Extreme Cinema Review

An ongoing collection of extreme and alternative movie recommendations and reviews for the cinema connoisseur.
Amer Helene Cattet, Bruno Forzani 2009 I have only ever seen one “Giallo” before: Suspiria. Yes I enjoyed it, but I wasn’t as bowled over as I probably should have been. Maybe if I watched it more recently…Anyway, going off topic already. “Amer” is considered a modern day Giallo movie. Obviously, I can’t compare to any others so I’ll have to explain my opinion based on it as a movie by itself, not how it fits into a genre. I really enjoyed Amer. The complete lack of dialogue suprisingly didn’t phase me at all. Normally directors who tend to use no dialogue these days are trying to portray some kind of minimal modern art, Amer however, yes it is art, but it’s like being in a hypnosis for the whole movie. It is dream like, vividly colourful, gripping (although there is pretty much no story line) and really beautiful.Although not so much an extreme movie, it’s certainly an alternative choice and if you like the sound of it… highly recommended.

Amer

Helene Cattet, Bruno Forzani 2009

I have only ever seen one “Giallo” before: Suspiria. Yes I enjoyed it, but I wasn’t as bowled over as I probably should have been. Maybe if I watched it more recently…
Anyway, going off topic already. “Amer” is considered a modern day Giallo movie. Obviously, I can’t compare to any others so I’ll have to explain my opinion based on it as a movie by itself, not how it fits into a genre.
I really enjoyed Amer. The complete lack of dialogue suprisingly didn’t phase me at all. Normally directors who tend to use no dialogue these days are trying to portray some kind of minimal modern art, Amer however, yes it is art, but it’s like being in a hypnosis for the whole movie. It is dream like, vividly colourful, gripping (although there is pretty much no story line) and really beautiful.
Although not so much an extreme movie, it’s certainly an alternative choice and if you like the sound of it… highly recommended.

Tokyo Gore Police Yoshihiro Nishimura 2008 Tokyo Gore Police is, well, a crazy movie. In a way, it’s great, it’s completely random, energetic, visually awesome and at times reminded me of Tetsuo The Iron Man which I love. In another way, the effects are pretty appauling at times (but somehow I think they’re supposed to be?), the humour can be quite ”geeky”, but at other times, I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity (the lady who had been morphed into a chair…) and the “Super Cute Wrist Cutting Blade” advertisement!Despite all of what’s going on in the movie, it still seems to move relatively slowly and I think the running time, could have a good half hour taken off.If you accept Tokyo Gore Police for what it is: A futuristic, over the top, visual feast of gore and surrealism, the “cheesy-ness” and weak plot can be easily forgiven, I’m not saying I could forgive it completely though…

Tokyo Gore Police

Yoshihiro Nishimura 2008

Tokyo Gore Police is, well, a crazy movie. In a way, it’s great, it’s completely random, energetic, visually awesome and at times reminded me of Tetsuo The Iron Man which I love. In another way, the effects are pretty appauling at times (but somehow I think they’re supposed to be?), the humour can be quite ”geeky”, but at other times, I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity (the lady who had been morphed into a chair…) and the “Super Cute Wrist Cutting Blade” advertisement!
Despite all of what’s going on in the movie, it still seems to move relatively slowly and I think the running time, could have a good half hour taken off.
If you accept Tokyo Gore Police for what it is: A futuristic, over the top, visual feast of gore and surrealism, the “cheesy-ness” and weak plot can be easily forgiven, I’m not saying I could forgive it completely though…

Dans Ma Peau Marina de Van 2002 “In My Skin” explores Esther’s (Marina de Van) new found obsession with self mutilation after accidentally falling and cutting her leg at a party. Her new found fixation starts to affect her personal and social life whilst the mutilation gets more and more extreme.I’d place this in my blog mainly for the “controversial” subject matter, however it is dealt with relatively well and is a great, non biased take on self harm.I will say that the film is a bit self obsessive, which is made more obvious when you discover the lead actress is also the director. Far fetched at times, however it is an interesting film to watch, slow paced but honest. Worth a watch for definite.

Dans Ma Peau

Marina de Van 2002

“In My Skin” explores Esther’s (Marina de Van) new found obsession with self mutilation after accidentally falling and cutting her leg at a party.
Her new found fixation starts to affect her personal and social life whilst the mutilation gets more and more extreme.
I’d place this in my blog mainly for the “controversial” subject matter, however it is dealt with relatively well and is a great, non biased take on self harm.
I will say that the film is a bit self obsessive, which is made more obvious when you discover the lead actress is also the director.
Far fetched at times, however it is an interesting film to watch, slow paced but honest. Worth a watch for definite.

