Evil Angel is an American independent production company and distributor of pornographic films, founded and owned by John Stagliano.

[3][4] It has been described as "the top porn-film producer" in the U.S,[5] as one of the handful of companies which dominate the distribution of hardcore pornographic films in the U.S.,[6] and as one of the most profitable porn studios.

[9] Stagliano initially had little knowledge of filmmaking, but he made his first movie for $8,000 in 1983: Bouncing Buns, starring Stacy Donovan.

[14] The early Buttman films were written, produced, directed, edited, shot and manufactured personally by Stagliano.

In contrast to his earlier work and the standard porn of the time, Stagliano did not link each scene together to form a conventional narrative.

At the time, porn films had a traditional storyline, with sex scenes interspersed with dialogue by performers with little acting ability.

Instead of that format, Stagliano chose to film "one sex scene which has a beginning, a middle and ends at a climax.

[8] In the mid-90s, the company started using the phrase "The Evil Empire" on its box covers, in reference to its growing stable of directors.

[26] On April 8, 2008, Evil Angel and Stagliano were indicted on federal obscenity charges by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C.[27][28] Films named in the obscenity charges included Storm Squirters 2 by Joey Silvera, Milk Nymphos by Jay Sin and a trailer for Belladonna: Fetish Fanatic 5.

[27][29] Stagliano and Evil Angel were represented by Al Gelbard, who successfully defended JM Productions owner Jeff Steward in a 2007 obscenity case.

[34] The company's roster of directors, includes Stagliano himself, Aiden Starr, Proxy Paige, LeWood, John Leslie, Rocco Siffredi, Joey Silvera, Christoph Clark, Nacho Vidal, Jonni Darkko, Jake Malone, Jay Sin, Jazz Duro, Manuel Ferrara, Lexington Steele, Mike Adriano, Steve Holmes, Uncle D and Belladonna.

[32][35][36][37][38][39] Previous directors include Gregory Dark, Jules Jordan, Bruce Seven, Bionca, Alex de Renzy and Erik Everhard.

[40] His first film for Evil Angel was Sex Freaks, starring Stephanie Swift, Nyrobi Knights, Lovette and Tom Byron.

Jules Jordan formerly directed for Evil Angel, producing series including Ass Worship.

By 2003, almost 30 entries in the Buttman series had been produced, some of them shot in locations including New Zealand, Prague (Czech Republic), San Diego and London.

[citation needed] Manuel Ferrara released his first Evil Angel film in May 2006, after working for Red Light District Video for two years.

[51] He was originally a protégé of Rocco Siffredi, and had an award-winning acting career, including an appearance in Stagliano's Fashionistas.

Evil Angel is the exclusive distributor of titles under the Belladonna Entertainment and Deadly Nightshade Productions labels.

[citation needed] Jay Sin started directing for Buttman Magazine Choice in early 2007, working on films including Milk Nymphos 2, then became an EA director in January 2008.