Lana’s 19th birthday was supposed to be a celebration. Instead, it spirals into a night of uncomfortable truths, blurred boundaries, and deeply buried desires coming to light. By morning, everything has changed, leaving her haunted by the chilling question: What really happened?
This is the premise of “The Party Is Over” from Pure Taboo, set to drop on Adult Time on April 29. A twisted, slow-burn psychological drama, the title promises to deliver everything Pure Taboo fans love: disturbing revelations, emotional intensity, and that signature balance of eroticism and unease.
Behind it all is director Bree Mills, a director known for crafting deeply layered narratives that push the boundaries of adult cinema. With “The Party Is Over,” Mills doesn’t just deliver another salacious stepfamily story — she creates a tense, character-driven experience designed to keep viewers on edge.
“This movie is really meant to be a love letter to Pure Taboo fans,” she explains. “One of the things we used to love doing was creating these onion-like stories, where you keep peeling back layers and things get more and more intense. That’s exactly what we set out to do here.”
A return to the brand’s darker roots, “The Party Is Over” takes place over a single 24-hour period, trapping its characters — and the audience — inside an escalating nightmare. Mills’ vision was clear: make something that feels classic Pure Taboo, but push it further.
“My hope is that there are multiple jaw-drop moments,” she teases. “Just when you pick your jaw up, it hits the floor again.”
Leaning Into Darkness
For Mills, inspiration for “The Party Is Over” came from an unexpected source: the cover image from a Pure Taboo episode released last year.
“It was called ‘Four Player Games,’ and it scored particularly high when it came out,” she recalls. “I often look at our releases after they come out to analyze them, and I recognized that the episode cover was really eye-catching.”
The cover image featured two young women playing a video game in the foreground while their stepfathers loomed in the background. But unlike some of Pure Taboo’s more ominous imagery, this one had a lighter, almost playful tone.
“Everybody was sort of smiling or looking sneaky, but not necessarily menacing,” Mills explains. “I thought, ‘Okay, this scene did really well and had a lot of good ingredients. But if we brought it back to the classic storytelling of the brand — if we really leaned into the darkness — I bet we could replicate the success and maybe even go past it.”
That’s when the idea of a “birthday party gone wrong” emerged.
“I wanted to make an ‘evil’ version of it,” Mills says. “That’s what led me to think about this scenario, where an innocent birthday celebration unravels into something truly disturbing.”
To accomplish that, Mills set about layering tension, buried secrets, and a sinister twist to craft the slow descent into psychological horror that became “The Party Is Over.” Capturing that genre vibe led Mills to depart from her usual modus operandi.
“I don’t traditionally write dialogue scripts,” she admits. “But I did for this one, and we pretty much stuck to it.”
Devils and Angels
For a project as psychologically intense as “The Party Is Over,” casting can be crucial.
“Not every performer is comfortable with this material,” Mills says. “I look for people who not only understand what we’re doing but love it.”
She also knew she needed performers who could play off one another in ways that would ratchet up the emotional weight and intensity. To build her ensemble, she started with the female leads: Hazel Moore, Hailey Rose, and Liz Jordan.
“They’re three very popular actresses, and they’ve all done really well in Pure Taboo episodes,” Mills notes. “Particularly Hazel — she’s been in a few bangers for us, but there was one she did a couple of years back called ‘Soaking,’ which was a huge hit. She always delivers, so I thought she’d be an interesting choice for Lana, the middle person within her friend group — the balanced one.”
On either side of Hazel’s more grounded character, Mills wanted contrasting personalities.
“With Liz, I love that she’s super cool and can be played edgy or conservative, but she’s also just naturally beautiful. She was gracious enough to let us cover her tattoos and tuck away her nose ring to play the true conservative Mormon best friend,” Mills explains.
Conversely, Hailey Rose was cast as the more outgoing, uninhibited member of the group.
“She’s got that vivacious, funny personality, and I wanted her to be the counterbalance to Liz’s character,” Mills continues. “I needed that ‘devil and angel on the shoulder’ effect, with Hazel caught between them.”
For the male leads, Mills drew upon both familiarity and fresh talent. For the former, she needed look no further than the movie’s co-producer, Seth Gamble.
“He’s an Adult Time brand ambassador and probably one of the most popular male actors on the brand,” Mills says. “I can always trust him to be an anchor for any project, so I knew he’d be great — having a ‘bad dad’ moment.”
Meanwhile, rising performer Nick Strokes was cast as Lana’s troubled brother, Ethan.
“I really like how he has a very real-world look,” Mills explains. “You can style him to look hip or you can style him to look kind of nerdy, but he just authentically looks like a real person. For playing the role of the incel-leaning brother, I needed someone who looked like a real guy, not an aspiring male model.”
Mills also saw “The Party Is Over” as an opportunity to push Strokes as a more dramatic actor.
“He’s been on my radar for a while now,” she reveals. “He gets typecast into certain kinds of comedy roles, but he’s always been so appreciative of the work we do at Adult Time and really eager to grow. I thought he’d take the challenge of dramatic acting really well — and he did a fantastic job.”
Mills also brought in Lexi Luna as a fun addition for a non-sex cameo.
“I threw Lexi in because, well, gotta love Lexi, right?” she laughs. “It was fun for her to just show up and be the mom to everybody — the bookends of the movie.”
Once production began, Mills worked closely with the actors to ensure their performances hit the right emotional beats.
“I did a lot of dialogue reads with them,” she says. “A lot of rehearsing quietly in the corner before scenes. I also kicked off the project by getting everyone together in the green room.”
There, she handed each actor a detailed character bio — something many of the performers had never received before — and read them all aloud to the group.
“That way, everyone had stronger context into who they were playing,” Mills recalls. “Their relationships with each other, and what led to this moment. The feedback I received was that it really helped them relate to each other and reflect on their characters in a deeper way.”
With her cast fully immersed in their roles, Mills was confident that “The Party Is Over” would deliver the kind of character dynamics that Pure Taboo fans crave.
Aroused — and Mortified
Taboo filmmaking isn’t as easy as it once was, Mills readily acknowledges.
“There are things we did in Pure Taboo’s early days that we wouldn’t film now,” she says. “Content guidelines have changed and we’ve evolved. But that doesn’t mean everything needs to be washed out or diluted. You can still create psychological intensity, power dynamics, and suspense without crossing ethical lines.”
For Mills, “The Party Is Over” marks a nostalgic return to Pure Taboo’s raw, dark, and twisted roots.
“This is meant to be a love letter to the brand’s golden era,” she says. “If we’ve done our job, you’ll be thinking about this movie for the rest of the day.”
Success, Mills adds, will also mean evoking in viewers a signature Pure Taboo sensation.
“It’s porn with a side of guilt,” she laughs. “You should be equally aroused and somewhat mortified by what you just watched. This film isn’t just about shock value — it’s about tension, emotion, and the slow unraveling of innocence. I think that’s what Pure Taboo does best.”
