Viral Load is the latest work by ZFX creator Rick Masters to attempt to combine science fiction themes with the type of bondage torture that the company is known for. As the story unfolds, we learn that a female laboratory technician (Penelope Pace) is carrying a suitcase that contains a biological weaponry virus, a virus that terrorists want to get their hands on. Therefore, Penelope must be captured and tortured until she gives up the virus and decodes it for them. Any questions so far?
Penelope is apprehended at gunpoint by a thug waiting inside her car as she gets in (That'll teach her to lock her doors next time!) and forced to drive to the terrorist's lair. She is brought in blindfolded, ballgagged and handcuffed to meet the kingpin (Masters) and his fellow terrorists, played by Joseph Marx and Lisa Kinkaid. She isn't giving away any information, so it looks like torture is the only way to make her talk. Good, that's what I was hoping for! :o)
First, Penelope is choked into unconsciousness, and Marx and Lisa peel away her clothes. The big-breasted redhead awakens just in time to find herself tied to an "electric" chair, a seat covered with a wire frame that Marx uses to attach jumper cables. Her legs have been tied spread open and clothespins are clamped to her sensitive pussy lips and tied to the seat as well. Before she can protest, a wad of cloth is stuffed into her mouth and strapped in. Marx then proceeds to shock Penelope with his shock box, while Lisa accompanies him by zapping her with a stun gun. Marx and Lisa carry on as if they thoroughly enjoy inflicting such pain upon Penelope, and Ms. Pace's convincing writhing make this scene stand out. Penelope passes out, which gives the duo a chance to inflict more drastic punishments.
While Lisa holds her tight, Marx savagely beats Penelope about the face and body with a rubber hose. Although I personally would have preferred to see her tied up while enduring this beating, it is a typically brutal and gory illusion, leaving her mouth a bloody pulp.
Marx then secures her to a table, flat on her back with her hands cuffed over her head, while Lisa wields a strap-on and proceeds to give their victim a thorough plundering of her asshole. (Revenge, perhaps, for the anal rape Lisa endured at Penelope's hands in Miss Ballista?) Marx adds to her ordeal by choking her with a belt as she's being raped. Finally, at the point of nearly passing out, she decides to finally give in and unlock the suitcase, but she still won't synthesize the virus for them. Not a smart move.
In an attempt to break her, she is kept in bondage, ballgagged and chained with her arms tied above her, with her legs spread and one leg hoisted high off the ground, so she is forced to teeter uncomfortably on the other leg. Marx comes by and delivers several nasty blows of the whip to her exposed body, finally quitting only after she hangs limply in her bonds. This is followed by another harsh position where she is suspended in horizontal fashion out across the sides of the room, again forced to stand on only one leg. Marx comes by and makes it even worse (or better for the viewer!) by hoisting the remaining leg off the ground as well, leaving her hanging only her wrists and ankles.
Next, Penelope is gagged with a ballgag trainer this time, and is treated to a third position, this time standing, but with her arms tied off behind her and cruelly raised high above her, again having to endure blows from Marx's whip. At last, she agrees to end her torture and go to work on synthesizing the virus for the terrorists.
Now at work in a makeshift lab, and exhausted from lack of sleep and the aftereffects of her torture, Penelope accidentally spills a sample of the virus on the floor. This is where the science fiction aspect of the story kicks in. The virus quickly sprouts tentacles which come to life, wrapping around Penelope's body and inserting themselves into her orifices, courtesy of reverse-motion photography tricks. It's a neat trick, but we've seen it before in countless other ZFX productions, always as a horny plant bent on sexual conquest. At any rate, it leaves Penelope covered in a copious layer of slimy goo, and now, possessed by the glow of her botanic encounter, she apprehends Lisa. She watches with glee as the plant has its way with Lisa as well, darting in and out of her pussy. Fans of Japanese anime will admire Masters' homage to their art.
To me, the tape was a bit of a contrast, as I liked the first 35 minutes or so that concentrates on realistic ZFX-type torture, then the conclusion changes directions completely and lapses into fantasy. Depending on what side of the reality/fantasy camp you fall into, this tape offers small helpings of both, although realism fans like me have a little bigger bite. The always-convincing Penelope Pace demonstrates why she is one of ZFX's top performers, and there is a certain joy in performance by Joseph Marx, who excels as the villain. While neither as long nor as successful as the similarly-themed Ballista 2, there is enough to offer here to recommend Viral Load.