i found the plot synopsis for this movie pretty interesting and for sure the basic ideas could have been easily transformed into an excellent movie, so i found it very promising to check out this flick. usually i try to stay neutral and don't get my hopes too high upfront and would for sure have been satisfied with an at least mediocre thrill ride.
it all starts with our main protagonist captured and been held captivated by a group of people that claim that he is a guest and is about to change. to archive that they want to take away what means the most to him. as soon as he gets tortured for the first time and they take his sense of taste away the viewer instantly knows what that is: his senses. since there aren't too many of those we it becomes clear very early in the movie what will happen within the next 90 minutes. as a movie buff it always worries me when they reveal most of the next events so early in a movie. there are very few directors to either manage to dig themselves outta that hole use that to their advance. Hitchcock would be one of those rare examples that even used this as a stylistic element. unfortunately we don't see such brilliance here.
we further get explained that his sufferings are being broad casted. by that they can only mean an internet stream as TV would be way too off. people can contribute money, write letters and vote his sufferings to stop. the main goal according to the kidnappers is to get together money for their operations.
our protagonist also gets some time with a seemingly innocent female that claims that she doesn't support the ways of the group she's in. this might have been believable in 1960 when this genre wasn't as overused as it uses to be, but nowadays this is simply not plausible.
to justify that exactly this guy has been picked for the operation we see some flashbacks and some explanations by the protagonist himself into the camera, showing that he has been a ruthless idiot without morals in his life. not, necessarily evil, but just not a good guy. i have no idea why that should be a justification for keeping him captivated, torture him for weeks and then cripple him for life, but alright.
all of this counted together makes what we see completely random. the main character is not sympathetic and not evil. the evildoers are simply villains without a reasonable justification. after 45 minutes it just gets mighty boring as it is completely random and pointless. as the graphic violence shown has no real meaning but to shock and disgust the viewer it gets extremely boring. i don't enjoy watching someone getting tortured for 90 minutes. there is no thrill in that, it's just stupid.
nevertheless i was hoping for a clever conclusion AND twist at the end to make up for my lost time. disappointingly this doesn't happen and the movie simply ends.
don't get me wrong, i am a horror movie fan, but this is not a horror movie. there is no thrill in it. i enjoy getting scared and i have seen quite a few Japanese extreme horror movies, but without justification there is no thrill. if this would have been an action movie it would have been transfered to this: i guy drives around in a car and just kicks the heck out of random people and shoots some other, without no reason or background story behind it.
also this genre of movie is not new. if it were there would at least been the justification of going beyond everything else that has been done in other movies just to prove a point. i know for a fact that this has been done much more extreme to prove those points. if you take a look at the guinea pig series then even in the genre of wannabe-snuff-movies this example is just a very lame attempt to even reach those limits.
overall this has been a very disappointing experience.
it all starts with our main protagonist captured and been held captivated by a group of people that claim that he is a guest and is about to change. to archive that they want to take away what means the most to him. as soon as he gets tortured for the first time and they take his sense of taste away the viewer instantly knows what that is: his senses. since there aren't too many of those we it becomes clear very early in the movie what will happen within the next 90 minutes. as a movie buff it always worries me when they reveal most of the next events so early in a movie. there are very few directors to either manage to dig themselves outta that hole use that to their advance. Hitchcock would be one of those rare examples that even used this as a stylistic element. unfortunately we don't see such brilliance here.
we further get explained that his sufferings are being broad casted. by that they can only mean an internet stream as TV would be way too off. people can contribute money, write letters and vote his sufferings to stop. the main goal according to the kidnappers is to get together money for their operations.
our protagonist also gets some time with a seemingly innocent female that claims that she doesn't support the ways of the group she's in. this might have been believable in 1960 when this genre wasn't as overused as it uses to be, but nowadays this is simply not plausible.
to justify that exactly this guy has been picked for the operation we see some flashbacks and some explanations by the protagonist himself into the camera, showing that he has been a ruthless idiot without morals in his life. not, necessarily evil, but just not a good guy. i have no idea why that should be a justification for keeping him captivated, torture him for weeks and then cripple him for life, but alright.
all of this counted together makes what we see completely random. the main character is not sympathetic and not evil. the evildoers are simply villains without a reasonable justification. after 45 minutes it just gets mighty boring as it is completely random and pointless. as the graphic violence shown has no real meaning but to shock and disgust the viewer it gets extremely boring. i don't enjoy watching someone getting tortured for 90 minutes. there is no thrill in that, it's just stupid.
nevertheless i was hoping for a clever conclusion AND twist at the end to make up for my lost time. disappointingly this doesn't happen and the movie simply ends.
don't get me wrong, i am a horror movie fan, but this is not a horror movie. there is no thrill in it. i enjoy getting scared and i have seen quite a few Japanese extreme horror movies, but without justification there is no thrill. if this would have been an action movie it would have been transfered to this: i guy drives around in a car and just kicks the heck out of random people and shoots some other, without no reason or background story behind it.
also this genre of movie is not new. if it were there would at least been the justification of going beyond everything else that has been done in other movies just to prove a point. i know for a fact that this has been done much more extreme to prove those points. if you take a look at the guinea pig series then even in the genre of wannabe-snuff-movies this example is just a very lame attempt to even reach those limits.
overall this has been a very disappointing experience.