Nymphomaniac (2013)

Lars Von Trier the director of Antichrist (2009) yet again paints a depressing picture. While I haven't seen any other films from Von Trier aside from this and Antichrist, I think its safe to say if there is anything that he is good at it is artistically portraying depression and humans emotional turmoil.

Like Quentin Tarantino's KIll Bill, Nymphomaniac was broken down into two separate volumes. This was done because of the ridiculously long runtime. Clocking in somewhere around five and a half hours long in its uncut form, Nymphomaniac does exactly what the title hints at. It follows the life long struggles of a sex addicted woman who has lived a life of lust, pleasure, pain and despair. Was it necessary for the movie to run over five hours long? Of course not but you know how these artsy-fartsy guys are... Nymphomaniac does come off a bit self indulgent but I think it still makes for an interesting watch, especially if you are into art type films.

   The thing that I liked the most about this movie is the same thing I liked about Antichrist. There is this sort of rebellious vibe that flows thru the dark storyline. Lars Von Trier is not afraid to break the rules. Nymphomaniac breaks just about every rule you can think of. Every taboo is laid out in front of us and the film forces the viewer to confront these sensitive issues first hand. As the film progresses it gets darker and darker until it comes to somewhat of a predictable ending. We deal with child sexuality, masturbation, the loss of virginity, interracial sex, incest, necrophilia, sadomasochism, pedophilia, lesbianism, murder and many more taboo subjects.

The final product is shocking, sexy, disturbing and very very depressing. It is shocking in its subject mater with very outrageous scenes that most directors wouldn't even dream of shooting. It is sexy with its artistic sex scenes. Apparently Nymphomaniac was originally intended to be an all out porno film. While it still holds onto many pornographic images it comes off more like a sexy art film. It can be very disturbing at times with some really sick and uncomfortable scenes. The main one that sticks in mind well after viewing it is the incredibly graphic home abortion scene. This scene is graphic enough to turn the stomach of the most jaded horror fanatic. Lastly it is pretty damn depressing. The entire movie gives a sense of hopelessness. The constant downbeat tone makes Nymphomaniac a stand out entry in cinema.

    I have read many negative reviews on this one, mainly from sniveling cry-babies who don't like the fact that there is pornographic material inside. All I can say to those wimps is, go watch a fucking Disney movie or something. I'm not even trying to say Nymphomaniac is a masterpiece or anything. It certainly has its flaws but it is still way more interesting then 90 percent of the watered down crap that comes out these days. I give credit where it is due and if for nothing else I would like to applaud Van Trier for not being another sappy ass-whipe who just wants to please the masses. If the film offends you... Good! I'm glad someone out there doesn't mind hurting your weak little feelings. I found it to be intelligent, with excellent thought provoking dialogue which at the very least is informative on strange subjects I would probably never have read into on my own. It is also pretty nice to look at with very nice camera work blended with a melancholy soundtrack. I am looking forward to seeing more from this man.

Nekromantik (1987)

Nekromantik is completely disgusting, shocking, tasteless and out right disturbing. Naturally it is one of my all time favorites.

The first time I saw Nekromantik I was completely and totally disturbed. This film struck a nerve deep inside me that very few horror films have come close to. The strong impact it had on me has stuck with me all of these years and oddly enough it still shocks me to this day. It is kind of funny because within the film there is a conversation about desensitization and how it works. They talk about how teenagers who watch very brutal horror movies become desensitized after time. Well I watch horror movies on a regular basis for over 18 years now and I am still completely repulsed by this film. Nekromantik is a sort of cross between an art film and the nastiest of horror movies. It is extremely low budget and the lack of money totally shows. Still the depressing images, beautiful musical score and totally bizarre storyline makes Nekromantik a masterpiece in its own right.

This sick and twisted tale follows a young necrophiliac who has the perfect job of cleaning up road atrocities. Naturally the sicko takes home human remains to his equally demented girlfriend. Its not long before we watch the happy couple rolling around in bed with rotten corpses and living out all of their fantasies. When our main character looses his job and the couples corpse supply is cut off the woman takes off with the cadaver leaving our main character in a depressed state. The rest of the film is a downward spiral into madness as we watch him kill helpless animals and masturbate with the organs, kill hookers and have his way with the dead bodies and slaughter anyone who stands in his way. Things get worse and worse until our necrophile reaches a final enlightenment. What happens in the end has to be seen to be believed. They just don't get much sicker then this.

