The first movie released under the new Pretty Dirty imprint—the boy/girl sibling to girl/girl studio Girlsway—Sugarbabies comes out of the gate strong. The team who made the top-notch all-girl movies The Turning and The Business of Women—director Stills By Alan and producer Bree Mills—again prove that they have a fresh approach to erotic storytelling and the technical skills to capture stunning imagery.

Sugarbabies is one chatty erotic movie—and that’s totally OK in this corner, especially given the fine job the actors do with their dialogue. The movie is a meditation on so-called sugar dating, where young women with rock-bottom credit ratings and high expectations fuel their lifestyle by serving as arm candy for the wealthy and powerful.

Sure, it sounds good—but note that subtitle. Indeed, these women learn it’s best to proceed with caution.

Penny Pax, bemoaning the state of her bank account, gets introduced to sugar dating by Jade Nile, who’s counting the trips she’s taken instead of her unpaid bills. Pax takes a little hike with Nile, who shows her photos from her trip to Tokyo and talks about her relationship with rock star Xander Corvus: “I take care of his needs, and he takes care of mine.” Pax decides she’s game ... even though boyfriend Jessy Jones blows up at her. “I’m making a sacrifice for us,” she pleads.

But what Pax doesn’t know yet is that when you sell yourself, the buyer is under no obligation to treat you like a human being. Client James Deen dispenses with the social niceties, bringing in strap-on-wearing wife Chanel Preston to help him heap hardcore indignities on poor Penny, whose pale skin shows every pinch and slap. At the end, when she gets her “allowance,” relief floods across her face, followed by a stricken look at the threshold she’s just crossed.

Once she’s home, boyfriend Jessy is there to rub her face in the emotional distress with the help of “real” prostitute Jaclyn Taylor, who tells her, “You’re a dirty little whore just like me,” before fucking her man.

Nile, the carefree millennial who put all this in motion, seems to be a winner in this skeevy world. But looks can be deceiving. We won’t spoil the surprise here, but suffice to say that once she inveigles stepsister Rebel Lynn into her web, things don’t turn out well.

If this movie sounds dark, fear not. The sex may be twisted, but it’s totally hot. Pax, Preston and Deen may take top honors when it comes to both hot and twisted, but the other scenes are close behind.