Director(s) – Jen Soska (Rabid, See No Evil 2) and Sylvia Soska (American Mary, Vendetta)
Starring – Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska, and Tommy Pistol (Evil Head, Psycho Sleepover)
Release Date – 2022
Rating – 1.5/5
Several years ago I was introduced to the Jen and Sylvia Soska, collectively known as the Soska Sisters, after they directed a string of films that had some success among horror fans. I was curious about their work after I heard about their films Dead Hooker in a Trunk, American Mary, and See No Evil 2 under their belts. It was around this time that I realized that the pair was featured in one of the films in Lucifer Valentine’s Vomit Gore Trilogy. Since then I had only seen their remake of Rabid and was a bit disappointed.
Since then I’ve been sent several press releases about their newest film On the Edge starring adult film legend and avid horror fan Tommy Pistol. I’ve spoke with Pistol several times on his personal Facebook and Instagram pages about his film The Gruesome Death of Tommy Pistol along with his appearances in Frankie in Blunderland, Shakespeare’s Shitstorm, Evil Head, and several others. I was really looking forward to this one and when I was sent a screener link to check it out, I jumped at the opportunity.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a wealthy business man with a gorgeous family that has booked 36 hours in a suit. The goal for his 36 hours is to experiment in sadism with a very dominate mistress. Things start out as you would suspect but as the hours slowly move along, he quickly learns that this is not what he was expecting and his past is coming to haunt him. **Spoiler Alert**
I knew absolutely nothing about On the Edge prior to watching it aside from the fact that it was directed by the Soska Sisters and starred Tommy Pistol. However, after watching it I still don’t know shit about it. I have more questions than the film had answers and my final thought on the film was that it was the Sisters’ way of practicing BDSM on Tommy Pistol which is the dreams of most women that know who he is. I wanted to like it but it felt like a horror focused clone of 50 Shades of Grey similar to Bound and A Darker 50 Shades.
The acting in this one is decent, but I was a bit disappointed in how the characters were approached and how they played out in the film. Pistol delivered one of my favorite horror porn performances in Evil Head and seeing him on other genre efforts shows that he knows how to carry a scene. However, watching him cry and baby around for almost two hours really didn’t work for me. I wouldn’t say his performance is bad because it’s not. He shows another emotional range that we rarely see with him but watching him like for as long as we do it becomes a bit dull and boring.
The Soska Sisters deliver solid performances as well. Jen Soska does a great job as the evil mistress. I did wonder a few times how much practice she really had in this role prior to filming because it almost felt second nature. With that being said, as the film progressed and more of the story is revealed her performance does become a bit awkward and the audio dubbing is just cringy. They should have left this portion out. The supporting cast does a solid job as well but these two make up most of the film.
The story for this one is could have been a lot more effective if they chose a much shorter run time. The story is stretched so thin that the viewer finds himself watching his watch more than the film. The movie should have been no longer than 30 minutes with more emphasis on Pistol’s character’s back story over the torture and degradation of him. I get where the film is coming from. He’s an award-winning adult actor that has a loving fan base so a lot of his followers would be into this but from a movie fan stand point the film is beating a dead horse for well over an hour. So much could be trimmed down from it.
Finally, the film has a few visual effects and some bloody moments, but these are nothing memorable. Genre fans watching this expecting gore and great practical effects will be very disappointed. Overall, On the Edge was not for me but it’s blatantly obvious that I was not the intended audience. It would have been a pretty cool flick if it was around 30 or 40 minutes but having a story like this stretched to almost two hours is a huge strain on the viewer and their imaginations. Sadly, I cannot recommend this one.
