Kidnapped











Damien Rush vs Alex Oliver, Knocked Out (Wrestler4Hire)

Damien is at his best in dark, over-the-top fetish scenarios. His performance style is far from naturalistic, somewhere between grand opera and Despicable Me. He's the Vincent Price of underground wrestling. However, as even he admits at one point, there's no wrestling in this 2016 video, just duct tape, a  bottle of chloroform, a chain, a briefcase, a glove, a folding chair, and a beautifully proportioned victim.

Occasional weapon malfunctions infuse the S&M fantasy with unintended humor (duct tape that won't bind, a chair that collapses when sat on, chloroform that sometimes lasts the distance from Alex's car to Damien's lair, sometimes only for 30 seconds or so). Damien improvises around these snafus, sometimes forced to mutter under his breath about proper back support (more essential to torture than one might think). Happily, Damien's and Alex's masculine pulchritude never fails.

In the semiotics of this match (if not all fetish narratives) smooth bodied (i.e. Alex) equates to naiveté and defenselessness, while hairy chestedness (i.e. Damien) equates to experience and aggression. What these stereotypes might reveal about the fetish subculture, I can't begin to grasp, but I suspect it would have something to do with gender inequality and heteronormativity. Just a wild guess. What I feel strongly about is that here the physical difference between our villain and victim has a strong undercurrent of eroticism. Heteronormative or otherwise, it's pretty hot.

I'd like to single out the camerawork and editing of the abduction scene for special praise. It's stellar. It carries a chilly hint of what we expect of thrillers and makes the rest of the narrative easier to believe. And Damien does a terrific job of carrying the plotline, which is 100% on his shoulders. His mannerisms and body language deliver enough menace to make Alex's predicament compelling. As for Alex, physical beauty is enough, since all he has to do is scream and swoon (see the previous paragraph).

As I've already said, what the video mainly lacks is wrestling. Since that point is conceded within the video itself, I can't really complain, though wrestling, not so much torture, is my true thing.




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