The 2025 HUMP! Film Festival - A Review (Part Two)

WARNING: The following contains explicit discussion and descriptions of intimate sexual encounters and kinks that may be upsetting to some readers. Please continue at your own discretion.

If you're here, and I know you are, then you are probably well aware of what exactly you're getting yourself into. If not, then please check out Part One of my review of the 2025 HUMP! Film Festival. I promise it contains everything you need to know, and probably some things you didn't.

With that out of the way, let's continue breaking down each and every film selected as part of the 2025 HUMP! lineup. In Part Two of this review, we'll be looking at the next ten films on the roster, which get far, far more intense than the first four.

Go Fuck Yourself

Through the magic of technology, a curious bottom discovers what it's like to fuck himself.

Going into it: Clones? I really hope the edibles are kicking in right about now.

Getting into it: VR stuff? Neat.

Full (frontal) review: Go Fuck Yourself is absolutely not what I thought it would be, and in the best of ways. Rather than being some sort of sci-fi fever dream, this short is instead a couple (later throuple) playfully experimenting with a VR headset. After recording their initial encounters, the participants swap the headset and experience, well, what it would be like to go fuck yourself, I guess. There isn't anything overtly artistic or stereotypically pornographic in Go Fuck Yourself, but there is a poignant reminder that people can genuinely enjoy sex as an experience in ways that go beyond simple penetration and foreplay.

Devotion

A high-fantasy erotic film with an undercurrent of suspense, Devotion sees the divine becoming flesh.

The ferociously muscled and masculine Davin Strong is praying at a forest altar, when the Goddess he’s paying homage to materializes before his eyes. Kira Noir is regal and impossibly majestic in her pagan power, dripping with gold and sensuality. Even the hyper-masculine warrior before her is completely unmoored by his own desire, submitting utterly to her allure.

Going into it: Wow that's a lot. Is this is a proof of concept for a Skinemax revival?

Getting into it: Now THIS is definitely influencer porn.

Full (frontal) review: Devotion is what you get when pornography becomes performance art becomes a full-blown production. Devotion isn't actively trying to sell the audience anything, but it certainly feels like it is. The filmmakers obviously put a decent amount of thought into the set and costumes, yet there is nothing about the final product that doesn't constantly remind you that this was shot in-studio. Devotion doesn't read like the kind of movie you would find on a questionable website, yet without its descriptive logline, it doesn't read like much of anything beyond a thinly-veiled, sex-positive feminist metaphor told via occasional pegging. Devotion is probably what Beautiful Bae wanted to be, even if it wasn't intending to be.

Gloryhole Goofball

Vanessa laughs at the absurdity of putting on a gag with comically oversized lips, but decides to go all in on goofy life experiences.

Going into it: Oh look, weird face fucking...

Getting into it: Oh look, weird face fucking... Also, and I'm not an expert on the subject by any means, but I'm pretty sure that's not a gloryhole. Is this a humiliation thing? It can't be, right? Because everybody is just kind of chatting and whatnot. This is, I don't know, wildly uncomfortable?

Full (frontal) review: Listen, I like blowjobs as much as the next guy with a healthy, sex positive attitude, but Gloryhole Goofball isn't it. I'm not going to say that this was just two or three minutes of weird face fucking, because it wasn't entirely that, but it also wasn't not entirely that. Whatever air of comedy the creators were going for here gets lost in the fact that there are three dicks on screen vying for their spot between a pair of unnerving plastic lips that could have just as easily come from items cobbled together out of the Halloween prop section at a home goods warehouse as they did a sex shop. Whatever two or more consenting adults are into is their business, and I'm not going to yuck anyone else's yum in that regard. I will say that this just wasn't for me, and I imagine it probably isn't for most people, either.

Transylvania

A lusty vampiric allegory for a transformational exploration of your body, pleasure, and gender.

Going into it: Oh, hey, vampire stuff. Neat.

Getting into it: Of course it's a period sex thing. I'm so dumb. Wait... Transylvania. Tran-sylvania. Trans-ylvania. Oh god dammit, I am SO dumb.

Full (frontal) review: Despite featuring plenty of period sex action, moderate amounts of bloodplay, and some not-so-subtle trans allegory, Transylvania is probably one of the most inoffensive shorts featured at the HUMP! 2025. I can't say that Transylvania was a particularly transformative or awe-inspiring cinematic experience, but it was certainly made with an amount of care, forethought, and technical skill that comes across on the silver screen. If you told me the same filmmakers worked in commercials I would absolutely believe you. And, while Transylvania feels like an edgy music video for much of its runtime, that doesn't detract from the short as a whole.

Room to Breath

This film portrays the intimacy and vulnerability of sex through the practice of breathplay. TheLeatherRosary pushes blue to her limits by suffocating her with a swim cap.

Going into it: But what if no?

Getting into it: Visceral. Does this count as erotic? Maybe this should be my bathroom break. For how long? Yep. I am just going to pretend to take some in-depth notes and not watch this for a little while.

Full (frontal) review: Again, I am not going to yuck anyone's yum. I'm not doing that. I am going to question whether this is actually a "yum" whatsoever, as the entire short is a look into the kind of breathplay that, to my French-vanilla-with-sprinkles-and-maybe-one-other-topping-we-can-talk-about-it-later-I'm-writing-a-thing-right-now self, seems like more of a reason for aftercare than anything else. For the record, I am perfectly aware that there are psychological and emotional aspects to everything involved in Room to Breath that I do not fully comprehend nor are properly aware of, and that's okay. This one can just not be for me. That is maybe my single favorite part of the whole HUMP! Film Festival ethos. We're all adults. We all know what we bought tickets for. And we all are perfectly capable of looking away from the screen for two to five minutes at a time.

