click for trailer

Body Heat

Digital Playground

Genre: Feature

click for full BTS feature

Director: Robby D.

Cast: Kayden Kross, Manuel Ferrara, Raven Alexis, Tommy Gunn, Riley Steele, Bridgette B., Ben English, Mick Blue, Jesse Jane, Scott Nails, Katsuni
Non-sex roles: Evan Stone, Marcus London; the others not listed though Jamal Johnson, Cody Bangs, and other production staff were on hand in limited cameos

Length: 139:09 minutes

Station #23: one of the most expensive sets in porn ever?

Date of Production: 3/28/2010

Extras: The first extra on the second disc was the 34:40 minute long Behind the Scenes feature shot by Jamal Johnson and edited by Keyser Foze. It was a frantic little production showing all sorts of clips and footage on how the movie was made, even a short clip comparing the RED camera to the BTS camera (but everyone on set seemed to have fun). Then came 2:54 minutes of deleted scenes, not sexual in nature but character development ones instead. There was then the usual slide show, photogallery, and set of trailers to other popular titles from the company vaults but that was it, a relatively limited offering considering the compression rate of the BTS and possibilities of better extras.

Condoms: None

Kayden Kross with Manuel Ferrara

Audio/Video Quality: Body Heat was presented in an exceptionally crisp 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen as shot by director Robby D. for Digital Playground. This review is for the standard definition version of the movie, the high definition Blu-ray probably even more visually appealing given the company's track record but the comments made here will not speak of it unless it comes in for review. That said, the MPEG-2 encoded, 480 resolution feature looked especially solid compared to so many of the meager gonzo productions and feature-lite fuck flicks they have been releasing, the obvious attention to detail showing up time and again to prove what I have always said about Robby's talents so often wasted on the fluff bits made for couples. The video bitrate seemed to hover around the 6.4 Mbps mark when I spot checked it several places, the use of their RED camera adding all sorts of detail that might otherwise be missing in certain action sequences as well as a few of the more rapid fire sex scenes. There were some tint issues on hand to keep it from looking as sharp as possible and the sex scenes were hampered at times by the abundance of close up shots crowding out a mixed use of visuals, but this was the best the company has released since Pirates 2 graced my presence. There were no watermarks on the screen and some care was given to the editing, the blending of the aural and visual elements proving what I have long held about the editing team at the company. The audio was presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital English using a 48 kHz sampling rate and 448 Kbps audio bitrate, someone at the company making an effort to enhance the aural qualities of the production to an above average status. Typically, few companies care much about audio these days, the surround effects added in during post production. While there was no true head space indicative of a dedicated surround specialist, the music, ambient sounds, and vocals were all mixed exceptionally well by editor Joey Pulgadas in a manner that merited additional praise, my belief that they can do even better if enough people take a moment and simply ask them as I have done for so long now.

Raven Alexis with Tommy Gunn

Body of Review: I've seen dozens of porn flicks about firemen over the years, our often unsung heroes usually treated like buffoons when production companies pornify their exploits. Then, years ago, a movie called Flashpoint changed all that, standing as the pinnacle of the lot thanks to high end production values and at least some nod to reality. Well, one of the most talented directors in porn has decided to try and knock that epic flick off the pedestal much like a couple of Pirate movies trounced Conquest; Robby D. the man with the plan as supported by the entire staff at Digital Playground. This time, the movie is called Body Heat and as much as I've sung the many praises of the director over the years, I knew that if anyone could upgrade a classic title, it would be him, the man deploying every company asset available to him to pull it off. The movie starred five contract starlets, the lead acting role handled by hotty Kayden Kross while Raven Alexis was given the most action, both of them in the running to assume bigger roles in the future. The plot revolved around an arsonist and contrary to popular belief, the cast did a better than average job of portraying their characters out of sexual situations, a few of them meriting additional praise as noted below.

Riley Steele and Bridgette B. with Ben English

The story itself used a lot of threadbare material to rehash various grade Z late night cable flicks and there were various other minor issues (all of their equipment looked brand new, their station looked pristine, none of the firefighters bitched endlessly about everything under the sun, use of radios on an active bomb investigation, and the sexual situations at the station in a day & age when multimillion dollar lawsuits for harassment are commonplace, as starters) but as a pornified version of reality, it worked quite well as a big budget feature. Sexually, the scenes were not as consistent as some of Robby's gonzo work under his Handheld label but most genre fans can appreciate that "feature sex" in a couples movie is never going to be as fulfilling. The back cover described the movie like this: "Fire has never been so hot since these sexy firefighters took over the station. Dangerous explosions, life or death situations, and powerful desire makes everyone live for the moment. For the first time ever, Digital Playground contract stars Jesse Jane and Kayden Kross sizzle together as a dynamic duo burning up the screen with scorching passion. Riley Steele, Raven Alexis, and Katsuni help fuel the flames in an epic orgy atop a fire engine that will make your temperature soar. Male studs Scott Nails, Manuel Ferrera, Evan Stone and Tommy Gunn ignite the action in this to die for movie. Playing with fire never hurt so good." Here's a brief look at the scenes by cast and action, noting that no condoms were used for those still interested:

