Portraits of Women

An exploration of the appeal of horror films, with interviews of many legendary directors in the genre.

A week-long glimpse into the wretched existence of Ripa, a long-haired, hard-drinking lug. He is also a filmmaker-wannabee, whose last two projects were condemned for their sex and violence. A Parasite Deluxe, who barely recalls his previous night, Ripa cruises the bars and meets bank-teller Tiina.

This historical and critical look at slasher films, which includes dozens of clips, begins with Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Prom Night. The films' directors, writers, producers, and special effects creators comment on the films' making and success. During the Reagan years, the films get gorier, budgets get smaller, and their appeal wanes. Then, Nightmare on Elm Street revives the genre. Jump to the late 90s, when Scream brings humor and TV stars into the mix.

Jody Balaban, an aspiring filmmaker, is fresh to L.A. with New York film school accolades and the dream of making her movie. Unable to get a job where she can use the skills she so finely honed, Jody must edit adult entertainment to make ends meet. The uncompromising desire to make her movie, leads Jody to secretly film in the porn studio facilities at night - until she is caught in the act.

In the 1980s, a filmmaker begins a project to record the life of an average kid. In Perry, Ohio, he picks Rich Longfellow, a shy lad, and begins filming. Soon after, he dies in Mozambique. Sixteen years later, his son continues the project, finding Rich, now 23, in L.A., with dreams of being a Shakespearean actor, getting experience in porn films. We meet Betsy, Rich's sensible girlfriend, Lee, the impatient producer, and Carmichael, a director with artistic pretensions who inspires Rich. Problems with Besty and tension on the set bring Rich to a crisis; when his boyhood friend starts a Shakespeare company that tours nursing homes in the San Fernando Valley, Rich sees a way out.

Jacques Laurent made pornographic films in the 1970s and '80s, but had put that aside for 20 years. His artistic ideas, born of the '60s counter-culture, had elevated the entire genre. Older and paunchier, he is now directing a porno again. Jacques's artistry clashes with his financially-troubled producer's ideas about shooting hard-core sex. Jacques has been estranged from his son Joseph for years, since the son first learned the nature of the family business. They are now speaking again. Joseph and his friends want to recapture the idealism of 1968 with a protest. Separated from his wife, Jacques strives for personal renewal with plans to build a new house by himself...

Tuula's husband Jukka takes care of all domestic chores. Tuula seems to have no idea that her husband spends his evenings working as a major league ice hockey referee. She also finds out about his extra-marital affair with a female rally driver. In revenge, Tuula starts seeing her gynecologist Timo Paasi, a married man with six children.

Tension mounts between a director and his lead actress on the set of a sexually explicit low-budget film. As the actress and her co-star develop real feelings for each other, the director's jealousy erupts and he begins sabotaging his own production.

A young, once-great Hollywood film director refuses to accept changing times during the early 1930s, and confines himself to his decaying mansion to make silent porn flicks.

A film producer murders his star actress during an erotic "game" and makes it look like suicide. The dead girl's lesbian lover discovers what happened, and plots her revenge.

Based on the true story of Jim and Artie Mitchell, two brothers who entered the porn industry in the early 60's. After creating such legendary porn films as "Behind the Green Door" and "Inside Marily Chambers", they later became addicted to drugs and began a downward spiral leading to bankruptcy and murder.

The second film in writer-director Shane Ryan's series finds himself back playing the serial killer Brandon who lures a young woman (Kai Lanette) into a hotel room where they're supposed to make a porn movie but his plans include killing her.

Documentary chronicling the extraordinary life and tragic death of Mary Millington - Britain's most famous pornographic actress of the 1970s.

A crazed sea captain goes on a bloody rampage after his vessel is commissioned by a sleazy film producer and a trio of vixens.

Largely improvised with only two people privy to the "secret" - that a fictional movie was being made using the players, crew, and settings of the adult movie industry as its background. Canadian television director Ethan dreams of making it big in Hollywood. It's hard finding work, so he takes a job in the porn business to make money. Much to his fiancée's chagrin, Ethan ends up enjoying the industry more than he'd expected.

An earnest young feminist joins forces with a low-rent publisher to make the world's first erotic magazine for women.

Follows the misadventures of four irreverent grade-schoolers in the quiet, dysfunctional town of South Park, Colorado.

The continuing comic saga of a bizarre gang of misfits who live, work and play on the starship Jupiter 42, which is controlled by a neurotic A.I. known as Spaceship Bob. The ethically-challenged shipmates travel through the galaxy taking on one epic adventure at a time all while looking to make a quick buck and avoid getting thrown in jail.

A spinoff of "The Oval," follows Ruth Truesdale as she's forced to play nice with a scandalous religious cult of powerful sex crazed fanatics in the hopes of freeing herself and her daughter.

Family Business was an American reality TV series produced for the cable network Showtime. Based in Los Angeles, the series focused on the pornography industry and the life of Adam Glasser, a reality porn star and video director who uses the stage name "Seymore Butts". Also featured on the series were his son, Brady, along with his mother, Lila Glasser, and his older cousin, Stevie Glasser, both of whom help Adam run the eponymous "family business" of the series, which in this case is a successful porn video production and distribution house in the San Fernando Valley, known for the "Seymore Butts" line of videos. The series first aired in 2003. In Canada it is broadcast on The Movie Network, Movie Central, and Showcase Television, in the UK on Channel 4, and in Latin America on FX. The first two seasons are currently available on DVD in North America. The series ran for four seasons. The series won the 2005 AVN award for 'Best Alternative Release'.

Anthology series wherein each episode, Jacqueline Stone reads a letter sent in from women recounting their erotic experiences.

This eclectic, star-studded anthology follows diverse Chicagoans fumbling through the modern maze of love, sex, technology and culture. First dates, friends with benefits, couples with kids. Whatever your relationship status is, it's always complicated.

The story of the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York’s Times Square from the early ’70s through the mid ’80s, exploring the rough-and-tumble world that existed there until the rise of HIV, the violence of the cocaine epidemic and the renewed real estate market ended the bawdy turbulence of the area.

Two Mexican-American sisters from the Eastside of Los Angeles who couldn't be more different or distanced from each other are forced to return to their old neighborhood, where they are confronted by the past and surprising truth about their mother’s identity.

A documentary series where brave young journalist, Ina Mikkola, travels around the world to find out where porno comes from, what kind of porn is made, who produces it, and why.

The everyday lives of five men living together on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. Unbeknownst to one another, each of them is living some aspect of his life on the DL.

A woman's daring sexual past collides with her married-with-kids present when the bad-boy ex she can't stop fantasizing about crashes back into her life.

This comedic series takes on the true story behind the release of the first ever viral video in history — the sex tape of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee.

This is the incredible story behind Sweden's most notorious gangster, Clark Olofsson, whose infamous crimes gave rise to the term "Stockholm Syndrome".

A young woman's obsession with a pop star takes a dark turn.