Subconscious Cruelty

A gory, low budget, art-house horror with scenes of extreme nastiness, Subconscious Cruelty is not an easy film to watch for several reasons: it is extremely 'symbolic' (some might say pretentious); it has no standard narrative; and it features very unsettling imagery. It is, however, well directed and edited, and features some amazingly realistic effects and a pretty decent score.

Subconscious Cruelty starts as it means to go on, with a bizarre short segment entitled Ovarian Eyeball in which a naked woman on a table is sliced open; from her wound, an eyeball on an optic nerve is produced. It makes no sense (to me at least), but is certainly visually arresting.

And so the weirdness continues, with a second 'story', Human Larvae, about a guy who wishes to make a mockery of the miracle of birth by killing his sister's newborn child as it is leaving the womb. This one is without a doubt the vilest story I have ever seen committed to celluloid and should be seen only by those with a very strong stomach.

Part three, Rebirth, is less intense, with a bunch of naked people rolling around in mud, fellating tree branches and shagging pools of blood! I quite enjoyed this bit after the gruelling nature of Human Larvae.

The final segment, Right Brain/Martyrdom, fuses religious symbolism with female nekkidness and gore, and is a shocking slice of sacrilegious depravity guaranteed to upset Christians everywhere.

I can't say that I enjoyed director Karim Hussain's debut, and would hesitate recommending it to pretty much everyone I know, but I imagine that it will definitely have a cult following amongst those people who prefer to delve into cinema's weirder output, such as the films of Lynch, Jodorowsky or Miike.

A couple of days ago, the censorship did not allow the exhibition of "A Serbian Film" in Rio Fan Festival 2011 in Rio de Janeiro. A friend of mine mentioned that "Subconscious Cruelty" was another polemic film and I decided to watch it.

"Subconscious Cruelty" is indeed gruesome, gory, sick and disturbing, and one of the nastiest and pointless films I have ever seen. The film is divided is segments and it seems that the only intention of the director is to shock the audiences with a confused narrative and disconcerting impressive images. Paradoxically, the music score is very tender and beautiful.

Ovarian Eyeball - In the first segment, a naked woman is sliced by a sharp blade and an eyeball is removed from her belly. This surrealistic short is absolutely senseless.

Human Larvae – in this second segment, a deranged man that hates his sister that is pregnant kills her newborn offspring and she during the delivery. This short is one of the sickliest films I have ever seen.

Rebirth – in this third segment, a group of naked people rolls around mud and blood in another pointless segment.

Right Brain/Martyrdom – in this last incomprehensible segment, there are the visible intention to offend the Christians with religious symbolism associated with gore and sex.

Considering that I did not understand three out four segments, I really did not like this film. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Now,this is something else indeed!!This is a masterpiece that is so vicious,dark,wondrous,unique,and truly poetic,that it left me completely flabbergasted!!The theme underlying the various images we are presented to,are as follows:The human brain is divided into two hemispheres,right and left.The left hemisphere represent logic and rational thought,whereas in the right hemisphere,dwells passion,creativity,intuition,and irrationality.The interesting question that are being asked,are;what if the right hemisphere were to completely dominate the thought-process?What if our internal "demons"were to be given free reign?What if we could kick little Mr.Logic to death?It is such a joy then,to see that the brilliant Karim Hussain and co.have constructed a satanic-dream-come-true,as an unflinching and blasphemous reply!!

It is stated somewhere that this film is meant to be pro-religious.What does this imply exactly?Certainly this statement rings true,if we take a closer look at the basis of all religions,which is exactly passion and irrationality!!And we all know the great "passion" that have been injected into the despicable witch/heretichunts and the crusades throughout the history of man.But which is it?Is it really a warning against letting our religious/irrational emotions get the better of us?And telling us to return to morality and dogma?If that's the case,then this is a blatant contradiction.If religion represent one aspect of irrationality,and as I've said irrationality is to be avoided,one would have thought that man's safe-haven would have been the right hemisphere,where logic and rationality resides.But then a return to morality and dogma is ridiculous,because that is religion for you,and religion is in it's very nature irrational.The result is that one has been going in circles,from avoiding passion and irrationality,to fully accepting them,in the dangerous and horrible form of morality and dogma,which is when you think of it only more commonly accepted.

As long as one have a religion to back up your violence and mad rantings,then it's justified isn't it?(Just take a closer look at what seemingly "logical" acts have been perpetrated in the moral-name of religion,the list is endless!!)In the end you are fooling yourself,in the end you are being just as irrational as the demon or the murderer.The major difference being;one has the guise of hypochrisy,the other is naked.I personally prefer the naked shape.As I said,I prefer to view this piece of art with the outlook of a free and passionate being(religious people would call this satanic,I guess),without the subconscious need to deceive myself.I viewed this film as a nocturnal perfection,wonderful darkness on celluloid,if you will.Everything is simply intelligent artistry;from the truly somber and ferocious "Human Larvae",the beautiful opener "Ovarian Eyeball",the surreal "Rebirth",to the profanating brilliance of "Right Brain/Martyrdom".The musical score is excellent,the same goes for filming/editing,special effects,and last but not least,the dialogue.You must all believe me,when I say that you have never seen anything like it,and most likely never will!!

Nothing else like it. Check it out. Pretty wild. Segment 3 is by far my favorite

Well, it's safe to say that Subconscious Cruelty is one weird film! Supposedly an insight into the human mind, Subconscious Cruelty is comprises four macabre and bizarre tales of the extreme. The first segment, entitled 'Ovarian Eyeball' is really just a warm up, but it's good in that it gives the viewer an idea of what to expect from the next three segments. It simply sees a naked woman laid out on a table, while another woman cuts into her abdomen and pulls out a human eyeball! I've got no idea what the point is, but it certainly makes for visceral viewing. The following story is the best of the bunch, and takes in the "old favourite" sick movie theme of incest. The segment follows a man who lives alone with his pregnant sister. He's repulsed by her pregnancy - yet he wants to have sex with her anyway, and naturally he gets his way. This story stands out because of the monotonous and 'matter of fact' narration, as well as the ending - which doesn't fail to deliver the shocks. This segment is well acted, well filmed and easily the highlight of Subconscious Cruelty.

Naturally, the next two sections aren't as good as the second one; so the only way from there is down, but director Karim Hussain still manages to pull something out of the bag before the film ends. He doesn't do it right away, however, as the third segment is the weakest of the film, and simply sees a lot of people have sex with the ground. It's very surreal, and therefore memorable for that same reason; but there doesn't seem to be a lot of point to it, and I was in the mood for something a bit more morbid after the second section. The film ends on a high, however, as while I'm not entirely sure what the point was - the final segment features the film's best imagery. This segment focuses on religion, and certainly isn't for anyone that values it! Director Karim Hussain has achieved something here - as while this collection of four 'extreme' stories doesn't come together as a complete whole, the film almost feels tasteful as it's shot in such an eloquent and eye catching manner. The director would seem to have been imitating the highly respected surreal director Luis Buñuel, albeit with gore, rape and incest; and if you ask me, he hasn't done a bad job at all. Not for everyone, but certainly worth a look for extreme fanatics!