Synopsis: The son of a notorious fetish film maker inherits his father’s long lost collection of ‘Blue Movies’. Fifty years ago his father was the main suspect in a double homicide. And the only evidence that could have cleared him, a film which he shot has never surfaced. Determined to clear his father’s name, the son totally immerses himself in the world of fetish filmmaking.

Content wise and visually this film’s main inspiration was the photography of legendary fetish photographer Eric Kroll (Nylon Girls: Erotic Fashion Photography, Fetish Girls). Besides Eric Kroll’s aforementioned photography another inspiration can be found in film Noir which the narrative structure and the film’s lightening clearly drawn from.

The plot revolves a young man named Chet Lands, who inherits his father’s strip club. And like all great mystery film there are an abundance of shady characters who all play a part in diverting the viewers attention away from the truth. There is a corrupt cop who is trying to extort money from Chet and a devious Femme Fatale who preys on every male characters weakness.

And while fetish plays a large part into the story at hand. Thankfully this film does not use it as a crutch. Instead there is a solid balance between the more fetish inspired moments and Chet’s search for the truth. This balance also helps moves things along as there is never a moment where things get bogged down. Another area where the film excels are the performances from the entire cast are all extremely good in their respective roles. Ultimately American Fetish is an intoxicating mystery that fans of film Noir and fetish should equally enjoy.

The DVD:

The DVD-R sent for this review has a constant water mark throughout the presentation and the film is presented in a non anamorphic letterboxed widescreen (the completed DVD release is supposed to be anamorphic widescreen).This screener is most definitely not representative of the final product. So commenting on the audio / video presentation would be pointless. No extras or menu were included with the screener which I was sent. Extras that are supposed to be on the final release DVD for this film are as follows, a photo fetish gallery and a behind the scenes featurette.