I was a little scared of Sanatorium at first. The trailers showed lots of blood, screaming, and creepiness. It was advertised almost as a horror movie, but I was pleased to find out that it's fairly good and more thriller than horror. It's not perfect, but it's mostly enjoyable to watch and pretty sexy. I will say, however, it will definitely not be everyone's cup of tea.

Tabitha Stevens stars in Sanatorium, what I'd call an erotic thriller, by Zero Tolerance, released in 2010. It's directed by Gary Orona, best known for directing and producing HBO/Cinemax's Hotel Erotica and HBO's Erotic Traveler. Sanatorium comes in a fairly large display box with two DVDs, one for the feature film and one with special features. The front of the box has Tabitha Stevens in a shot from the movie and also shows co-stars Kagney Linn Karter and Sara Sloane. The back has shots of sex scenes from the movie.

Sanatorium opens with a senator (played by Nick Manning) on TV talking about how porn needs to be stopped and how it's evil, it's corrupting our families, legislation needs to be passed to stop it or else, yadda yadda. The typical political mumbo jumbo. We then see that same politician in a hotel room with Tabitha Stevens. She has sex with a woman (played by Ashley Roberts) while he watches, and then she and the politician sit down and she tells him about her past and her journey to where and who she is now. From here on, the plot gets more interesting and ridiculously confusing. Her boss, Marcellus, wants her to do more and more extreme things that she's uncomfortable with. He has one of her fellow porn actresses in a straight jacket in a padded room and he's going to kill her if Tabitha doesn't do what he wants. She goes on a confusing vision quest to become a sexual warrior and...that's where I get lost.

The plot of this movie is insanely confusing. I tried to follow it, I really did, but there is so much going back and forth between one weird scene to the next (she's in a hotel, she's in the desert, oh now she's in a cave, when the hell did she get back to the desert?!) that it was pretty much impossible. I did find it enjoyable to watch, but I didn't understand most of it. There was a lot of symbolism, which I have to say I'm not great with. And scorpions. There were lots of scorpions. Also in one scene, we briefly see a girl who's been shot in the head and blood splattered all over a wall, and in another scene Tabitha bleeds from her right eye. And she screams a lot. All through the movie. She is also briefly shown in a suicide suspension scene. None of this is exactly sexy to me and could be downright upsetting to some.

The sex scenes, however, were surprisingly good. There is a little bit of range here, with everything from POV to anal to group sex. Sara Sloane does a wonderful job and really seems to enjoy what she's doing. I particularly enjoyed Kagney Linn Karter's sex scene, though I know some people find her whiney baby-talk to be off putting. Some of Tabitha's scenes were good but some seemed forced. In this movie, she has an odd habit of giving intense stares that's just...unsettling. The music over the sex scenes gets pretty repetitive and distracting and is generally really freaking creepy. I kept expecting an alien to pop out of someone's chest every time I heard it. It doesn't lend itself to sexy thoughts, but more to "Holy shit, something scary is about to go down!"

The cinematography in Sanatorium is impeccable. Every scene has great camera angles and lighting, and the outdoor locations are beautiful. This movie took five years to make and had a decent budget, and it shows. Ron Jeremy even has a cameo! Tabitha Stevens also made all of her own costumes, which were pretty nice, so there's something to be said for that. The movie does go on a little long though, over two hours, so you may find yourself getting bored half-way through.

Sanatorium is kind of a "you love it or you hate it" movie. Its crazy plot, strange music, and disturbing imagery could be a turn off to some people but wildly erotic to others. On the other hand, the amazing locations, costumes, and cinematography are hard not to enjoy. If you want to see good sex and don't mind a long movie with a twisted plot and a little blood and screaming, this is for you. In spite of all its flaws, I found it to be mostly entertaining and worth watching.

The sex scenes:

1. Tabitha Stevens and Ashley Roberts.
2. Sara Sloane as an escort and Mark Wood as a sleazy lawyer.
3. Tabitha Stevens POV with a guy whose face isn't shown. Includes oral, anal, and ass to mouth.
4. Tabitha Stevens and Kris Slater. Gary Orona (as her friend Alex) watches and holds her hair.
5. Group sex scene with Mark Wood, Raylene, Francesca Le', and Matt Bianco.
6. Tabitha Stevens, in her first interracial scene, with Tyler Knight.
7. Kagney Linn Karter and James Deen. Tabitha watches.
8. Tabitha Stevens gives very sensual blowjob to a man whose face isn't shown.
9. Tabitha and Nick Manning.

Special Features:

Disc 1 includes commentary from Gary Orona (which sheds some light into the plot of the movie) and a scene selection menu. Disc 2 contains trailers for other Zero Tolerance films, Popshots, Behind the Scenes, a slideshow, and an interview with Tabitha Stevens. Added bonuses are two extra Sara Sloane scenes and two Kagney Linn Karter scenes, all from other movies. They're actually very entertaining and worth watching.