Severe Superhero: Lily Cade Helms 'Heartbreaker vs Obscura'

This article originally ran in the November 2016 issue of AVN magazine. Click here to see the digital edition. “It’s not just porn. It’s a fucking movie.” That’s how writer/director/performer Lily Cade describes her new superhero production Heartbreaker vs Obscura. “It’s the first movie I directed on my own for Severe Sex Films,” Cade told AVN. “Heartbreaker—my character—has a power: She can make women do whatever she wants. The Ice Queen’s girlfriend has been captured by Obscura, a supervillain. The Ice Queen and her girlfriend were playing in a BDSM situation, the Ice Queen was tied up, they’re both blonde, the supervillain’s minions grab the wrong girl.” The cast includes Anikka Albrite as Obscura, Ela Darling as the Ice Queen, Kelsey Obsession as the unfortunate civilian girlfriend in the wrong place at the wrong time, Kameltoe as X-ray visionary Spex, and Paris Lincoln and Darcie Dolce in multiple roles as cloned stepsisters. “Obscura has a whip that can take other people’s powers away, making her more powerful.” Cade explained. “When she gets the civilian girlfriend, she’s no good to her. When I get to Obscura’s lair I have to work my way through forty pairs of cloned stepsisters—by the end my costume is shredded—and when I get to Obscura her whip doesn’t work on me so we’re just two people against each other.” Cade is proud of the production value she put into the project: “We came up with original superheroes. The costumes look super-cool. We were okay with them looking a little cheesy, because they’re up-and-coming superheroes. It didn’t have to look like a million-dollar production; we wanted it to look like a comic book. We shot it on the Bolex, which gives a 16mm film look.” Also adding value is original music from Kameltoe. Cade is proud that the sex scenes are in context and in character. “That’s a big deal. The sex scenes are in character and they’re good. I want to cut a version of this movie to send to festivals. Everybody involved was good at what I needed them to do. I like to construct an emotional arc during a sex scene: In the scene between me and Anikka, she’s trying to convince me to join her.” Cade admits she used the fantasy elements to introduce BDSM elements into the material. “With the superheroes I can push the darker emotional states, like I couldn’t do if this was the real world,” Cade said. “These are fantasy people. The first time people are exposed to this kind of thing is watching Wonder Woman get tied up.” Heartbreaker vs Obscura is available now from Severe Sex Films and Exile Distribution.