Shortbus John Cameron Mitchell 2006 Shortbus revolves around a group of individuals in New York, all exploring their sexuality, sexual needs and relationships.“Shortbus” is the name of a sex club/social club/gathering/art house where the characters all meet. In here is where all the explorers divulge in sex, orgies, dominatrixes, hook ups, games and more orgies The sex is explicitly graphic and in great quantity, which I think should be enough to place it into the “extreme cinema” category. However, Shortbus is a great fun “feel-good” movie, as well as being “extreme”.I wanted some variety in this blog, and Shortbus is uplifting, genuinely funny and definitely worth a watch!

Shortbus

John Cameron Mitchell 2006

Shortbus revolves around a group of individuals in New York, all exploring their sexuality, sexual needs and relationships.
“Shortbus” is the name of a sex club/social club/gathering/art house where the characters all meet. In here is where all the explorers divulge in sex, orgies, dominatrixes, hook ups, games and more orgies 
The sex is explicitly graphic and in great quantity, which I think should be enough to place it into the “extreme cinema” category. However, Shortbus is a great fun “feel-good” movie, as well as being “extreme”.
I wanted some variety in this blog, and Shortbus is uplifting, genuinely funny and definitely worth a watch!

I Stand Alone

Gaspar Noe 1998

I’m not too sure where to begin with this.
I LOVE this movie.
I Stand Alone follows a mature individual, a guy who’s thoughts are filled with anger, rage, perversion and selfishness.
We get a thorough view inside his mind as the entire film mainly consists of the narration of his thoughts. It is blunt, rude, intense and fascinating.
The cinematography, as with all of Noe’s films, is awesome. This is his first feature length movie, and Gaspar manages to make you feel extremely uncomfortable and on edge, even when there is nothing happening! The jumpy camerawork and sound effects are extremely effective and not over worked at all (which I thought was a fault in his most recent movie Enter The Void).
Although the movie doesn’t really kick off until just before the end, it is a movie that really gets you inside the mind of someone else for an hour and a half.
It’s very thought provoking and if it sounds of interest to you, I cannot recommend this movie enough.

A Serbian Film Srdjan Spasojevic 2010 Shocking? Horrific? Controversial?Ok, so I watched the UK cut version, which to be fair, I think is the version most people have seen.I think I may be one of the only amateur reviewers to say that I was completely bored during this movie. It takes very little for me to be bored.The storyline was not good. It was cheesy, the director’s explanation was… well, bollocks. I really expected a lot from this film after all the contrasting reviews, however, the bad reviews all said that it was “so horrific and shocking and perverse that it should be banned” etc. I can see how people would think this, but, it was predictable, badly acted, tacky, and a desperate attempt to be controversial with no care as to how it works into the story line.This film does not deserve the praise or even the disgust that it recieves.I realise all the reviews and opinions are out there aleady for this movie and I’m quite late in my input, but I think my opinion is summed up by the fact the novelty of this movie has worn off already.

A Serbian Film

Srdjan Spasojevic 2010

Shocking? Horrific? Controversial?
Ok, so I watched the UK cut version, which to be fair, I think is the version most people have seen.
I think I may be one of the only amateur reviewers to say that I was completely bored during this movie. It takes very little for me to be bored.
The storyline was not good. It was cheesy, the director’s explanation was… well, bollocks.
I really expected a lot from this film after all the contrasting reviews, however, the bad reviews all said that it was “so horrific and shocking and perverse that it should be banned” etc. I can see how people would think this, but, it was predictable, badly acted, tacky, and a desperate attempt to be controversial with no care as to how it works into the story line.
This film does not deserve the praise or even the disgust that it recieves.
I realise all the reviews and opinions are out there aleady for this movie and I’m quite late in my input, but I think my opinion is summed up by the fact the novelty of this movie has worn off already.

Import Export Ulrich Seidl 2007 Wow.The storyline of Import Export is one of those, that is more like, a chain of events that take place, they may not seem of any importance, shock, action, but the entire movie drifts along, showing us the lives of a young male and female in eastern Europe. Ok, so it may not sound that interesting, or extreme, but the sheer emotional power in parts of this movie were among the most intense I’ve ever seen. The movie is exceptionally acted, it is like watching a documentary.If you’re up for a movie that doesn’t have the gore, horror, and intention to shock as many of my recommended movies do, then I highly recommend this.

