Category: Movies → Grotesque 2009 DVDRip

The Japanese have been riding the torture porn pony since way before it was (briefly) fashionable, so another plot less entry into the crowded "strangers get cut up" genre really isn't all that noteworthy. Aside from Takeshi Miike's chilling "Audition," most of these Ja

gore films are just too sadistic and one dimensional to bother watching. So why bother with "Grotesque," the self-described king of Japanese gore? Honestly, had the BBFC not banned "Grotesque" in the U.K., calling the film "little more than an unrelenting and escalating scenario of humiliation, brutality and sadism," this nasty movie wouldn't have even popped up on anyone's radar. But alas, banning a film only makes people want to see it even more, so in light of the BBFC's decision I had to see, is "Grotesque" worth watching? That depends. Do you get a sadistic thrill out of watching someone get humiliated and tortured to death? Have you seen the "Guinea Pig" series and still want more? Did you find yourself wishing there was less plot and more bloody chainsaws in the "Hostel" movies? If the answer to any of those questions is yes, then you'll enjoy "Grotesque." The film is exactly why this particular breed of exploitation cinema was branded torture porn. In "Grotesque" you've got zero narrative, no character development and no idea why any of this is happening. Instead, you've got an adult film actress, buckets of bodily fluids (we're talking everything from vomit to semen here) and a sound effects reel that makes every severed finger and oozing wound squish and glop.

If any of this sounds like a good night, then you'll love "Grotesque." You should probably also make an appointment to see a psychiatrist, because brother, you've got issues.

For the rest of us, this film is pure, unadulterated trash. "Grotesque" is a movie with absolutely no redeeming value. It is nothing more than a series of sadistic scenes of torture and humiliation. Where "Hostel" took some time setting up the carnage, "Grotesque" gets right down to business, meaning that a) there is little in the film's scant hour and fifteen minute running time but torture and b) viewers have absolutely no attachment to any of the characters.

Which brings us the meat of the film itself, the torture scenes. For a film that so prides itself on the levels of depravity which it is willing to sink, there is little in "Grotesque" that hasn't been seen before. Sure, the film keeps the camera close during the most awful bits, but it's the same dismemberment theatrics that have been done a thousand times over. It's a tired exercise that tries to thrill by showing "shocking" footage that has been seen a thousand times over. It's cutting up the corpse of a long dead horse, hoping that even more graphic violence will revive a genre made for the desensitized. Problem is numb is numb and this kind of mean-spirited schlock does little for an audience that has already seen it all.

If your curiosity just needs to be satiated, then by all means, check out "Grotesque." Everyone else take my advice and stay far, far away.