Well Deserved Praise

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Grotesque is a challenge of the visual senses, horror for the visually challenged, where at one point at to stop, then resumed viewing it later. The plot is simple, yet from the doctor's crazed point of view, the premise is rather intriguing. A young innocent couple who are going steady, I guess, after dining out, are kidnapped by this brilliant maniacal surgeon, who has them tied up in his basement, what have you and tortures the living f..k out of them. His reasons are, for his own sick entertainment, to see how much they can endure or hold out, before they give up, and accept the inescapable fate of death. Also he wants to test their love against each other. I'm not gonna tell you what he does to em', but it's a lot to take. I'll leave that to the imagination of us sick ones to conjurer thoughts and images. For some of you, you'll be screaming for a re watch of Audition or even Hostel, which would come as a relief, as it would a comedy, after trying to get through this. This is a movie, you don't undermine for it's shocking violence, where each sick torturous act out shocks the last (some torturous methods, mirroring the ones in Daddy's Little Girl), and don't think for a second, cause of it's 73 minute running time, that it lessens the amount of horror you expect to see. You don't get away that easy. Actually in it's early part, I was actually disappointed as awaiting the real moments of shocking violence, where I guess my expectations were fading, or I was dubious, but with the buzz of that chainsaw sounding, I was quickly corrected. It's a film, really for the toughest of the senses. I'm not kidding. I'm never been so unnerved or discomforted by a film such as this, truly my heart was beating a lot through this intense view. This unsettling view isn't helped, when the actors don't overact. They put just the right amount of acting into their believable characters. One shocking tease to the film, involves a scene which at first, you don't think is a dream, which for one victim counts as a double whammy of a downer. This whole merciless film has nasty intentions, a lot of people will find it repellent, where the stronger ones will see the view through. The burial scene of our ill fated lovers at the end was memorably bizarre, it's actually the strongest image of the film, I can't get out of my head. But with all I've said, what it all boils down to is a movie almost wholly based on torture, saved for two scenes. This doesn't constitute for good horror, but for it's qualities to shock, unnerve and intensify, I must praise this nasty piece of horror, for what is, despite it's degrading or immoral themes, upon two human beings. God forbid, this one spawns a sequel, I for one, don't think I could stomach it.

For years I have watched some of the most graphic, intense, and disturbing movies that I can find. This isn't because I'm some twisted weirdo or anything, but because I'm an all-encompassing cinephile that can and has given 10 star ratings to movies from Beauty And The Beast to Antichrist. To truly love all that film has to offer, you have to understand all that film has to offer.When you watch extreme cinema, you have to know that the violence and imagery is, if used correctly, serving a purpose, which is usually to heighten your senses of pity, disgust, sympathy, repulsion, etc. Also, it's best if the film has some sort of purpose: Salo is a metaphor for how the upper-class treats and exploits those that they deem below them, Hostel is a satire on the image of the ugly American that has been experienced by other countries, and I could keep going.This brings me to this film, Grotesque. Without ruining the film (it does that on its own), I will say that there is only the slightest bit of back-story (which is lazily done and seems it might have been an afterthought), and no attempt at putting any of this within context. Bottom line: a guy abducts a couple and brutally tortures them. That's it. No point, no reason, no character development, nothing.Not only that, it's a technically flawed film as well. The cinematography is horrible: hand-held zoom-ins, overdone color filters, and an overall poor job. It doesn't help that the majority of the film is very dark and shot on digital video, so you get that annoying video blur whenever the camera moves. In terms of writing, for the most part there isn't any. When the film finally gets to a point when the characters are saying something other than "Please stop!" or "Why are you doing this?!", they act in a way that makes absolutely no sense. People that would have gone through what they went would never, ever, show the signs of acceptance or gullibility that they do. They would be hardened or almost catatonic. If that's not enough, the finale radically shifts the tone for seemingly a cheap laugh in a movie that hasn't earned or even tried to get that reaction at any time beforehand.Whenever I see someone review a film with this level of violence and knock it, even if I think it's great, I understand. These type of films are not everyone's cup of tea. When they say it was just pointless violence, however, I usually check out of the movie and assume they did the same with the movie. With Grotesque, I guarantee I never check out of the film. I stuck with it. I assumed there would eventually be a twist or revelation that would give this film a reason to exist. I assumed wrong.

most disturbing film and banned by the BBFC, because in their wisdom this will do harm to viewers? give me a break and thank god for the internet. the only thing banning this did in the uk is make more people interested in it.to start the film may seem a bit short on the plot and has been criticised for it. this may seem true at first but actions speak louder than words and boy does the action hurt.we start with a young couple who are clubbed into unconsciousness and then wake up in a dungeon strapped to surgical boards and gagged. they are then tortured asking how far they will go for each other. that's pretty much it for set up and plot. but if you stick with it there is development and thought behind what is going on and it is revealed slowly. now don't get me wrong what happen to the couple is nasty and cruel but watching it from start to finish I felt the film did what it did well. the ending is slightly over the top but reveals a key thing about the torturer and gives more depth to the film.is it the best thing since slide bread? no, but the effects are done well, the Cinematography is executed well and the acting is top notch. most disturbing film? no, just another horror film that has a bit more going on. if you want gore try something else this film is not that bad if you want disturbing try watching Lars von Trier Breaking the waves.

Grotesque is a film about a man who kidnaps and tortures a fledgling romantic couple; that's about the sum of it. I chose to watch Grotesque unaware of its notoriety, but because I'd recently seen another of Koji Shiraishi's films, the excellent Noroi, and it happened to be available. It proved hugely disappointing, in fact it's hard to believe that the two works could have been directed by the same person. There are films that disgust a viewer, such as Irreversible and Martyrs, and yet are supported by intriguing philosophical issues (or at least a convincing pretence at them), not to mention artistic and aesthetic accomplishment. Grotesque, in contrast, seems but a prurient exercise in lowest common denominator shocks; a lazy, cynical grasp for notoriety.My rating of 2, as opposed to 1, reflects the film's overall technical proficiency considering the evidently minimal resources at hand (the sound effects accompanying the torture are effectively nauseating, for instance), and because the penultimate scene is slightly witty and offers some levity to end the film on.