Episode 009: King Cobra
“Veteran gay pornography producer Stephen battles two rival producers over the rights to his underage porn star creation, Brent Corrigan, with deadly results.”
The film is based on the book “Cobra Killer: Gay porn, murder, and the manhunt to bring the killers to justice” by Andrew E. Stoner and Peter A. Conway
This week we are going to be reviewing King Cobra, a 2016 film with a fictional interpretation of the real events around porn star Brent Corrigan and part of the adult entertainment industry. As we have International Sex Worker’s Day this month, or as it is know in Germany, ‘Whores Day’, I wanted to find some media that focused on the world of adult enterainment. Well, media that wasn’t littered with cheesy music, terrible acting, and a lot of moaning! I am sure you don’t want me going about picking apart porn, nobody has the time to review ALL OF THAT!
You can either listen to the podcast above, or you can read below for a majority of the transcript of the podcast! Now as always, our discussion will begin with a brief summary of the film followed by spoiler free thoughts and feelings. This will be followed by an in-depth discussion of some of the key plot points that occurred and we will then finish off with my overall rating of the film and a heads up about what we are looking at next time. If you have not had a chance to watch King Cobra and don’t want to hear any spoilers, then please feel free to skip the detailed section and listen to it afterwards if you so wish.
Clocking in at an hour and 32 minutes, it's a fairly standard length for a film and overall it's not too complex a plot to follow, so you can get through in an easy sitting. Now as mentioned, this is based on a book that looked at the real life events of the murder of Cobra Video founder Bryan Kocis, so I do have to flag here that its not going to be a fully accurate depiction of what occurred. In fact, the real life Brent Corrigan, who is one of the key characters in the film, criticised the filmmakers for bastardising his life to present an inaccurate portrayal of the murder and of his time in pornography. As such, this should be viewed as more of a fiction film than a documentary and think of that tagline “inspired by true events”.
Considering the subject of the film, there is a fair bit of skin on show and a good amount of sexually suggestive things hapening on screen, so if your not comfortable with those things on screen then this might not be the film for you. But, I will say that the casting felt pretty spot on since everyone is fairly attractive in this film (obviously going on the conventional attractive scale, so results may vary depending on personal preferences) and I feel that the pick of Garrett Clayton taking the role of Brent was a great choice! It really feels like he captures the young, playful energy that you got from Brent Corrigan then in his career. Plus he is not too bad on the eyes haha!
I do find it really funny that at some point, these people who are all acting seriously for this film will then have been told they need to act out poor acting for the porn filming scenes. It’s just amusing that people will have had a chance to let go and be terrible, which must be nice to take the pressure off for a few scenes. But overall everyone seems to really embody their characters and does a good job on their performances.
In terms of representation, we do get several gay males in the film, each person being more than just a one-dimensional figure of their sexuality as they all have their owncharacteristics and faults. We have the determined playful twink who wants to make a name for themselves in porn who can be a little vengeful, or the older male who has founded his own porn studio who tries to keep this side of his life from family & friends while also being highly possessive. Or the two boyfriends who each have their own history of trauma that affects how they interact with the rest of the world, dangerously determined and fiercely in love. So not 100% perfect as people, but nobody is and at least there are nuances to who they are.
Final Feelings and Recommendation
Now I think it's fair to say that this is one I probably wouldn't recommend you watch with your parents if your not that comfortable with sexy time talk with them, and obviously if your not comfortable with sexual situations, I would also say it's not one for the watch list. However if you are fine with sexual situations on film and are interested in a fictionalised account of real life events, I would say this is an easy watch for an evening of thriller and sexual tension, and you know it will be better acted than actual porn from the time its set in!
Overall, I feel this is a six out of ten steamy makeout sessions by the pool. The film is well acted by those involved, has its moments of dark humour, and overall I am interested in the events being fictionalised since this was one of my gay porn stars when I was first discovering my queerness. However, considering how the real-life Brent Corrigan feels about the film, and with the other people involved either dead or serving time, this is a bit of a shadow that hangs over this film which does stick at the back of my mind that feels it is part of that vulture culture that seeks to monetize tragic events.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Now, just a reminder that at this point, I will be going into a more detailed analysis of the film which means there will be spoilers! If you haven’t managed to watch King Cobra yet and you don’t want anything spoiled, then this is your last chance to avoid the discussion. Or you can go ahead and close the page, go watch the film and then come back afterwards to finish reading. I promise we won’t mind. Still here? Well then, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
So the film starts off quite clever, with it intercut with scenes of Brent heading on out to meet Stephen for the first time to start off his career in porn, while we also get clips from the typical ‘casting couch’ videos where we have some conversation with the new boy for the brand before they start to beat that meat! It was at this point that I wondered how many people have actually properly watched those conversations with the person to find out more about them (or the persona they are willing to cultivate) and how many people just see it as a part to get through to get the ‘proper’ content.
