Sanatorium by Zero Tolerance - review by Kaleidescope

This Feature movie is high on art and scenery and plot line. It's a movie to get interested in and watch over and over and not just for the sex. There is an actual storyline (albeit somewhat confusing at times) that takes us to some dark places. I would suggest this movie is for those that have some knowledge or interest in darker aspects of BDSM and for anyone who is looking for something more than just sex scenes to get off to.

Our star is Tabitha Stevens and having been in the business since 1995, she is indeed legendary. This movie is the brainchild of Tabitha and Director Gary Orona and was shot over a period of five years.

Filmed largely in the desert, viewers are treated to interesting scenery and settings throughout.

Falling under the genres of Couples, Oral, All Sex, Cumshots, Group Shots and Lesbian (I agree with all except lesbian, there is some girl-on-girl but mainly POV), most scenes feature oral and vaginal sex with the money shot at the end. There was only one anal scene (would have been nice to see more) but there was also some depiction of torture/violence that I would alert viewers to be aware of. I did not find these darker aspects to be too much, but people should know they are there.

Tabitha Stevens is the feature star and appears in most of the scenes. Other female cast members are Zero entertainment contract stars Sara Sloane and Kagney Linn Karter as well as Francesca Le, Raylene, Lux Kassidy and Ashley Roberts. Male cast members include Mark Wood, Nick Manning, Ron Jeremy (cameo only, no sex), Tyler Knight, James Deen and High Pitch Eric, among others.

Tabitha has an incredible body and is a pleasure to watch. I especially enjoyed
her anal sex scene and the opening scene which features her swapping oral with Ashley Roberts.

Nick Manning is fun and credible to watch as a corrupt politician (wait for the last scene to see him have sex though) and Ron Jeremy makes an all too brief appearance but does not have sex. Mark Wood does a hot fingering scene with Sara Sloane and there is a very sexy couples scene (with Tabitha as voyeur) with Mark Wood and Francesca Le, and Raylene and Ethan Hawk. One of the hottest scenes featured Kagney Linn Karter and James Deen going at it on the floor - very sexy pussy rubbing.

In addition to the sex scenes, this feature also gives us a glimpse into BDSM and you will see a brief choking scene, a hook suspension (Go Tabitha!) and a female in straight jacket with mouth spreaders.

This is a 2-disc set. Disc one features the story which may be played with or without director's commentary and Disc two has all the bonus features including popshots, trailers, interview with Tabitha Stevens and deleted scenes, behind the scenes and a gallery slideshow.

The synopsis on the back cover of the DVD states, "Tabitha Stevens embarks on a journey to recover her sanity after wrestling with the hypocrisy of the anti-porn crusaders who condemn her, discovering that these lawyers, politicians and priests are far more twisted than the sex business could ever be. Their wicked deeds send Tabitha on a personal vision quest fraught with sexual illusions and wildy erotic dream states that turn her into a sexual warrior. Armed with her new power, she's ready to take down the establishment that drove her to the brink of insanity, and prove that there's nothing evil about a beautiful woman who simply loves sex."

This isn't the Titanic, but for a porn that Director Gary Orona and star Tabitha Stevens financed themselves to retain creative control over, I give it two thumbs up!

I appreciated the efforts of Gary and Tabitha to 'think outside the box' ;) and give the viewers something to think on while we get turned on. While there are parts where we are left wondering WTF? such as the first visit to the shack where we think someone gets shot but don't know why, I valued their attempt at showing a feature length porn movie. Let's face it, how much of a porn do you usually watch? I fast forward to get to the sex (which never takes long to get to), and then I/we watch briefly, get turned on and have sex. We learn pretty quickly where the hot (to us) scenes are, and revisit them over and over. I like that there is some actual movie to watch with Sanatorium and I like that it points a finger at the 'do gooders' who are usually the baddest of us all.