As one would probably guess, Nekromantik doesn't exactly have a happy ending. Or at least not in the Hollywood sense of happy endings. During the 75 minute runtime we see car crash victims, Human entrails are pulled from bodies, a cat is put in a garbage bag and smashed into walls repeatedly, we have a half-assed decapitation when a man has his face chopped in half with a shovel, a woman is stabbed in the guts with a switchblade, lots of corpse-fucking, close-ups on urination and in what might be the grossest scene in the movie we see a rabbits throat slit and then skinned in very gory detail. Nekromantik is not for everyone. It is for those who can handle the worst of the worst. The blend of art, beauty and violence makes for a very downbeat experience and I think its safe to say that many would not understand it. However if you like this sort of thing you don't get much better then Nekromantik.

Director Jörg Buttgeriet would go on to do a sequel to this. Nekromantik 2 is equally violent and disturbing with very brutal scenes of murder and necrophilia. It is also way more polished then the first film. Still I think the original packs a harder punch when it comes to the artistic flow and general feel of the film. Still everything in Jörg Buttgeriet's filmography is worth looking at.

Salo Or The 120 Days Of Sadom (1975)

In recent times it has become extremely trendy to talk about ultra disturbing cinema. Movies like Salo, A Serbian Film, Cannibal Holocaust and Martyrs are probably amongst the most trendy to talk about. However this new obsession amongst the Internet babies is not very surprising. For one this useless generation were never really given anything interesting to look at. Secondly they are about as disconnected from reality as possible. It is only natural that images of extreme violence and brutality can amuse them for a moment. Its just to bad that the majority doesn't have the slightest clue about cinematic artistic expression. There is more beyond the picture then shock value.

For me Salo stands strong as a message in rebellion. It is not a pretty picture and it was not intended to make you feel good about yourself or other humans, especially those in power. For me Salo installs hatred. Hate for the world leaders. Hate for the political power and shows mankind as the disgusting infection that it really is.

If you are older then 25 you are likely to see this film in a very different light then that of the Internet generation. Unless if you are some kind of sick fuck who enjoys watching children being brutalized Salo is likely to set you into a state of depression. Even a life long horror-hound like myself felt the power of this film and even looking back at it now I am equally affected by the harsh and cruel images that spew across the screen.

Inspired by the writings of De Sade and the fascistic political scum of Italy, director Pier Paolo Pasolini died for art shortly after creating Salo. The controversy that surrounds the picture is enough to keep Salo interesting for a life time and the final product is just as strong.

Four fascists abduct nine young boys and nine young girls with the intention of sodomizing them for 120 days in Salo Italy. The message is that the whole country is in danger from these deranged fascists and the innocent youth will become corrupted and feel the brunt of the force. For 145 minutes you will witness children being raped, tortured and eventually put out of their misery in different and horrible ways, all for the selfish satisfaction of the president, the duke, the magistrate and the bishop. As the viewer we feel each painful minute of the 120 days and it is almost as if we are put out of our misery with the children at the end of the film. However for me one of the most powerful images is at the very end after the big massacre. We witness two very young soldier boys dancing the waltz after they have just witnessed the demise of these innocent people of their own age. For me this is a statement that this isn't over yet and perhaps the audience was not put out of its misery. The infection has spread and will continue.

Salo is framed perfectly. The sets are beautiful and the camera work is very elegant which makes the violence even more painful to sit through. The film is broken down into different segments which are introduced by prostitutes through graphic story telling. The first segment is the Circle Of Manias which focuses mainly on sodomy and sexual perversion. The second segment is The Circle Of Shit which is extremely grotesque and focuses on deification. The final being The Circle Of Blood which is the most violent and of course brings the film to its tragic end.

Some of the depraved delights that Solo has to offer is man on man rape, man on woman rape, golden showers and urination fetish, lots of shit eating and a giant feces diner party. I dare you to watch the first female victim eat shit and not feel it in your own stomach. Eyeballs are cut out, genitals are burned, a girl is scalped, nipples are burnt off, tongues are cut out, children are shot down, children are hung, children have their throats slit, there are giant orgies with adults and children, boys and girls are walked around on leashes and forced to eat nails. Etc. Etc.