We quickly move along to set up the story between Stephen and Brent, seeing that Brent is going to crash at Stephen’s house (cause that won’t possibly cause any blurred lines between work and personal life) as well as seeing Stephen is also a part-time photographer with a sister wanting to set him up with a nice girl (oh if only she knew). Anyway our two key characters are out for lunch and it’s there where we are introduced to the name that will use up thousands of tissues, Brent Corrigan!
There is then the sexy montage of naked boys and sexy things happening, all standard within the porn business. And with this we are introduced to our other couple of characters for the film, who end up watching Brent and talking about how he is becoming quite popular just now. Joe and Harlow seem to have quite a streak of toxic masculinity in them, encouraging each other when working out by telling each other to not be a bitch and work out like a man, which maybe I see as toxic when it is really just gym bro talk (spoiler, not a big gym fan), but I think gym bro talk does still count as having some toxic masculinity to it. Just another reason why queer gym spaces are quite important in providing safer spaces for queer people to exercise in and we need more of those everywhere!
We find out that Joe is prostituting Harlow, but has clear boundaries that there shouldn’t be any kissing or anal involved, which is good that they have talked to each other what boundaries they want to have to protect their relationship. So we sit in on a session with a weekly client who has a foot fetish, and at points the client does try to get more of Harlow’s background but he doesn’t like to get into personal life with his clients. Very clever to keep a line between professional and personal life, as you can never tell who a client is and what they are capable of so it's all done to keep the worker safe. This is especially important since sex workers are treated quite unfairly in many countries with a lack of protections in laws which leads to a lot of avoiding getting the police involved when crimes due happen to them, so really society needs to update its protections for these workers!
Joe and Harlow do have quite a volatile and unhealthy relationship. The first red flag is just after Harlow has been with his client and how Joe gets incensed at the fact Harlow kissed the person's cheek goodbye and is violent with him before Harlow pushes back and defends himself by blaming Joe for getting him into this to begin with. We then also hear the phrase “I love you so much I go crazy” and eventually the alarming “it’s so hot you would rather kill me than let someone else have me” when they make their own rival company called Viper Boys. I would hope that people could see these are red flags, but we do get an idea that there are some traumatic events in both their pasts which probably, in their heads, gives justification to why acting and talking to each other like this is more acceptable.
At some point while Brent is living with Stephen, they are out shopping, they play around, and then when talking about Stephen’s past at home they end up fucking. Now I think it should be a pretty standard piece of advice for people, never mix work with pleasure as it always get messy, and I can imagine this might be more so in the sex work industry since there is just generally a lot of fucking and naked moments with a variety of people. Not to say it can’t work out for some, but when Stephen is telling us he just wants to feel wanted it gives the idea he might be more possessive than is good for messing around and working together in this field.
As we are making a scene with Brent as a poolboy, Stephen starts to complain about his trunks being too flashy and is annoyed with Brent and the other actor playing Halo on the TV for ages. Clearly showing us that the mixing of business and pleasure was not a good idea for Stephen as he is now jealous of anyone else getting Brent’s attention! Brent fucks with the other actor, Stephen goes on an angry nighttime drive, and eventually we get an argument around Brent’s wages considering how popular he is online.
Now I think there is a key piece of advice here for anyone getting into the adult entertainment industry, or in fact for anyone who is entering into any contract in their life, as Stephen yells to Brent, “Read your contract before negotiating”. It is always key for people to know where they stand, what they can change, and what they can’t when we enter into situations that need contracts, so please, please, please be sensible and make sure you take this advice to heart!
Brent decides to leave, being yelled at with the fact he signed a contract and then Stephen gets real nasty and possessive saying he “created Brent, he ain’t losing that to anyone” and will “tell your mother you’re a whore”. Such a shit bag move and something that he partially caused by getting too involved with one of his porn stars. Meanwhile this cuts with scenes of Joe and Harlow struggling to get their porn business on the go and we also have a scene of one of the cars being repossessed. Joe’s first instinct is to grab the gun and shoot them however Harlow stands in his way, so he points the gun at him and yells, before Harlow disarms him and they break down crying. Although stress can do things to us when we are in thousands of debt, there is obviously a lot of trauma and mental health issues that need to be worked on with these too, and it's such a shame it's not easily accessible for them at this time.
