Last updated: January 2025
In 1968, SCREW became the first publication in history to review sex toys and pornographic films. The “Peter Meter,” created by late SCREW founder/publisher Al Goldstein and editor Jim Buckley, was used as a rating system to rate adult films based on how much a film turned them on.
By the mid-1970’s and throughout the “Golden Era of Porn,” the Peter Meter had become the de facto standard in adult film reviews. The most sought after review by adult filmmakers, a “solid” Peter Meter rating practically assured the success of any film. Deep Throat, The Devil in Miss Jones and Behind the Green Door were the three films with the highest Peter Meter ratings in SCREW’s 50+ year history – and subsequently, three of the most successful adult films in the history of porn.
Today, we are proud to re-introduce – better yet, res-erect – the PeterMeter (now one word because it’s cooler- and more up-to-date looking). Going forward, we will be reviewing adult films, websites and content at least once or twice a week and publishing our ratings on the SCREW website at www.screw.wtf for the benefit of our subscribers. In it’s design, we tried our best to capture the simplicity and charm of the original PeterMeter but with our own, update protocol for reviews.
How Ratings Are Determined
Rather than just rate films and content on how much it “turns us on,” – which is kind of subjective since whatever turns us on today, might not turn us on tomorrow – we’ve devised a specific criteria for the new PeterMeter:
1 Erection = It turned us on,
2 Erections = AND we masturbated to it,
3 Erections = AND it’s definitely worth the money (because we’ll masturbate to it over and over again),
4 Erections = AND it was refreshingly creative and/or unique to anything else we’ve seen so far,
5 Erections = AND we’d probably pay TWICE the price for it,
5 Erections + a Splooge = IT’S FUCKING LEGENDARY. (Think: Deep Throat.)
A Note to Filmmakers:
Don’t be mad if you’re film only gets 1 or 2 erections. The mere fact your content turns us on and/or we masturbated to it means A LOT! We look at porn all day, every day. In fact, we’re kind of numb to it at this point, so just getting a PeterMeter review to begin with is a sign of awesomeness.
Links to Films
SCREW calls it like we see it. We’re 100% independent, mostly objective, and completely unbought (unless you count whiskey and compliments). We don’t take bribes—though we do take screeners. Yes, we sell smut at ScrewVideo.com, and yes, we’ve got a few affiliate deals that might toss us a coin if you click a link. But PeterMeter reviews are written for truth, not tips. If that offends your delicate sensibilities, feel free to look away… or better yet, don’t click on them.
Submissions
Most films and content we select ourselves, but if you’d like to submit your adult film for a SCREW review and/or PeterMeter rating, please email a public link to the film (not a file or attachment) to the publisher at phil@screw.wtf.