Divided Into Zero

Divided into Zero is as far away from Hollywood as cinema can get. It's a bleak and surreal tale of a man cut at birth during his Caesarian delivery and who then becomes obsessed with razorblades, bodily fluids, and for some reason, kids. I got the movie, like most, as a bonus film on the Subconscious Cruelty DVD (I actually got the limited edition bluray but the quality isn't any better than the DVD so don't bother with it) and it's certainly in the same vein as the main feature. Both films seem almost experimental in their running and the content would probably shock most movie goers if they stumbled across them by mistake, so if you're not up golden showers, seeing a child nailed to a wall with a razorblade in it's mouth, or various cutting of the flesh scenes then stay away. I can't really say I enjoyed the movie, I think it's more about experiencing it, but it's something you sit and watch pondering....wtf?

Director Mitch Davis has created a truly wonderful breakthrough in contemporary horror with "Divided Into Zero". The film is unlike anything I have ever seen. Although very graphic depictions are illuminated (especially in comparison to today's screen culture), the film does NOT leave you with a nausea. Rather, the film leaves you with a haunted, yet highly inspired state of mind, as the viewer is engulfed in a true work of art. The direction takes the viewer on a journey through avant-garde, art, horror and and the honesty of a one of a kind maverick filmmaker. This film is truly unlike any others in the genre. The cinematography is brilliantly conducted as is the sound design and performances. What I really loved about this film is the all out disregard for belonging to any psarticular genre. Fans of contemporary horror cinema will not be able to catagorize this film very easily and experimental filmmakers and enthusiasts will definately not be able to box the film up into a particular "movement" in today's art and film circles. Lets all hope that more great art-horror films that push cinema into the extreme and present an honesty of humanity, continue through the maverick kind that is Mitch Davis.

Without a doubt, this is one of the most unshakeable visions of hell I have ever encountered. Divided Into Zero rubs in it's bleak logic with a slow, eerie calm. Predictable comparisons with 'Salo' and 'In A Glass Cage' are inevitable and probably justified, but Divided Into Zero is all the more disturbing in that we have only one character during it's 40-odd minutes to attempt any understanding of. In the end, we become as deeply rooted in this soulless man's agony as he is.

Many viewers will be incapable of absorbing it's uncompromising graphic sensibility, with long shots of self inflicted razor punishment, piss drinking, and child murder. Those who do, however, will have a part of themselves forever changed.

Whether this is a good thing or bad thing, I can't say, and don't feel is very important, ultimately. The film offers vitality, anger, and extreme images that have more purpose, more INTENT, than simple minded shock value.

It's true cut-throat cinema.

A remedy...not only for mediocre filmgoing, but for any unaffirmed need to see your own taboos brought to life in color, screaming.

`Divided Into Zero' is one of my favourite horror films. This haunting reflection of an aged Madman digs deeper into the aberrant psyche than any film I have ever seen. Imagine that same assault you felt when first viewing `Texas Chainsaw', coupled with a heady dose of Dostoevski. `Divided Into Zero' is that good. The disembodied narration of John Alton Jr. exposes the tortured soul of a man who is fascinated by `bleeding fine cuts' and feels relief in the searing urine of prostitutes. Other film portraits of psychosis and serial killers have been more brutal, but none more honest, controlled, and cerebral than what you'll find here. Gritty photography by Karim Hussain; Sound Design by David Kristian; and Score by Teruhiko Suzuki contribute greatly to the film's power. Writer\Director\Editor Mitch Davis strikes dark genius with this one.

In `Le théâtre de la cruauté' Antonin Artaud wrote of a theatre that shakes and awakens the heart and the nerve of the audience. Director Mitch Davis transposes this point of view in cinema with his movie `Divided Into Zero'. The power of the images contribute to provide an intense experience into psychological violence and aesthetic research: through a non-linear structure, a freedom of reading is given to the viewer. The presence of cruelty, the fabric of violence includes in a poetic aesthetic; in this way, the violence depicted isn't gratuitous. It has a deep significance which takes its source into a slow narrative thread and fast short scenes which give the film all of its rhythm. The composition of the frame is a force of Davis. The closeup on the young girl's face, bleeding, (played by Mikaeka Davis, the director's young sister, who doubles actress Stephanie Keepman in this scene) is unforgettable: her intense, mouth-gaping gaze, makes me shudder. David Kristian's sound design goes with fluidity with the entire film; the ambient music compositions of Teruhiko Suzukia and Kristian are becoming a discreet actor.

`Divided Into Zero' is a hybrid film, navigating between horror and art film; it brilliantly demonstrates and stretches the spectrum of horror film's possibilities.