspended by her wrists.
He gives her a shove and lets her sway a bit, then he takes out his knife and slices open her shirt and the cups of her bra, showing off her tits.
He then strips the helpless girl, grabbing and molesting her along the way, and even cuts open the crotch portion of her pantyhose (he'll be using her pussy later). Then he leaves her alone to hang for a while.
The next time we see Suzi, Travis has her tied in a painful, humiliating position, bound to an exercise machine with her legs tied far apart, with clothespins stretching open her pussy lips and tied to the sides. Her natural breasts are encircled with rope, and both nipples are crowned with clothespins that are tied to the rafters above her. She is a pretty picture indeed.
Travis approaches with a battery charger and proceeds to shock Suzi multiple times on her breasts and pussy, an extremely well-directed illusion enhanced by animated sparks from the cables touching her body. Suzi does a great job reacting in pain, and the only thing missing is the sense of fun from the villain, who silently and mechanically goes through his paces.
The next scene has Suzi hung suspended upside-down (yes!) hanging from her ankles with her wrists tied behind her. The remnants of her ruined blouse and bra still cling to her shoulders, and her mouth is now filled with a yellow ball gag. Travis then delivers a viscous and thorough whipping, leaving nice red marks crisscrossed over her body.
At this point, we see another familiar face from ZFX, Kimberly Noble (from the "Underland" and "666" series) except this time as a blonde. She's Suzi's assistant, and has just come in to work. But with her boss tied up in the backroom and a pissed-off janitor on the loose, she has no idea what's in store for her. Travis sneaks up behind her, hand-gags her and drags the struggling girl off to an abandoned area of the building. In a matter of seconds, he's got her top pulled up and a plastic bag tightened over her head, suffocating her until she's under his control.
She awakens to find herself hanging by her wrists from the rafters on the ceiling, with her full breasts still exposed and clad in her blue jeans and sneakers. Travis ballgags her and strips off her jeans, then helps himself to her body, sucking her tits and smacking her ass.
In the following segment, a bound and gagged Suzi is wheeled out on a cart to where her friend is already tied standing in the center of the room. After leaving the two of them alone together to contemplate their fate, another janitor, played by Jesse Keddings, arrives on the scene. Travis tells him what's going on, and like any horny guy, Jesse decides that tormenting naked women is what he wants to do, too. "Let's go fuck 'em up, man!"
The two guys have a great time slapping, fondling and harassing their bound playthings, particularly their hated boss, forcing Suzi to stick her face into Kimberly's bare ass, then making her suck her titties. It's an infectious, high-energy scene that had me smiling.
Next, the two girls are left standing facing each other, each with their hands tied over their heads. Their pussies are split by tight crotch ropes that are tied off to the ceiling. Suzi is now gagged with a red bandana. The men arrive carrying whips, which they use to relentlessly flog the squealing girls until they both hang limply in their bonds.
Travis drags away Suzi and leaves Jesse alone to handle Kimberly. As if the previous whipping wasn't bad enough, she is subjected to even more whipping torture this time. Suspended by both her wrists and ankles, she wails like mad through her gag as he delivers blow after blow to her writhing body. Then he increases her torment by adding multiple clothespins to her breasts and pussy lips.
To top it off, Kimberly is then tied bent over, with her wrists knotted to her ankles and her tight little asshole exposed. And Jesse lets her have it with a brutal anal rape (lots of cool screaming), climaxing all over her back.
Meanwhile, Travis has Suzi all alone and he rapes her pussy as she lays crying and bound on the ground. Tears stream down her face as he removes her ball gag and fucks her mouth, exploding on her face. Another great simulated illusion that was worth waiting for.
But this is becoming a ZFX trademark: Travis Lee Must Die In Some Nasty Way. After being beaten to death in one film and having his dick sliced off in another, this time Travis meets his end by being stabbed in the back with a screwdriver after Suzi is able to untie herself. And Kimberly manages to lock her legs around Jesse's throat and stomps on him until she can be rescued. Bummer. Oh well, I guess that explains the "bitter sweet" part of the title...
The DVD also gives us 11 minutes of humorous outtakes and behind the scenes bloopers, plus we get to hear Rick Masters give directions like: "You're scared shitless...and ACTION!"
Afterward, I took another look at Bittersweet Revenge, the Jason Whitman film that was clearly the inspiration for BSP. While the storyline is similar and some of the scenes are identical, I think this new one surpasses the original film in most areas, except for maybe the charisma of Whitman as that film's villain. The ZFX film is better paced, with 12 scenes in its 60 minute running time. It's sharply directed and edited, and both girls are cute and give solid performances. I was especially taken with Suzi Sexton as the more appealing of the victims, and I think she's better here than in her earlier effort with ZFX. Other than a certain flatness from Lee as the bad guy, every scene works well. Plus that, any film that features four (four!) suspension scenes is going to get high marks from me.
