Given the time and resources, highly stylized porn -- à la Andrew Blake or Michael Ninn features -- can be provocative and arousing. Yet ill-fated attempts such as Gothic can't help but look like a fumbling high school production of Brecht in the nude.

Artistic pretensions aside, Gothic's sex scenes are mechanical and belabored, despite a full array of nasty, multiple-entry positions. Decked out in period costumes for no apparent reason, the performers project more embarrassment than passion in this assembly line entry. Plenty of meat, not much heat.