As you might have guessed, Salo could never have been made in Amercia. American censorship is far to strong for this kind of cinematic art. After all American politicians act out their own brand of fascism differently then that of other countries. An American film maker could never have the chance to die for his art.

This Italian masterpiece is a must see for anyone who is into shocking cinema, art films or even horror fanatics. Salo is not a horror film by nature but its horror far surpasses just about anything that has ever had a wide theatrical release in America. See it and learn to hate your fellow brother.

Nazi (1991)

Part of Richard Kerns hardcore collection this short film is basically a music video which shows a naked babe in a S.S. outfit stripping nude and dancing in front of an American flag. She throws American military salutes at the camera and Nazi salutes as well.

Not exactly hard to figure out what Kern is trying to say in this one.

Nazisploitation fanatics and perverts alike are the main main audience for this quickie. Unless of course you consider yourself amongst the artsy-fartsy.

On with the tits!

Stray Dogs (1985)

Part of Richard Kerns Cinema Of Transgression, Stray Dogs depicts a homosexual who craves affection so badly that it is tearing him apart... Literally. Limb by limb we witness a man crumble to the floor in a pool of blood.

Rejection can be horrible when you are young but fortunately for us cine-maniacs it is damn fun to look at in this early art film from nihilistic artist Richard Kern. No films have ever capsulated punk rock, nihilism and anger like these films in Cinema Of
Transgression.

Its sick, its twisted, its angry, its art!

Quiet Days In Clichy (1970)

I have to admit this movie makes me feel a little bit like a fake. Personally not being much of a reader I have never read any of Henry Miller's novels. While I certainly know who Henry Miller is I have to admit that I am more familiar with his image and interviews which can all be found on the Internet then his actual writings. Yet Quiet Days In Clichy is one of my all time favorite Sexploitation movies.

This Danish film offers a very minimal plot but stands strong as high art in trash cinema. This overly sleazy sexploit follows two piss-poor writers Joey and Carl who indulge in the finer things in life such as sex and binge drinking. They make it a point to sleep with as many women as possible and morals come secondary to their sexual decadence. The two men find themselves in a bit of trouble when they find a 14 year old girl aimlessly walking the streets. They become aware that the girl is a bit slow in the head to say the least and they also are aware of her age but this doesn't stop Joey and Carl from exploiting her youthful body in every way possible. She becomes the men's personal sex toy and they await punishment. "All her brains are in her cunt"

The 14 year old retard only eats up a small part of the runtime and there are plenty of other women who will bare it all in Quiet Days In Clichy. The film is loaded to the brim with naked female flesh and yes there are a couple of swinging dicks for added trash points but there is more to this film then sex sex sex. There is almost a poetry that flows through the film. A interesting and unique philosophical message. Yes its perverse and many would consider it depraved but there are moments of monologue that really punctuate the film and bring it to another level making Quiet Days In Clichy something a bit more then your average Doris Wishman sleaze-o-rama. "Better venereal disease than a moribund peace and quiet." The film has this beautiful nihilistic feel to it. Joey and Carl live by their instincts and the consequences and repercussion do not really enter the men's minds. That is at least until it is to late.

Another thing that makes Quiet Days stand out so much is how the story is told. Yes there are long moments of monologue but for large portions of the film nobody is speaking and I am not just talking about the sex scenes. Plus the film is not entirely in English. I would say only about half of the film is spoken in English but this doesn't really keep the viewer in the dark because texts sprawl across the screen explaining what is happening. Yes I said texts not subtitles. Almost as if the characters should have bubbles coming from their heads explaining what they are thinking, like a comic book. "Those were the days when the air was filled with cunt"

In one of my favorite scenes we see Joey going to sleep hungry. He has no cash because he gave it all to a hooker "The woman he loves". We watch him toss and turn as garage rock blares on the soundtrack and images of food spew across the screen. He wakes up in a frenzy, suffering from starvation, he roams the city streets looking for a hand out. He finds nothing and resorts to eating out of the garbage. He washes the garbage down his throat with some wine and goes back to sleep with a satisfied smile on his face. This all of course being a metaphor for his lifestyle and the trashy women in his life which keep him satisfied. In another scene we see Joey eat bread from a toilet bowl. Some of the other trashy delights that this film has to offer is a bathtub orgy which reminded me a bit of Denis Hopper's American Dreamer, sex scenes play like rape scenes and an amazing soundtrack by Country Joe. You have to hear this theme song to believe it. Its dirty!