Distance

An intimate look into a long distance relationship.

Going into it: This is probably going to make me real sad, huh?

Getting into it: Yeah. This is sad. I mean, it's cute, but I'm sad about it. Super funny ending, though. Still sad.

Full (frontal) review: If you have ever been in a long distance relationship, particularly a monogamous one, then you'll get it. Distance is cute. It's funny. It's lighthearted. It is also sad in a way that people who have never had to navigate a long distance relationship may not pick up on for themselves. Distance is likely exactly what the creators set out to make, and making anything that is quirky and funny and sexy all at the same time is a tall order. In every regard, Distance is a success, and more filmmakers should embrace its unique brand of honesty.

Smut by Josh Hawley

A book editor takes on the project of editing Manhood, one of Josh Hawley's garbage books, and turns it into a smutty masterpiece.

Going into it: Josh Hawley? Like... like the right wing CHUD, Josh Hawley?!

Getting into it: Oh God I hope Josh Hawley sees this. I LOVE IT!

Full (frontal) review: If you don't know who Josh Hawley is, he's a piece of shit. This Missouri State Senator has written books such as The Tyranny of Big Tech and Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs, in which he explains why the companies he is selling out the United States to are bad, and how he's totally not a whiny bitch or whatever. Fuck Josh Hawley, is the point, and this movie gets that point. Rather than offering any sort of on screen eroticism, Smut by Josh Hawley takes pages from Hawley's Manhood and edits them into utterly hilarious (and mildly pornographic) excerpts that are worth infinitely more than anything Hawley himself has ever put to paper. The entire theater was laughing along to Smut by Josh Hawley, and I hope that if the creators of this short are reading my review, they know how much joy they put out into the world because of it. And if Josh Hawley is reading this, eat shit.

Lazy Sunday

Daddy Damian Dragon and his boy Austin Spears enjoy a lazy Sunday morning in this gay, age-play scene. When Austin gets a bit cocky about beating Daddy Damian at video games, he's quickly put in his place and reminded who is in charge.

Going into it: Oh no, maybe not for me.

Getting into it: Well this is cute, kind of. Sort of like if Lorne Michaels decided that Saturday Night Live was going to do porn, now. Sort of... Yeah, this just isn't for me.

Full (frontal) review: Lazy Sunday is very much not what I expected, and I mean that in the best way possible. Going into the short, I was worried it would feature some seriously uncomfortable age play, when instead it is a look into the sex life of a happy couple who just so happen to have a noticeable age gap in their relationship. That being said, Lazy Sunday is also amateur to the point that it still manages to be uncomfortable when it is clearly trying to be fun, even comforting at times. I won't say that Lazy Sunday is bad, because it isn't. If anything Lazy Sunday is accidentally voyeuristic, which would probably be fine if there were any sense that the filmmakers had such an intention in mind during production.

Liberation Hotline

Blythe summons the courage to live out her taboo sexual fantasy for the first time. She has long kept her desires a secret, for fear of judgement and rejection — but tonight, overcoming her internalized kink-shame is just a phone call away.

Going into it: Oh no, maybe really not for me.

Getting into it: Well this is surprisingly cinematic. Also hot. Maybe I completely misjudged this one. Maybe I - Ope. No. Nevermind. He's just peeing on her. Okay, well, maybe that - Ope. No. Okay, now it's blowjob time. Wow. That is a lot of cum. I mean, a LOT of cum. Like, you have to take pills to be able to do that, right? Or maybe it's a diet thing. I want to know, just not enough to have that on my search history, is the thing.

Full (frontal) review: So... Liberation Hotline was NOT what I was anticipating. It was also NOT my bag, so to speak. Liberation Hotline was definitely among the more well made films at this year's HUMP! Film Festival in terms of production value and cinematography. Honestly, this could be remade a hundred times showcasing a hundred different sexual proclivities or kinks and I would never get sick of the idea. The concept is good. The execution is great. The specific subject matter? Again, not my bag, but this isn't about me, this is about movies, and Liberation Hotline is simply a good movie.

Oasis

Shot with a Super 8 camera in the desert of Joshua Tree, this film is about a Gay Asian Cowboy reconnecting with a version of his younger self via ropes.

Going into it: This sounds rad as Hell. Like if Daft Punk directed a two-hour X-rated Orville Peck music video.

Getting into it: This is not great. Whoever made this should make more movies.

Full (frontal) review: While my initial assessment that Oasis would play out like if Daft Punk directed a two-hour X-rated Orville Peck music video wasn't entirely off the mark, that also doesn't seem like what the creatives behind this film were aiming to achieve. Or maybe it was. I have no idea. If I can be as kind as possible, Oasis was not very good, yet it shows an astonishing amount of potential both behind and in front of the camera. The best way I can describe my feelings towards this short are pleasantly disappointed. The people who made Oasis can, should, and hopefully will go on to make bigger and better movies that break genre barriers and bend the minds of audiences all over the world. Oasis is the kind of thing I would expect to see from the best film school students who wasted all but the last two days that had to finish a major project. Every second of Oasis is dripping in talent, it just needed something else to pool it together into a truly moving piece of cinema.

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Whew. That was a lot, huh?

Alright, folks. That's going to do it for Part Two of my review of the 2025 HUMP! Film Festival. You can check out Part Three right here, and thanks for reading.