Jim Powers pays homage to '70s horror movies and old porn roughies with one of the darkest mindfucks we've seen all year.

The 35th volume of the Perverted Stories series is a departure from the usual costume-heavy idiocy and 'tard humor that's become its trademark. With the exception of the girl-gets-buttfucked-by-giant-ape (remember Bigfoot: The Sasquatch?) opener, Powers goes for an unsettling, callous tone. It's a sophisticated form of evil that emerges throughout the vid - the kind that dwells in those dim, murky corners of the psyche. Rather than relying on gimmicks, Powers assails the viewer's sense of morality this time. And it works - sometimes just a little too well for comfort.

Which is the whole idea in the first place.

Powers goes for heavy necro overtones in Coma, starring a brunette beauty lying unconscious on a gurney. "Dr." Johnny Thrust quietly enters the room, lifts up her hospital gown, and begins playing with her pussy. Thrust is quite convincing as a psychopath, talking to himself and chuckling at his own "vegetable" jokes. His partner, to her credit, manages to convey the impression she's genuinely unconscious throughout sequences where Thrust climbs onto her chest and fucks her mouth, and rolls her over to plow her ass. Finally he blows a load down her throat - and methodically cleans up, neatly arranges the girl's gown over her body, and unplugs her life support machine so she flatlines. Disquieting, and - no pun intended - very well-executed.

Momma's Boy resides in that uncomfortable niche of mother-son lust - even though the older blonde hardbody who seduces Dylan Blake is merely his step-mother. The step-parent set-up is familiar territory, but this configuration is generally one of the adult industry's many double standards: step-fathers and young girls are fine, but a step-mom seducing her young son is considered one of those too-creepy-for-even-the-pervs taboos. This alone makes it worth a look. Plus, the broad can take a cock in her ass even better than most barely legal nymphets, and her tanned, toned figure (with implants, even) provides decent visuals.

Finally, there's the controversial It Happened In The Desert - the most unnerving vignette in the vid, and worthy of a nomination for Best Group Scene. Retailers and viewers ought to consider themselves forewarned: it's brutal, even by this jaded reviewer's standards. Psychologically it hits every hot button that those roughies pushed so well; this is perhaps the most scorching, politically incorrect scene Powers has pulled off in years.

Innocent Melanie has the misfortune of getting into a car containing subhumans Mr. Pete, Brian Surewood and Rick Masters. Drunk, stupid and mean, the group immediately starts hassling her; grabbing her, laughing at her, humiliating her. They stop the car, stripping her clothes off and pouring beer on her naked body. "Get off of me - get away from me," Melanie shrieks, which only spurs the guys on to a vicious "rape" scene that includes double-penetration and facial pops. Videography is fantastic here, with a jagged documentary style manner reminiscent of the ?70s cult classic Last House on the Left.

Melanie's cries and screams are bound to generate sympathy in all but the most glacial-hearted viewers. Powers? cameras are unsparing in exploiting her dehumanization to its fullest - when the men are finished with their now-useless object, they toss a broken bottle at her and roar off into the desert, leaving her naked and stranded. There's no wink-wink-nudge-nudge humor in it; no salvation or apologies for the group's abhorrent behavior. This is hardcore hardcore, and some viewers will find it inexcusably offensive.

But not all viewers, Mr. And Mrs. Couples Market. Some of us enjoy watching twisted, filthy sex - and we're actually able to discern between fantasy and reality. And as reasonably sane adults, we're able to conduct ourselves appropriately, without running off to molest helpless innocents.

This reasonably (heh) sane adult says pre-nom Powers for Best Director and the vid for Best Vignette Tape.