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REVIEW
Spit and Ashes
Genre: BDSM, Fetish, Goth
Year Released: 2019
Runtime: 1h 10m
Director(s): Maria Beatty
Writer(s): Dion De Rossi, Maria Beatty, Sadie Lune
Cast: Lydia Lunch, Sadie Lune, Dion De Rossi, Daniel Maszkowicz
Where To Watch: available now, stream here: www.pinklabel.tv
ADULT CONTENT: As I continue to broaden the scope of my reviews, I’m thrilled to delve into the vibrant and diverse world of adult films. Featuring titles from various platforms, these reviews explore indie and mainstream adult content that challenges conventional norms and celebrates diverse depictions of desire. From softcore to hardcore, and including provocative series that bring taboo fantasies to life, these films reflect the complexities of human sexual desire in uninhibited, creative ways. Please be advised my reviews include explicit content and mature themes. If this isn’t your preference, feel free to skip these posts. No judgment here—your discretion is advised.
RAVING REVIEW: SPIT AND ASHES embraces a raw, unapologetic exploration of power, sexuality, and defiance, crafting an experience that intertwines striking imagery with unrelenting intensity. Maria Beatty strips away convention, presenting a film that is as mesmerizing as it is confrontational, reveling in the uninhibited indulgence of pleasure, pain, and rebellion. This film wasn’t my cup of tea, but more importantly, this film wasn’t made for me, so my opinion on liking or disliking the experience doesn’t matter. So, what follows is a dive into the filmmaking experience itself.
Rather than adhering to a traditional narrative, the film constructs its impact through visceral, unfiltered imagery and sound design. The High Priestess, embodied by Sadie Lune, commands the screen with natural energy, a force of nature reveling in her feral hunger. Her scenes pulse with intensity—fingers dragging over flesh, tongues flicking ravenously, bodies writhing in consumption. The Midwife, played by Dion de Rossi, embodies quiet resilience, bearing the weight of history’s persecution yet finding her strength through submission, pleasure, the intoxicating push and pull of dominance, and surrender. Their journey unfolds in a series of ritualistic encounters—groping, licking, fucking—blurring the line between suffering and reclamation, between agony and orgasm.
The film’s black-and-white cinematography sharpens its unrelenting edge, stripping each frame of excess and leaving only raw desire in its most elemental form. Beatty’s careful manipulation of light, contrast, and texture ensures that every thrust, every gasp, and every desperate image of flesh against flesh is rendered with striking clarity.
SPIT AND ASHES also wield silence as a weapon, stripping away dialogue and replacing it with nature's breath, moans, and naturalistic sounds. The weight of each moment is carried through movement, through guttural sighs of submission. Without the crutch of spoken exposition, the film demands full sensory engagement—one must watch how mouths devour, fingers slide and dig, and bodies surrender and take without hesitation.
Clocking in at just 70 minutes, the film offers no moment of reprieve. Some scenes stretch, slow and deliberate, forcing the audience to sit in the tension, absorb every moment of dominance and submission, and recognize the layers of power play embedded in each act. This pacing, though challenging, heightens the eroticism, making every orgasm feel hard-won, every release a battle between autonomy and control.
Beyond its historical allegories of patriarchal oppression, SPIT AND ASHES finds its beating heart in the raw display of sexuality as resistance. Witchcraft is not merely a metaphor for female empowerment here—it is a visceral, physical reclamation of pleasure as power. Lune and de Rossi inhabit this space; their chemistry is electric, and their hunger is undeniable. There is no hesitation in their performances, no deception in how they give and take, and in how they ride the line between ritual and indulgence. This is sex as power, fucking as defiance, moans as rebellion.
Beatty constructs a film that refuses categorization, rejecting both mainstream eroticism and traditional storytelling in favor of something primal and immersive. SPIT AND ASHES is not entertainment—it is invocation, seduction, and possession. The performances carry an intensity that makes it impossible to look away. Lune’s presence is hypnotic, a figure of undeniable dominance who exudes seduction and destruction in equal measure. De Rossi, in contrast, finds power in her submission, her expressions shifting between agony and ecstasy with effortless control.
The film’s final act culminates in everything that came before—an explosion of ritual, climax, and transformation. With a dramatic shift in the visuals, the deliberate build-up pays off in inevitable yet shocking ways, leaving the audience with reverence and unease. It’s a film that does not seek to please but rather to provoke, to linger in the mind and body. SPIT AND ASHES is not simply seen—it is felt, an experience that demands submission, much like the acts it portrays.
Unapologetic and feral, SPIT AND ASHES stake its claim in the space where art meets the unknown. It does not seek approval or conformity—it dares, demands, and devours. Beatty has crafted more than just a film; she has conjured an uncompromising, carnal, and utterly unforgettable experience.
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[photo courtesy of PINKLABEL.TV, MARIA BEATTY FILMS]
DISCLAIMER:
At Red Light Rated, we are committed to transparency and honest reviews. Occasionally, we receive free access to certain websites to provide in-depth evaluations, but this does not influence our opinions. We always prioritize fair, unbiased, and insightful assessments to help you make informed decisions. Additionally, some links in our reviews are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a small commission if you sign up through them at no extra cost.
