McKai told XBIZ that the movie was put on the shelf in order to ensure the release date for “Debbie Loves Dallas,” which gave the project plenty of time to be marketed through its clandestine website TheDollUnderground.com.
The delay in production also gave extra time for McKai to receive feedback through the site, and ultimately allowed Doll Underground fans to have an influence on the content.
“This movie — it’s weird, the consumer demand that it has built into it,” McKai said. “Like Dave Peskin was talking about — he had all these prebooks on this movie last year when we had to switch at the last minute to put out ‘Debbie Does Dallas.’ So this movie kind of went on the shelf, and it was like a viral Petri dish that just kept growing and growing, and now it’s a monster.”
The movie’s website had no indication that McKai or Vivid Alt were attached to the production, which may have worked in favor of the movie by generating a mystique and gathering a following that included some of McKai’s critics.
“A lot of people that had a lot of preconceptions in the alt-porn scene about what I did or what I’m capable of doing — who liked me or didn’t like me — that wasn’t there,” McKai explained. “I’m not a fan of tricking people like that, but I won my way back into the hearts and minds of some naysayers who didn’t understand what was going on.”
True to McKai’s stylistic approach, which blends different subcultural influences with divergent forms of visual arts, music and social commentary, the director said that “Doll Underground” is strongly influenced by the Gothic Lolita style, a fashion trend worn by Japanese teenagers.
The movie’s plot was inspired by radical leftist groups of the ‘60s and a subversive “Doll” rebellion against big money politics, set against the backdrop of urban Los Angeles.
In his research, McKai found also that he was influenced by Japanese adult videos and the challenges presented by that country’s system of censorship.
“This is probably the most perverse movie I’ve ever made and the most strokable,” McKai said. “Fetish-wise, the shocking stuff that I did; I worked a lot with the girls’ mouths.
“In Japanese erotica, that they have this amazing censorship where they have to mosaic the private parts. So, they do all this weird kissing and these really, really long shots of the girls’ mouth, so I’ve purposely brought that aesthetic into the movie,” he added. “The visual language of shooting a sex scene here in the States has gotten pretty advanced — as for new territory, it’s amazing what you come up with, when you put some limitations on what you can show. The Japanese have actually invented some shots that we’re totally ignoring.”
Shot in high definition, the movie stars Pixie Pearl, Lexi Bell, Reagan Maddux, James Deen, Alex Gonz and Herschel Savage.
The three-disc set includes commentary, on-set photos, archival video propaganda, a behind-the-scenes feature and a behind-the-dolls uniform featurette. The soundtrack includes tracks by Terminal 11, A Trillion Barnacle Lapse, Sailboats are White, Nonplus and Dog.
“We had an incredible amount of pre-books for the ‘Doll Underground’ when it was scheduled to release last year,” Vivid’s David Peskin told XBIZ. “It was pushed back so we could ship ‘Debbie Loves Dallas’ when Showtime decided to re-air the Vivid reality show. Heavy consumer demand is definitely driving the sales of this title. This is by far vivid-alt's most highly anticipated release ever.”
For sales information, call Peskin at (866) 466-6969, ext. 108, or via email at davep@pulsedistribution.com.