Raven Alexis with Mick Blue

Scene One: Kayden Kross, the ravishing blond beauty wearing her protective helmet on the far left side of the cover, was up first as the established lover of studly Manuel Ferrara, kissing him with passion and caressing his body in the bathroom. They get interrupted and end up in the back of an ambulance, pawing at each other as their clothing came off and he started sucking her tits, Manuel eating her before she gave a short but aggressive blowjob. She held his rod to limit the amount inside of her mouth and it was way too short but she partially made up for it by actively riding his cock in different vaginal positions. Sadly, the camera is so tightly held on them that most of the body language clues are unavailable to establish their levels of chemistry together, the surreal look of it probably a lighting issue. He held her throat during the doggy action and Kayden again proved that she could be an active ride, the rarity of this alone elevating the value of the scene for me compared to the vast body of her past work (not to mention her apparent inability to handle his size completely) but his large wad of genetic juice all over her torso proved she milked him dry. In all, it was a good start to the sexual aspects of the show even if the technical limitations and limited amount of duration kept it from my "check out this scene" list.

Jesse Jane with Scott Nails

Scene Two: Raven Alexis, the lithe young beauty relegated to the back row of the front cover (second from the left), was up next as the most prolific female of the cast given her inclusion in three scenes, was up next with studly Tommy Gunn in her office. He was a talkative firefighter discussing his innermost thoughts and she was the shrink trying to assist him mentally, the gal making the first move by catering to his need for need to please authority figures. He grabbed her tits and started going down on her, Raven moaning loudly as he orally serviced her (the gal even feeding him her juices after diddling herself while bent over the desk). Make no mistake about it, Raven looked hot all naked and bent over the desk with her legs spread apart, but she was more interesting while slobbing his knob aggressively, even if she did use too much hand to gland action (again limiting the amount of cock in her mouth at any given time). She was too vocal for my tastes as he began the vaginal positions but her desire to go back down on him while kneeling before the guy enhanced the scene even if she never got a chance to actively ride him, a short burst of standing doggy ending with him jerking off a nut of population pudding to her mouth for swallowing.

Katsuni with Tommy Gunn

Scene Three: Riley Steele, the exceptionally attractive blond seen in the second from right position on the front cover, was up next with busty Bridgette B., both ladies making a move on developer Ben English in his office. Riley dropped her draws to show she seriously wanted to thwart his plans for her fire station, Ben walking around to caress her as Bridgette sprang into action for some titty. Riley kissed her new friend as Ben fingered her, the ladies showing as much enthusiasm for one another as anything else here. The lesbian actions during the tryst were more of an ongoing matter though, the ladies soon kneeling before Ben to suck him off after he roughed up Riley's titties, the gals taking turns rather than double teaming him orally at the same time. Bridgette then gave him a titty fuck with Riley holding those large breasts together to add to the friction, the busty blond moving into an active cowgirl position that proved far more energetic than anything Riley could provide. My initial wonder as to why Riley was the only contract performer to be stuck with a distracting element (a non-contract gal at that) evaporated as the scene progressed, the way the scene was cut showing the contract hotty as the actual secondary element, not the other way around. A few more vaginal positions showed Bridgette as earning her place in the movie too, even her overdone implants not looking too bad since they were in a constant state of motion. Riley's ass cheeks rippled nicely as she started to become more active at the very end of the scene though, her lips sealed around Bridgette's crotch nicely done, a few more position swaps leading to Ben rubbing out a huge load of spunk to their heads before they kissed.

Kayden Kross, Riley Steele, Katsuni, Jesse Jane, and Raven Alexis

Scene Four: Raven Alexis, up again in her role as counselor, was next paired off with studly Mick Blue in the captain's office, no tease or buildup allowed since the scene cut in with him going down on her. As someone that really likes tease and the buildup of sexual tension in a scene, this was as disappointing as the over the top faces she made of the continual abundance of close up shots ruining the heat between them. It was clear from looking at them that they liked each other so wasting all sorts of opportunities to explore that dynamic struck me as odd, but when she wrapped her lips around his pecker to active inhale his cock, even only the top portion of it, she definitely caused a stir in the loins as it were, the eye contact between them elevating the quality of the scene. They then began vaginally banging in doggy with Raven giving the appearance of pushing back to meet his thrusts, the gal sucking her juices off his fingers as she yelled out in an admittedly fake porn manner. The way her ass rippled as he porked her was solid and she continued to display a degree of enthusiasm when impaling herself on his lap, rubbing her clitoris as she threw herself into her work. That led to him beating off to her mouth, her closed eye "feed me" look a bit off for her predator character (let's face it, her role as a buckle bunny, a chick trying to make it with any firefighter possible, might have been enhanced further by her looking right at him while taking his wad of spew to her mouth). Still, it is no surprise that she played such a large sexual role in the movie, her skills developing with every scene released and the gal oozing youthful sexuality.