Quiet Days In Clichy is the perfect experience for anyone who can dig a little bit of art with their sexploitation movies. Even for those like myself who are not familiar with writings Henry Miller.

Wake In Fright (1971)

Ever get the feeling that you are trapped in your own personal hell? Like the rest of the world are living and your dead end town is going to be the death of you? Wake In Fright also known as Outback is exactly that. It deals with a discontent school teacher who leaves his life behind. The school, the kids, and the hell-hole he calls home.

On his way to the big city he stops in a small town called The Yabba with the intentions of staying over night before getting back on the road for the big city. Well lets just say his plans fall through and there just might not be any way out of this town alive. The townsfolk insure the school teacher that The Yabba is the greatest place on earth. Perhaps one mans paradise is another mans hell. Personally The Yabba seems like a place that I would want to call home. It consists of insane alcoholics whom really have no ambition in life rather then having a drink, having a fight and just living like there is no tomorrow. From the time the teacher arrives in The Yabba till the end credits everything is one big nihilistic drunken blur. Is this a nightmare or is this reality. Its just The Yabba... The greatest place on earth.

Donald Pleasance plays a former doctor who left his profession in the big city for a life of drunken insanity in The Yabba. This is possibly Donald Pleasance's greatest role. His acting style is so intense in this movie it takes stamina to just sit and watch him. Pleasance found a free life in The Yabba, devoid of all care. He lives for free, drinks for free, fucks for free and finds pleasure in standing on his head (literally) and drinking. He is also good for a fight here and there and he also takes the audience on what has to be the most insane hunting trip in cinematic history. Pleasance and a group of friends take to the barren lands of The Yabba and kill kangaroos for sport.

The Kangaroo massacre is disturbing and maddening at the same time. The surreal images of these men plowing through the upright animals with their car and unloading shotgun shells into their bodies is intense on its own but a real Yabba-man will fight these things with his bare hands. They slit the Kangaroo's throats with knives, they punch, kick and strangle the animals and these marsupials are as big as 14 feet tall. It is completely twisted set piece that has to be seen to be believed. However Wake In Fright is not just here to shock you. There is a sort of philosophical moral tale to be told, which I will not give away.

This Australian flick was thought to have been long lost. With no vhs or dvd release and is currently circulating through the bigger cities. I was fortunate enough to catch a screening of this thing in New York City and the audience seemed to have the same reaction that I did. Now I await the dvd release of this 70's classic and only hope the company that puts it out is worthy of the title. I highly recommend going out to your nearest arthouse theater and seeing this thing for yourself. Its crazy!

The Devils (1971)

This early 70's art film is a controversial look at Christianity and the inquisition in the middle ages. It is quite a twisted tale and it sticks with you for a while after viewing.

I really do have a soft spot in my heart for any movie that makes religion look scary. Films like Lucio Fulci's Beatrice Cenci and Bad Boy Bubby are amongst my favorites and now this crazy British flick. Anything you have read about The Devils will not prepare you for the insane vision that Ken Russell pans out across the screen for us. It is unbelievably maddening, relentless, disturbing and I guess offensive to religious folk but then again mentally challenged religious freaks probably have no place watching art films in the first place. They are probably better off reading the same book they always read once again.

For me The Devils was sort of like a cross between Witch Finder General, Beatrice Cenci and Holy Mountain with elements of a Nunsploitation flick thrown in. Of course The Devils ranks above the average exploitation movie in just about every department but the depraved and deprived nun thing is still there.

One of the things that made The Devils such a great experience for me was the fact that there really was no good guy in the whole movie. This is at least by the bibles standards. Sure our main character is better then others in some ways but what it all comes down to is that everybody is a sinner and most of the maniacs in this movie use religion as a shield for their own evil doings. This goes from womanizing to torture, rape and even murder.

