Wound

Delving into the darkest chasms that family ties can hold, Wound is quite an experience. It centers on Susan, a deeply troubled young lady who commits a purgative (and gruesome) act of violence at the outset, but then finds herself plagued by her lost daughter and cannot escape her demons. To say more would be spoiling things, suffice to say that Wound has a good deal of the Lynchian to it, though Lynch never got this wild. Up front sexual perversion and several sequences of strikingly grotesque imagery mixed into a patchy structure of fantastical psycho-drama, in a mostly ordinary setting with low fi production values, this is definitely going to be quite an audience divider. It's the second horror from director David Blyth, after Death Warmed Up (which I haven't seen) but the long gap between that film and this hardly shows, there's a punky energy and ferocious derangement here that feels pleasingly fresh. Fearless performances keep things intense, Kate O'Rourke and Te Kaea Beri do fine work as mother Susan and daughter Tanya respectively, both thrown into some seriously twisted situations and they perform with gusto, holding the film together despite its fractured structure. Campbell Cooley and Brendan Gregory hold up the male side of things, the former suitably creepy as an S&M master. Men do not by and large come off well in this one, but then neither does almost anyone, this isn't trying to be an even handed film or even one of rounded characters but more of a nightmare trip and in that respect it does pretty well. A little more of the ordinary would have helped though, things start to get a little exhausting and more could have been done to offset the strangeness. Then on the other hand, some of the leafy suburban New Zealand locales do provide a bit of grounding to things. The film also feels a little short, though it gets its point across, such as I thought its point to be, things are somewhat underdeveloped, there's fascinating potential in the characters and themes that as the end credits roll is left to the audiences imagination. Of course its equally possible that repeat viewings would make everything clearer, but I think the complaint still stands. Finally, the gore effects show their budget, but then this is perhaps for the best. An outcry and attempt to ban this one by NZ moral campaigners foundered at the sight of its, well, not 100% convincing effects, so perhaps they are why the film wasn't locked away. Despite these complaints, I had a fine time with this one, it's a little tricky to fully recommend as its sure to rub a good deal up the wrong way, but if you can stand surreal ambition, grim perversion and low brow splatter fused in a disturbed and slightly shonky hybrid, this will be a film for you.

This movie was absolutely positively terrible. I would have rather watched the Human Centipede ten times in a row than have watched this movie for even five minutes (and that is saying something because the Human Centipede was a pretty terrible movie also). There was no gore in whatever awful version I downloaded and I could not follow it at all. Some people said you need to be artsy or whatever to watch this, no you just have to be really high or as crazy as the bitch in the movie. If you ever decide you want to watch this, do yourself a favor, and go find a gun make sure that it is loaded put it up to your head and please pull the trigger that would be more fun than sitting through that horrific thing that is unfortunately called a movie. :)

This movie is about issues of rape and incest (I guess). It is not mainstream movie-making. It looked to me like some independent experimental thing. It didn't follow the regular rules of film making (not the ones of movies I usually watch, anyway). Hell, it didn't follow the regular rules of time and space. I couldn't follow it. The scenes appeared surreal and random and I didn't know what any of it meant. What was symbolism? What was reality? After a while I didn't care anymore. To make matters worse, there are no babes in this movie; not one attractive sympathetic face. Since I didn't understand anything that was going on it would have been a consolation to have some nice-looking woman or women to look at. What if Olive Oyl were blond, middle-aged, and less attractive? --You'd have the lead in this movie. There was a scene where she was instructed to remove her blouse. I found myself saying, "Please..don't."

Possibly, this movie might have appeal for people who like and understand abstract art; you know, the type of picture, sculpture, or work most of the uninitiated (myself included) look at and ask, "What the hell is that?!!" In the case of this movie: "What the hell's going on?!!" I was wondering if a few joints before I viewed this thing would have helped (pot doesn't care about the usual order of things either). If you're brighter or dumber than I am you may like this movie. I don't know which scenario applies. I humbly accede to your better judgment. Love, Boloxxxi.

OMG!!! What did I just watch? And how can I put this experience in words. I will say this, there are some things in this film, that I will not forget for a long while. One involving the two main characters Susan and her daughter Tanya, in masks also involving a guy in a mask and plastic wrap. The most mind messed up manipulating scenes I ever witnessed in any film. And a castration scene, that would not be happy until it made you really think you saw a real one. It was the most realistic you could make it, without it really happening and please David tell me that scene is not real. I am worried. The movie deals with Susan, who may or may not be suffering from mental illness. And it tackles a lot of subjects. Rape, Incest, Revenge, Death, Mind Control and just plain what is going to happen next. Tanya, the daughter was quite possibly the hottest female I have seen this year in any film. There is a scene in the beginning with a counselor and her that you know by the tone and words being exchanged if this truly is a movie for you. Susan, starts the movie normal enough, but within minutes you are thrown right into her world. She is a servant to Master John, and those scenes are so cruel. You feel for her. Or do you. You find out as the movie goes on she is no angel, and her past she is ridden with a lot of guilt from things she has done and decisions she made, and thru the beauty of this film David lets you live them all out with her. This film is no horror film in the terms of a Jigsaw, or Freddy Kruger, its a horror film in the feeling of a they wont do this scene, OK they did it, he wont take it further. Oh man he did. This film is shocking, controversial, sick, depressing, and cruel. I loved it all. I don't know who is worst. David Blyth for creating this film, or for me loving it so much. This is no art film, or a statement movie. This is pure nightmare. Its a manipulative, sad and very challenging movie to make you feel, react and trust me by the end you will either be loving it or hating it. This is the film all those people who think they have seen it all, well here it is. And trust me, this film is just as controversial if not a little more than a Serbian Film.

A supernatural horror film that explores the dark worlds of mental illness, incest, revenge and death...

With all due respect to the writer and director, this film would best be handled if given to someone who had the ability and funding to fully realize the material. It is clear that a great idea is here and it is executed fairly well, but still leaves something to be desired.

The story is decent, but the intent is clearly stylistic and visual. Some of the gore and flesh scenes call David Cronenberg to mind, and I would love to see how Cronenberg would have handled this script. Again, the germ of this story is strong, but it was not given the soil and nutrients needed to fully blossom into a mature elm.

I neither recommend this film or ask you to steer clear -- just know that what you are witnessing is a director whose time has not yet come (but may soon).