Import Export

Ulrich Seidl 2007

Wow.
The storyline of Import Export is one of those, that is more like, a chain of events that take place, they may not seem of any importance, shock, action, but the entire movie drifts along, showing us the lives of a young male and female in eastern Europe. Ok, so it may not sound that interesting, or extreme, but the sheer emotional power in parts of this movie were among the most intense I’ve ever seen. The movie is exceptionally acted, it is like watching a documentary.
If you’re up for a movie that doesn’t have the gore, horror, and intention to shock as many of my recommended movies do, then I highly recommend this.

Inside Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury 2007 Now, I am a huge fan of these extreme French horror movies, and I had read a lot about Inside before I watched it, however, I couldn’t compare it to films such as Martyrs, Switchblade Romance and Frontiers.Yes, it is a suspensful, dark and claustrophobic film and plays on real fear which could genuinely happen (a murderous, furious lady breaking into your house and… well you can imagine the rest) compared to say, Frontiers (being held hostage by a group of Nazi cannibals…)But Inside didn’t quite crack it for me. The violence is extreme, but as awful as it sounds, not quite as creative as some of the other movies in the category, it’s brutal, but the film didn’t seem to have many ups and downs, much excitement, and I think that’s important in a horror film. You either want to be fun scared, or terrified scared, Inside did neither.Many believe it’s the best horror movie ever made, I don’t think i’d recommend it personally, but I wanted to share my brief views on a movie I had very high hopes for.

Inside

Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury 2007

Now, I am a huge fan of these extreme French horror movies, and I had read a lot about Inside before I watched it, however, I couldn’t compare it to films such as Martyrs, Switchblade Romance and Frontiers.
Yes, it is a suspensful, dark and claustrophobic film and plays on real fear which could genuinely happen (a murderous, furious lady breaking into your house and… well you can imagine the rest) compared to say, Frontiers (being held hostage by a group of Nazi cannibals…)
But Inside didn’t quite crack it for me. The violence is extreme, but as awful as it sounds, not quite as creative as some of the other movies in the category, it’s brutal, but the film didn’t seem to have many ups and downs, much excitement, and I think that’s important in a horror film. You either want to be fun scared, or terrified scared, Inside did neither.
Many believe it’s the best horror movie ever made, I don’t think i’d recommend it personally, but I wanted to share my brief views on a movie I had very high hopes for.

Nil By Mouth Gary Oldman 1997 Nil By Mouth is a hard-hitting British drama starring Ray Winstone and Kathy Burke.Both play outstanding roles with Ray Winstone playing Ray; I don’t think I’ve ever been so angered by a character in a movie before.There are some incredible scenes in this movie and I’m a sucker for upsetting speeches in movies. This is probably not a movie you would expect to see on my list, but it is a most realistic and heart breaking view of a family falling apart from alcohol abuse, drugs addiction and domestic violence, and for me, that’s extreme.If you decide to watch this movie, be patient, the first half an hour could’ve been cut shorter, the idle conversations which fill this part of the movie are tiresome, but the film picks up. Overall: gritty, blunt, but an incredible film.

Nil By Mouth

Gary Oldman 1997

Nil By Mouth is a hard-hitting British drama starring Ray Winstone and Kathy Burke.
Both play outstanding roles with Ray Winstone playing Ray; I don’t think I’ve ever been so angered by a character in a movie before.
There are some incredible scenes in this movie and I’m a sucker for upsetting speeches in movies.
This is probably not a movie you would expect to see on my list, but it is a most realistic and heart breaking view of a family falling apart from alcohol abuse, drugs addiction and domestic violence, and for me, that’s extreme.
If you decide to watch this movie, be patient, the first half an hour could’ve been cut shorter, the idle conversations which fill this part of the movie are tiresome, but the film picks up.
Overall: gritty, blunt, but an incredible film.

TRASH HUMPERS

Harmony Korine 2009

Trash Humpers… a bizarre film by a great director. It took me more than one viewing of this movie before I could grasp some sort of appreciation of it, but it’s never left my mind and I have to say, I’ve grown fond…
I blind bought this having never read, or even heard of it.
Trash Humpers is a mokumentary as such, following the lives of four elderlies and their outcast life. It is raw, sometimes disturbing, sometimes funny and at times an extemely intelligent film.
It’s not going to be for everyone, and follows these people’s lives down to every detail, meaning long periods of silence, long periods of loud infurriating noises, but, watch the trailer, you can make your own mind up as to whether it is a masterpiece, or trash.
I will say that the DVD is fantastic, with a booklet of movie stills, characters portraits, artist statements etc. It is a movie that takes a proud place in my collection.