In the most memorable and controversial scene a whole convent of nuns are tortured and brainwashed (as if they could be brainwashed any more then they already are) by the inquisition. The bastards who hide behind their robes and cloaks of imaginary good convince the nuns that they are possessed. The nuns go bats-crazy and indulge in a giant orgy. They take a statue of Christ down from his cross and let him in on the fun. They ride the nails in his hands, his torso and even his face (Crown of thorns and all). If the scene in The Exorcist bothered you, where little Reagan sticks a crucifix in her cunt, well then I recommend skipping this one at all costs. Next the women of god are forced to help the inquisitors wrongfully convict a priest who they want out of their way. The priest is brutally tortured into confessing his own blasphemy which is quite ironic and for me very tongue in cheek. We see the priest being beaten to a bloody pulp with hammers and yes it is all in the name of god.

I think it is safe to say that if there is a hell and the inquisition was not it, that everybody who had anything to do with The Devils would be going there. Or they could always just say ten hail Mary's and call it a day.

Antichrist (2009)

Antichrist is visually stimulating with very artistic and stylized cinematography but it doesn't paint a pretty picture. Perhaps the only moment of happiness is within the first five minutes of the film and then it quickly shifts gears into a very sad and dark place. The film opens up with a husband (Willem Dafoe) and a wife (Charlotte Gainsbourg) making love. The sex scene is shot in black and white and at a rate of 1000 frames per second. In other words, its shot in extreme slow motion. This sequence shows hardcore penetration in a shower. As the water drops from the couples genitals in the shower, their baby boy is escaping from his crib in the next room.

The baby climbs up to a window, pushes it open and walks out onto the ledge. The snow falls down in slow motion and we cut back to the married couple which is now in the bedroom. During their sexcapades they knock over a glass of water and the water falls to the floor in slow motion. Can anyone guess what we will see fall next in slow-mo? If you guessed the baby, you would have guessed right. This is about the extent of happy moments that Antichrist has to offer. The baby falls to his death and we move forward in time to a grieving period for the husband and wife. The rest of the film will be filled with grief and despair.

Willem Dafoe's character deals with his mourning at a normal pace but his wife is suffering from what the doctors call an A-typical mourning. Willem Dafoe, being a therapist is not willing to except this and decides to treat the woman he loves most without drugs. Instead he journeys into her mind through psychology and what he finds is quite appalling.

While psychologically treating his wife Willem Dafoe's character learns that she developed an abnormal fear for nature while she was writing a thesis in a secluded set of woods known as Eden. The couple take off to Eden to free her of the fear that is mentally tearing her apart. While the husband is a rational thinking man the wife in the story is much more in the mind frame of supernatural. She says things like "Nature is Satan's church" and she believes that since a woman's body is run by nature and not necessarily concious thought that this must mean the nature of woman is evil. We soon learn that the thesis she was writing about was in fact on this very subject mater.

                                                                                

Antichrist will again shift gears into more physically violent territory rather then mentally. The couple will end up fighting for their life and there is some truly disturbing moments to come. We are haunted by visions of mutilated animals and death seems to be all around. A talking fox rips its own guts out and then informs us that "Chaos reigns". A doe runs around with a stillborn fetus that has never fallen completely from the mothers body. A bird is eaten by ants and shared by a giant black Raven. The married couple will also both suffer from horrible bodily harm. Both of them have their genitals mutilated in a ultra-ghastly scene and only one of them will make it out of this place alive.

Many critics have called Antichrist a misogynistic movie and I don't really agree with this. Sure the female character is completely crazy but the movie never portrays a message of hatred for women. I think if anything it would be more honest to call the film chauvinistic because it shows the male character as a logical thinking being. Or a more efficient machine but it never looks at womanhood as a monster. It simply tells the story of a woman who went bats-crazy.

Antichrist comes complete with so many levels of depth. Each one worthy of discussion and analyzing. There is no clear message that is spelled out for the audience. Its a dark piece of art that came from the mind of Lars Von Trier who was in a very dark place himself. He made the movie as a personal experiment to help himself through his state of anxiety and depression. His own monsters have definitely made its way into the final product.

Watch this one with your best girl but I dare you to sleep comfortably when its all over.



Kids (1995)

No other movie has ever depicted the directionless youth of the 90's better then this one. Kids is here as a permanent reminder of my own useless generation and I went to school with just about every character in this movie.