The extras

Scene Five: Jesse Jane, the leading contract star featured on the center of the front cover, was up next on the back of the fire truck as spread her legs for Scott Nails, the guy savoring her juices as she writhed in pleasure. Her blue dress offered scant resistance to his oral advances and there appeared to be an attempt to shoot the scene from different angles, the pair moving to the back of the truck for her to orally reciprocate. Jesse used the familiar hand to cock blowjob technique at first but managed to throat about half his pecker before returning to her tried and true method of inducing friction, some ball sucking as she jerked him off enhancing the moment until they started a standing vaginal bang. She was passive during this position and way too loud, her cowgirl variations substantially more active and pleasing as she milked him dry. She then took his wad of semen to her open mouth, closing her eyes until he was done and then giving him one last post coital blowjob to seal the deal. Their personal chemistry was undeniable and I just wished it lasted longer, much longer and that the editing was a touch lighter.

Scene Six: Katsuni, the Asian hotty seen on the far right side of the cover, was up next in the last scene involving males, this time resolving the subplot where both Tommy Gunn and Mick Blue had been chasing her. The trio worked out in the makeshift gym at the station, Katsuni wearing tight shorts as she provocatively excited them, the group moving to the shower where she walked in on the guys completely naked. Yeah, it was something out of a 70's porno but she looked so darned good doing it and posing for them that I didn't mind, the gal rubbing all over Tommy before Mick came up behind her to make a sandwich. Katsuni then dropped down to blow them in turns, jerking them both off as she moved from one dick to the other, rubbing the turgid members on her chest while showing a true devotion to both of them. She would glance up at them as she worked her wonders, reminding me of what she brings to the table as a contract performer, her sheer experience beating all the other ladies of the cast in terms of smoking sensuality (and I'm not exactly a huge fan of Asians over other ethnic types). It was clear that as their leader, she felt the need to serve them as a true leader would, balancing out the needs of both of them as she continued her tryst. The men took turns vaginally boning her like they owned her, Katsuni sucking one off while the other took her from behind. Her vocals were a bit repetitive and the editing jumped around a lot like they did in the last scene, the scene less explicit in terms of the camera angles and lighting, again reminding me of the limits large camera systems appear to have (I had little doubt that this was a single camera shoot given the footage). The best visual for me was when Mick held her leg in the air and she was taking them one at a time vaginally, the shot not lasting long but certainly having an impact on my appreciation for the scene. She then dropped down again to blow them before some cowgirl variations and taste testing, Mick busting one on her ass cheek and Tommy then releasing his seed into her mouth for her to truly savor.

Scene Seven: Kayden Kross, Riley Steele, Jesse Jane, Raven Alexis, and Katsuni, were up last in a short lesbian orgy after the dramatic conclusion of the movie (okay, there was room for a sequel) in the station behind the fire truck. The lighting looked like they were in a warehouse at night and there was that same old emphasis on close ups but the varied glimpses of body parts was interesting, the ladies pairing off with Riley and Kayden kissing while Raven, Katsuni, and Jesse attacked one another. Generally, I thought it was quite good for feature sex, the partners fluid enough to add sufficient replay value but as much as I appreciate lesbian scenes, I guess I expected a lot more too. I was appreciative that toys were not used in a demonstration of penis envy (so many movies go over the top in this kind of thing, the bigger stars expected to do the biggest toys) and there was certainly enough passion to go around, Raven munching on Riley's snatch, Kayden looking excited when being worked over, and some acrobatic antics on top of the truck between Jesse and Kayden were top notch, the amount of pussy eating, fingering, and kissing showing some affection between the cast even if the levels of chemistry were not as consistent.

Summary: Body Heat by director Robby D. for Digital Playground has several subplots taking place that just didn't gel into a coherent whole, making me think it would have worked better to par them down and focus more on the main arsonist plot, but as a couple's friendly feature using relatively short sex scenes to convey some heat, it was quite well done, earning a rating of Recommended. The attempts to promote exceptionally cute Raven Alexis into the team as a major player (she had more scenes than anyone else) were noted and Kayden Kross getting the leading role over established superstar Jesse Jane seemed initially puzzling but frankly, she pulled it off better than any of her peers would have done in my opinion (based on their roles to date). The production values made good use of the RED camera system and team of technical wizards too, Joey Pulgadas handling so many of the chores to polish this one up that he ought to be rewarded and the emphasis on close up shots in the sex scenes remained one of the biggest stumbling blocks to them earning much distinction apart from the greater whole. In short, Body Heat is the kind of feature that is becoming rarer than ever in the industry so dominated by gonzo and parodies that it will almost certainly be a long term success so pick up a copy to find out just how good it is because marketing hype aside, it really was one of Robby's top ten features to date.  For another look at the movie by my colleague Dr. Jay (the most detailed porn reviewer alive), check out his own take of the flick at Body Heat.  Between our two reviews, you should get enough information to make an informed decision that doesn't rely so heavily on marketing hype, the kind of reason why so many folks come to Xcritic in the first place.  Enjoy!