House of Milan
House of Milan (better known as HOM, Inc.) was a successful publisher of bondage magazines and BDSM videos, managed primarily by fetish photographer and producer Barbara Behr. HOM was considered one of the three big houses during the so-called Golden Age of Bondage productions, along with Harmony Concepts and California Star in the Eighties and Nineties.
The early years[edit]
House of Milan started in 1964 as a fetish clothing company based in Chicago. The company transitioned into publishing after their first magazine, The Bizarre Costume Catalog, sold unexpectedly well as a stand-alone item in adult bookstores. After adopting the HOM moniker, the focus was on female domination and bondage themed magazines. HOM produced dozens of slickly-produced magazines such as Knotty (1971-2000), Hogtie (1972-1992), Bitch, Bondage (both 1972), Amazon, Bound to Please (both 1973), Femme Fatale, Captured (1975-1999), Dominique (1974), Punished (1978-2001), Bondage Cinema (1978), Whipmaster, Obedience (both 1979), Mistress Quarterly (1983), Slave Auction (1985-1992), Strict (1982-1997), Whipmistress (1984), and Super Bitch (1985).
In the 1970s the company relocated to California and began producing short 8mm bondage, BDSM, and spanking film-loops for the stag/home theater market. The films averaged 7-10 minutes in length and were either silent or came with a music sound track. Some loops were produced as multi-part stories. These were sold in sex shops and through mail-order ads in adult magazines as well as HOM's growing line of fetish publications.
The film-loop era came to an abrupt end with the explosion of the VCR home video market in the early 1980s. The freedom of videotape allowed fetish filmmakers to produce scripted "dungeon dramas" (averaging 30 to 60 minutes in length) with full color and sound for very little money. HOM was one of the first companies to exploit this new medium to the fullest and more or less set the industry standard. The company rapidly churned out an extensive line of F/F "Whips and Chains" BDSM videos that were slickly produced and showcased many of the most well-known fetish performers in the industry.
Various compilations of their early silent bondage loops such as Bondage Classics 14 have been re-released on video and DVD.
- HOM silent bondage reel #17 (1980), video
- HOM silent bondage reel #18 (1980), video
Style and content[edit]
These new videos were nearly all mistress-punishes-slave stories featuring flogging, spanking, paddling, bondage, suspension, and breast torment. (They also produced a few femdom titles.) Most of their videos were filmed in the same well-equipped dungeon set complete with rack, slant-table, stocks, St. Andrew's cross X-frame, and an elaborate suspension apparatus. The same set, props, actors, and storylines were reused time and again to the point where it is difficult to separate one title from another.
One notable exception is Slave Farm, partly filmed outdoors at a horse farm (and includes scenes of cart-pulling pony play). This also has a classic "turnabout" ending with the mistress overpowered and turned into a slave — a role reversal plot device used in many of their films.
Historical and genre films[edit]
While the majority of the stories were contemporary, HOM also made a number of costumed period pieces and fantasy stories, many set in the Middle Ages. Some of these titles include Dungeon of the Borgias, Prisoners of the Inquisition, No Mercy for the Witches, Terrors of the Inquisition, The Curse of Merlin's Castle, Sinderella's Revenge, and the futuristic Zena: Mistress of the Universe.
These reflect writer/director Brian Tarsis's interest in historical settings. From 1991 to 1997 Tarsis directed (and often wrote) every video for HOM and its parent company London Enterprises, over 150 titles in all.
Casting[edit]
Many of HOM's performers became stars in their own right with their names featured in the film titles (Ashley Rene in Jeopardy, Chateau Payne, et al.). Most actresses, such as the popular Kiri Kelly, began as fetish models working for bondage and spanking magazines. A few were well-known '80s porn stars such as Tanya Foxx, Sharon Mitchell, and June Bauer (aka Julia Parton, Nina Alexander), who left that industry at the end of the decade and became even more popular in BDSM features.
Alexis Payne made frequent appearances as the cruel, whip-wielding Domme. Be Be LeBadd was also a stern dominatrix in many features, but also played submissive roles on occassion. HOM's stable of recurring players included Greta Carlson, Ashley Renee, Desi d'Angelo, Sharon Kane, Star Chandler, Patricia Kennedy, porn star Marilyn Rose, and Fawna (aka Tori Sinclair, Lisa Comshaw).
Pacific Force founder Jacqueline Omerta made a rare guest-star appearance as Mistress Jacqueline in Spell of the Whip (1993).
Early in her career, well-known horror actress Linnea Quigley performed in Kidnapped Girls Agency (1985) with fellow scream queen Michelle Bauer. Under the names Pia Sands, Pia Snow, and Kim Bittner, Bauer appeared in Bad Girls (1981, photos, video clip), Special Request (1984), Pony Girl (1985) with Traci Lords, Pony Girl Number Two (1985), Women in Trouble (1986), Pony Girl at the Ranch (1986), and Bondage Under the Bigtop! (1987).
Sale to London Enterprises[edit]
HOM produced videos from 1985 until 1998 when the company was sold to London Enterprises Ltd. London reissued the bulk of HOM's titles under their own brand name, London Video, on DVD. This has compounded the difficulty in separating the two companies — especially since London also produced scores of nearly identical films using the same performers and sets as HOM. Some of the re-released HOM videos have "London Video Presents" or "From the London Library" appearing before the title credits.