Kids follows a group of nihilistic urban street kids through the course of one day. The two main characters are Telly and Casper "The dopest ghost". Telly cares about one thing and one thing only and that is sex but he is not content with having sex with anyone. Telly has a fixation with young virgins. In the opening scene we see Telly taking the virginity of a very young teenage girl. In the films final moments Telly is yet again devirginizing another victim and I say victim because Telly is not the healthiest of people in the sexually transmitted disease department. "Virgins... I love em. No fucking diseases and no loose as a goose pussy". Telly's best friend Casper on the other hand is a bit more of a mess. He drinks excessively and there is barely a moment in the film where Casper does not have a 40 oz. drink in his hand. The drinking is of course between smoking pot, doing whip-its, stealing, fighting and even raping other teenage girls. This is all of course acceptable behaviour amongst the group of friends. After all they are only kids.

Written by 19 year old Harmony Korine who would go on to do the equally controversial Gummo, I can't really see Kids appealing to anybody who wasn't a teenager in the 90's or at least was not a street-kid. Kids does not paint a pretty picture. Depressing images of urban street decay, violence, junkies and weirdos are strung together to form a memorable, nihilistic piece of chaos. The fact that this movie was written by such a young person says one of two things. Either Harmony Korine was smart enough to try to make a statement on his own doomed generation or he was simply writing exactly what he saw on the streets and with his friends. I think the second is the most likely candidate which just further proves the mind frame of this generation. Nothing matters except getting high, screwing and skate boarding. Another interesting thing to look at in Kids is how irrelevant race is. The kids are black, white, brown and yellow and it doesn't mean a thing. Nothing matters as long as you are cool enough and lacking in moral fiber. This is just the way in New York. I'm sure it is different in more primitive parts of the U.S. but in New York the kids do not see in black and white. They just see through blured vision.

The whole movie is best summed up in the final scene when Casper wakes up naked on a couch surrounded by beer bottles and passed out friends sprawled across the floor in sweaty piles. "Jesus Christ... What happened?". Perhaps he is better off not remembering what happened. It was a long day filled with street violence, drug use, drinking and rape. Kids also offers up very young kids smoking marijuana and when I say young I mean probably 12 years old. It shows young kids having sex, there is a segment that teaches you how to role a blunt, there is a very violent beating in the street that shows about 20 kids on one. We get plenty of foul mouthed memorable quotes, a man with no legs on a skateboard and we are invited into the mind of the young people of the 90's.

Kids is a great movie that is not afraid to show Kids for the monsters that they are. After all they are only a product of their enviorment. They are old enough to know better but to young to care.

White Dog (1982)

White Dog tells the gritty tale of a white German Shepard that is trained to attack and kill. However this is not your average attack dog. This is a "White Dog" meaning that it was bread by white racists to attack and kill black people.

While most directors would have taken this movie in one of two directions. Either the straight up exploitation rout or the sappy Hollywood moralist direction. The great Sam Fuller opts to make a art-house type horror film with a serious social commentary. The White Dog of course being a metaphor for the problems of racism in America and how easy it is to corrupt an innocent mind. The outcome is extremely dangerous. Not only is this dog dangerous but the subject matter is equally dangerous for any director to touch upon in 1982 and Fuller definitely paid the price.

The director fell victim to rabid critics who just didn't understand the film. Anyone familiar with Sam Fuller's work (The Naked Kiss, Shock Corridor) would blatantly see that racism and its affects on society is a theme that constantly comes back in the writer/directors films and this one is as touching as any other.

The horror on the other hand also works very well. When a struggling actress named Julie accidentally hits the dog with her car she does the humane thing and rushes the wounded animal to the hospital. She takes the dog home and falls in love with it. The first scene of violence shows the dog protecting its new owner against a rapist but its not long before innocent people start dying. Innocent black people that is. When Julie learns what is happening she takes her new pet to some professional animal trainers who have already dealt with a White Dog. The plan is to correct the dogs behaviour by mental reconditioning. The dog escapes and the murders continue but out of love for her dog Julie does not turn him in to the authorities.

White Dog artistically mixes horror and drama together. It finishes on a bit of a down note and comes complete with somewhat of a twist ending. There is also a delightful bit of gory mayhem that takes place in a church that needs to be seen to be believed. Check it out for a great Sam Fuller experience with racist animals, blood and a ending that would make Bambi viewers stop crying and shit their pants instead.