Directed by Zalman King...who's that you ask? He brought us Two Moon Junction, Wild Orchid, Red Shoe Diaries and assisted Adrian Lyne in making 9,5 weeks. So you get the theme: he's into making erotic films. Pleasure or Pain is his last directorial effort before he croaked (he made it to 69, ain't that fitting). Contrary to his other films this one stars real life pron stars like lava-melting-hot Malena Morgan and also Elle Alexandra, Hayden Hawkens, Kayla Jane and Aubrey Addams. Now you might be thinking this fact would mean that it's a LOT more explicit than say 'Fifty Shades of Grey' but it certainly is not. The sex scenes are pretty short and you hardly see anything like in most other soft-porn movies (to which you could count his previous work I guess). Worst of all is that they aren't very erotic either which should at least be the point of this film but there it falls short. Though she looks gorgeous Malena is not a great actress. Well nobody in this film is. But they're better at other things lucky for them. Overall I found the story pretty boring, slow moving and poorly written as is the dialogue btw. Some credit to the DP who did a fairly good job with the lighting and such but it doesn't matter. This film is hardly worth watching because it is neither a good plot based film nor a good erotic film. Skip it!