CANOGA PARK—Wicked Pictures and director Axel Braun are rejoicing over their 2019 AVN Movie of the Year victor The Possession of Mrs. Hyde claiming the number one spot on AVN's current Top 100 Sales & Rentals chart.
“The last thing I was expecting with Hyde was commercial success,” said Braun, who is currently shooting his latest big-budget parody Captain Marvel XXX. “Being able to actually bring this passion project to life and to share such a magical experience not only with my cast and crew, but also with my son Rikki, was already plenty rewarding, and then winning Movie of the Year ... it was such an intense moment that even now just thinking about it I get emotional. I gotta say, a black and white adult movie with condoms selling a tremendous number of DVDs in the era of free porn and camming is kinda mind-blowing, but it only reinforces my belief that quality is always paramount. Luckily that’s a sentiment that is actually at the heart of the Wicked Pictures business model, so I had a massive amount of support from everybody at the company, including Jessica Drake lending her considerable acting talent and charisma to her non-sex role. It was just a fantastic thrill ride, taken with passion, dedication and commitment, and I’m beyond grateful that the end result resonated so loudly with as many people as it has."
Shot entirely in black and white CinemaScope 2.35:1 and driven by a breakout performance by Avi Love, Hyde puts a new spin on the famous Robert Louis Stevenson novel by borrowing some of the tale’s key characters while expanding its narrative. Braun's first original feature in 15 years, the production had a triumphant night at January's 36th Annual AVN Awards in Las Vegas, winning Best Action/Thriller, Best Director - Feature, Best Screenplay and Best Boy/Girl Sex Scene (Love and Roman Nomar), before snaring the evening's top prize, Movie of the Year. The Possession of Mrs. Hyde is currently in contention for a trio of major XRCO Awards, including Best Release, Best Actress for Love and Best Director (Feature) for Braun.
A project decades in the making, Hyde also features a bravura performance by Seth Gamble as Mr. Hyde and a top-tier supporting cast including Drake, Reagan Foxx, Kenna James, Charlotte Stokely, Victoria Voxxx, Dustin Daring and Golden Age adult legend Tom Byron as Dr. Jekyll.
As one would expect from a movie boasting such impressive bona fides, The Possession of Mrs. Hyde earned Braun some of the most effusive praise of his career. "Adult movies reliably aspire to be arousing," noted AVN's Iris Blocks in her perfect AAAAA Editor's Choice review. "Others could be described as exciting, amusing, shocking—perhaps even touching. But it’s a rare porn flick that qualifies as haunting. And that emotional effect helps set this moody thriller apart—along with its black-and-white cinematography and stylish soundtrack." Blocks concluded her critique by affirming that Hyde "snagged Movie of the Year at the 2019 AVN Awards, but of the five trophies it garnered, the win for Best Screenplay—co-written by director Axel Braun with son Rikki and late father Lasse—stands out for its celebration of porn’s most productive dynasty."
In addition to the feature, the two-disc collector’s edition booklet-style DVD set includes a whopping ten bonus sex scenes, a trend that Wicked started with Braun’s other 2019 multi-award-winning movie Deadpool XXX: An Axel Braun Parody, the recipient of four AVN awards, including Best Parody and Best Actor for Seth Gamble’s uncanny portrayal of the title character.
View the SFW trailer for The Possession of Mrs. Hyde on YouTube. For more, visit www.wicked.com.
