In 2006, small comic book publisher Atlantis Studios released its homage to damsel-in-distress serials, Paula Peril. Only two issues ever received wide distribution before the series transitioned over to direct sales only from the publisher's website.
Because the series had such a strong niche appeal, Atlantis Studios decided to start making a series of short movies starring Valerie Perez as the titular character. These ran from 2008–2018.
The Adventures of Paula Peril, released in 2014, was a collection of some of the shorts edited together with some new material and a wraparound story to make it a full-length feature.
Clocking in around 82 minutes, the movie runs pretty much how you'd expect for a low-budget indie movie trying to stay PG-13. Let's be honest, though. You aren't considering watching this for the story, are you? Yeah, I didn't think so...
Every segment of the movie exists solely for our heroine to get tied up and usually gagged at some point. However, what the movie fails to deliver on is any actual peril. Once Paula is captured, the villain gloats for a bit, and Paula escapes or is rescued mere moments later. Even though the movie's whole existence is essentially "fan service", what's there is too brief and borderline uninteresting, making it a somewhat dull affair.
Don't get me started on the "acting". The two main leads, Valerie Perez (Paula Peril) and Stephen Hanthorn (Jimmy Olsen Smith) do a decent enough job, but the villains make Baywatch look like high art.
When it comes down to it, The Adventures of Paula Peril tries to walk a difficult tightrope between plot and titillation. However, the story and acting won't entertain the cinephiles, and it's not erotic enough to please the bondage/fetish fans. It might be a movie you watch once on a lark, but I doubt you'd intentionally watch it a second time.
The Adventures of Paula Peril is currently available to stream on Prime Video and other services.
Official Trailer:
