Grotesque

Well, having heard mention of the BBFC banning on Twitter, old school curiosity got the better of me. That compounded by being told I'm not allow to, made me watch it.

I have to say I'm surprised they even bothered going to the expense and effort of submitting it to the BBFC. I can't see them ever passing it really. Its competently made, and fairly well filmed considering (compared to the Guinea Pig films at least) but really has no emotional content or story. Pretty much just the couple and the torturer, and about 3 locations. Admittedly I saw it with no subtitles but there was obviously not much going on story wise, just abuse and torture in a fairly unpleasant way. As usual for these types of movies, fairly boring and pointless, interspersed with endurance pushing scenes of torture. The only bit of amusing fun gore was the absurd scenes at the end. On the whole not really recommended.

Maybe I'm getting old, but I really can't work out anymore what or who this type of film is made for.

Nothing to see here. It's predictable in that it has no story (as I suppose is how these movies are) but even still, I think some plot worth more than a dime would be have been suffice. I don't think the gore to be honest is all that much from what I can see...I know for some it would be too much but I wasn't impressed nor grossed out. To me, Hostel does about the same, in smaller amounts but more stylishly. This movie gets a zero for style points...any sense of character development is simply plodding. There's no real direction or purpose here. A cut here, a nip there...the implausible, downright comical escape which seems (pardon the pun) a complete detachment from the rest of the 'so called' movie. I'd say the ending only serves its purpose in that it finally puts this film out of its misery as well as its disappointment viewers.

"Grotesque" is a Japanese horror movie directed by Koji Shiraishi year 2009. This film only runs for at least 70 minutes.

Not much plot is in this movie. A sick doctor kidnaps a couple and torture them in different ways, often in gory ways.

As a torture movie, this film can clearly be classified as a "torture-porn", or more likely "gorno". With a lot of torture throughout this film, it can also be called a modern variant of the infamous "Guinea Pig"-film series, especially the first two movies being "Devil's Experiment" and "Flower of Flesh and Blood", which "Grotesque" seems to pay a homage to.

Like other films like "Ichi the Killer" and "Murder-Set-Pieces", this film was said to be available in Norway with an 18-rating, only to get banned later by Medietilsynet (the Norwegian answer to MPAA). Even on the Danish DVD I have it clearly says that this film is banned both in Norway and the UK.

In the UK this film is banned by BBFC, because this film has minimal narrative or character development and features more humiliation, brutality and sadism.

Absolutely NOT for weak stomach and any viewer under the age of 18.

So, can you manage to stomach through this Japanese hell of a movie, which is even worse than "Hostel" and "Saw" altogether?

Grotesque (2009)

*** (out of 4)

Extremely graphic, depraved and vile film from Japan about teenagers Kazuo (Hiroaki Kawatsure) and Aki (Tsugumi Nagasawa) who are on their first date when they're kidnapped by a sadistic surgeon (Shigeo Osako) who takes them back to his house, ties them up and begins to torture them. As a life-long horror fan it seems every few one, two or three new movies cause a stir but when you finally get around to watching them it's clear that it was all hype and they're usually disappointing. Over the past few weeks I had heard a lot of GROTESQUE and I must say that director Koji Shiraishi has made a very brutal film that lives up to everything that has been said about it. The movie is a vile piece of trash but there's no question that it's well-made and certainly effective. I guess you could say that this is Japan's answer to American series like SAW and HOSTEL but those films don't have anything on this. The torture scenes, as you'd expect, are extremely graphic in detail so I'd say that 98% of people out there aren't going to be able to stomach them. I'm a pretty jaded horror fan and I've seen some incredibly brutal films but this here would certainly rank right near the top. The sexual violence in the film includes an incredibly humiliating situation where the girl is raped in a way that I won't ruin here but it's certainly one of the most unpleasant things you're going to see. The torture devices include a chainsaw, eye gouging and a couple scenes to the male anatomy that is going to have male viewers turning their heads like children. At just 75-minutes the film really doesn't waste any time building up a story or trying the stretch out the characters. In all honesty this is a good thing because a film like this doesn't need any boring backstory and in fact the worst thing about the movie is the one flashback introduction to the two teens. The performances by the three actors are extremely good and very believable. Both victims really make you feel the pain they're going through and Osako is so cold and chilling that he's certainly a character you'll never get out of your mind. GROTESQUE is thankfully going to appeal to very few people and it's hard to recommend except to those who want to see how far you can be pushed with violence and torture. It's hard to stomach but it's effective.

I'm a big fan of Horror and especially import Horror movies, But this wasn't my thing at all. The new wave snuff films (or rebirth of 70's uber violent films) are just not my taste... this movie is a prime example of these pointless torture movies, While in context the aspect of torture in a horror film i.e. Saw, Hellraiser, Texas chainsaw (the original) etc... works great because it's bad people getting their come up-pence or just a cautionary of the cruelty of man but this film is just a fictionalized snuff film with no story what so ever. Watching people getting brutally killed (particularly those who were just there) for the bulk of the movie then.... "the end" after some silly f/x does nothing for me except feeling a little dirty for watching this piece of trash.

If you a fan of Devils rejects, Vacancy and the like check it out but if you are like me a little and like at least a little mental stimulation with your gore fix skip this one.