Brent tries to go to other agencies, but finds out the harsh truth of it is not just the body that sells sometimes, it's the brand name of Brent Corrigan too. This is something that Stephen has copyrighted and told others in the field about to prevent Brent being able to work with anyone. Again another key lesson here for everyone going into adult entertainment, make sure to own your brand and ensure you protect it!
Brent then drops the bombshell of the fact he lied about his age and that he was actually underage when they first started, so if Stephen is going to withhold his name from him, the police will get involved. The police end up showing up at Stephen’s to take all his computers to check for child porn, his neighbours start to shun him and call him out as a pedo, and even his sister is shocked to learn about this other side of his life and is worried about if this means he will go to jail.
Now true to life, when we press that nuclear option it may have an impact on our own life as well as the person we are looking to hurt. We see this in Brent’s professional life with investors now feeling uncomfortable working with him due to the criticism he has brought to the industry, a natural reaction in my eyes. If someone has lied about their age to get into the adult entertainment industry, it does paint a pretty big target on the industry from the rest of society, and it is already a stigmatised enough profession. People in the industry really don’t need to be adding further controversies into the public’s mind, general society is still pretty judgemental about the porn industry even if most of us have ‘benefitted’ from it.
And Brent's mother also freaks out and gets very judgemental, yelling she thought he was learning a trade and building a career for himself, not being a whore. She asks why he would disrespect his body and what is wrong with him, more stereotypical societal reactions! Sex work, whether that is prostitution or porn, is real work so its never about disrespecting oneself or body, and it is sometimes a lot harder than some of the ‘real’ trades people can learn as a profession!
Joe and Harlow reach out to Brent to try and get him to work with them, and obviously he is happy to get another chance at the industry but he lets them know about the issues with the name Brent Corrigan. The first approach is the two guys trying to threaten Stephen, but he pretty much tells them to fuck off. Eventually Brent and Stephen have a call where they do apologise to each other and we get the admission that Stephen did let his personal feelings get in the way and he will speak to his lawyer to sort this out. I am glad Stephen realised how unreasonable he was trying to hold on to someone who only really wanted to work with him, not build a life with him, and it is a brave thing to admit to people you are scared of losing them in your life.
Harlow appears at Stephen’s pretending to be a new guy trying out for porn, and starts to seduce Stephen and ask questions. Now my first point again is on the whole separating one's personal life and business life, since having people from online just randomly appear at your house to audition just seems like such a risk! With the question of is this what like Stephen likes to do, touch these boys whenever he wants and his answer of yes, who gives a fuck is a reflection on the ugly sentiment in the adult industry, at least back then and hopefully not as common now. Apparently being the one behind the camera or in charge of what is being shot gave people the ridiculous idea that they could decide what to do with the actors, regardless of how uncomfortable they were with this. I do think that OnlyFans and other platforms are now working to give the balance of power back to the workers, and as society pushes for better safeguarding and consent in all that we do, hopefully this becomes a thing of the past for all adult entertainment workers.
Harlow eventually stabs Stephen in the neck and he and Joe then set the house on fire to cover their tracks. Stephen’s sister is devastated when she sees the news and Brent freaks out too, and with the public animosity between the two of them he goes to the police to ensure they don’t think this was him and that he has an idea of who it was. Cops being cops, they want him to go and confirm this by dealing with the murderers directly and to ensure they confirm he didn’t ask him to do this, cause far be it for them to put themselves in the line of danger doing their job.
As the three boys are chatting they let us know they have been writing the script already. I do have to say I like the title of the porn they planned to film, “The Fast and the Curious”. Sometimes porn really does have the best worst puns you can imagine and it's always funny when it is based on a franchise that just doesn't seem to stop making terrible sequels!
Eventually Brent gets them to open up where they do admit they did this but we also get more of the backstory for Harlow, where his stepdad used to rape him and he never told the family out of not wanting to shame them, until his stepdad called him a fag when he came out and got his mother to throw him on the streets. So we do find out late in the game about the pain he has suffered in life, and it gives an insight into how people who have experienced trauma can carry on that trauma cycle and hurt others in turn. It’s such a shame that we see this cycle of hurting people has been passed on through generations, and it does result in Joe and Harlow being taken by the police.
We then get a flash forward to see Brent riding a horse, flirting with what seems to be a farm boy before boom, straight to sucking dick against a tractor! And then just as we think this is life, we are pulled further back to find out it's porn being shot and that Brent is now leading the direction of the shoot as well as starring in it. It's a nice nod to what Brent moved on to do in his life after the Cobra Video situation, and how he aimed to be an encouraging director to new porn stars and actually building up a safer work environment for them to work within.
And after everything we have witnessed, we end on a great closing line of “Alright, lets fuck.” Very funny way to finish off a film dealing with the adult entertainment industry!