Selected Films[edit]
- Ambassador File - 1995 (Ashley Renee)
- Ashley Rene in Jeopardy - 1991 (Ashley Renee, Tanya Foxx, BeBe LeBadd, Desi d'Angelo), video at Xhampster
- A Taste for Submission - Tanya Foxx, video
- Bad Slaves - 1995 (Ashley Renee)
- Beneath the Palm (British import)
- Betrayed into Bondage - 1990 (Ashley Renee, June Bauer, Sharon Kane)
- Bondage Bordello - 1991 (BeBe LeBadd, Desi d'Angelo)
- Bondage Broadcast - 1989
- Bondage Classics 4 (1980s), silent loop compilation (video)
- Bondage Classics 7 (1980s), silent loops (video)
- Bondage in the Bastille - 1991 (Fawna, Sharon Kane)
- Bondage Slut (c. 1990), video
- Bondage Society - c.1991 (Ashley Renee, June Bauer, Ernest Green)
- Bondage Under the Bigtop - 1987 (Michelle Bauer)
- Caper Cats - 1998
- Captured in the Middle East - 1989 (Desi d'Angelo)
- Captured South of the Border - c.1990 (Sharon Mitchell, Tiffany Storm, Annie Warhol)
- Chateau Payne - 1992 (Alexis Payne, Porsche Lynn, Fawna)
- Cries From The Dungeon - 1992 (Alexis Payne, Ashley Renee, Star Chandler, Trixie Tyler)
- The Curse of Merlin's Castle (Alexis Payne)
- Diary of a Mistress - 1995
- Discipline Experts - 1990 (Ashley Renee, Alexis Payne, June Bauer, Sharon Kane)
- Dracula's Dungeon - 1995 (Alexis Payne as Countess Dracula), video at Xhampster
- Dungeon Dementia - 1997 (Ashley Renee, Fawna/Tori Sinclair, Sharon Kane), video at Xhampster
- Dungeon of the Borgias - 1992 (Alexis Payne), flogging scene, entire film
- Education of a Dominatrix - 1993 (Patricia Kennedy, Sharon Kane)
- Enlisted - 1998
- Exposed - 1993 (Greta Carlson)
- Fetish Finishing School - 1994 (Lili Xene, Bobbi Brandt, Desi d'Angelo)
- Girl's School Spanking (Alexis Payne)
- Hellfire Society - 1992 (Star Chandler, Fawna)
- Hot Flesh, Cold Chains - 1992 (Ashley Renee, Be Be Le Badd), St. Andrews cross, video at Xhampster
- House of Correction - 1992 (BeBe LeBadd, Desi d'Angelo)
- House of Slaves - 1995 (Greta Carlson)
- Journey into Pain - c. 1989
- I Was an Undercover Slave - 1993
- Kidnapped Girls Agency - 1985 (Linnea Quigley, Michelle Bauer)
- Lair of the Bondage Bandits (Sharon Mitchell, Be Be LeBadd)
- The Legend of The Torturer (Alexis Payne, Star Chandler, Sharon Kane, et al.), video
- compilation from: Terrors of the Inquisition, Dracula's Dungeon, Slaves of the Warrior Queen, The Dungeon of the Borgias, No Mercy for the Witches
- Lessons in Bondage - 1995
- Missy and her Master
- Mistress of Cruelty (Ashley Renee, Sharon Kane, Porsche Lynn)
- Mistress Mania - 1987
- Mistress Mania Too! - 1988
- Mistress of Shadows - 1995
- Night Slave (Ashley Renee, Sharon Kane)
- No Mercy for the Witches - 1992 (Trixie Tyler, Desi d'Angelo, Stephanie Rage)
- The Obedience School (Desi d'Angelo)
- The Perils of Prunella
- The Perils of Prunella II: The Sequel - 1992 (Alexis Payne, Ashley Renee)
- Perversionist - 1995
- Prisoners of the Inquisition - 1989 (Greta Carlson)
- Prisoners of Treachery - 1990 (Kiri Kelly, June Bauer, Sharon Kane, Julia Parton)
- Punished Princess - 1991 (Alexis Payne, Ashley Nicole, Shanna McCullough, Desi d'Angelo)
- The Punishment of Ashley Renee - 1993 (Ashley Renee, Fawna), Sharon Kane, entire film
- Runaway Slaves - 1994 (Sharon Kane, Bobbi Brandt, Desi d'Angelo)
- The Secret Dungeon - 1994 (Summer Knight, Desi d'Angelo, Raven, Sharon Kane)
- Shamed Slut - 1991 (June Bauer)
- Sinderella's Revenge - (Sharon Kane, Alexis Payne, Trinity Loren)
- Slave Auction - 1991 (Alexis Payne, Desi d'Angelo), slavery
- Slave Farm - 1991 (Shanna McCullough, Marilyn Rose, Desi d'Angelo, Fawna), stocks, pony play, video at Xhampster
- Slaves of Passion (Porsche Lynn, Kerri Downs)
- Slaves of Rome (Desi d'Angelo)
- Slaves of the Warrior Queen
- Special Request - 1984 (Michelle Bauer)
- Special Request - 1991
- Special Request 2 - 1992 (Kiri Kelly, BeBe LeBadd, Sharon Mitchell)
- Special Request 3 (1992), June Bauer, Alexis Payne, Porsche Lynn, Darian Haze, video
- Spell of the Whip - 1993 (Jacqueline Omerta, Greta Carlson, Patricia Kennedy)
- Spy Academy (Ashley Renee)
- Terrors of the Inquisition - 1991 (Alexis Payne, Sharon Kane, Marilyn Rose, Desi d'Angelo)
- Tiffany's Vengeance (Star Chandler, Alexis Payne)
- Till She Screams - 1991 (Star Chandler, Fawna)
- Turnabout - c.1990 (complete film can be viewed at xHampster)
- Whips and Chains Affair - 1994 (Ashley Renee)
- Women in Trouble - 1986 (Michelle Bauer)
- Zena: Mistress of the Universe - 1993 (Alexis Payne)
Links[edit]
- House of Milan film list (IAFD: Internet Adult Film Database)
- Vintage HOM magazines for sale at Alta-Glamour.com.