Sickly Disturbing Films

This is the best Larry Clark film ever. I just love this movie. It's a sick, disturbing and depressing story of blind and troubled youth down in a suburb west of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and it's all true. This film is based on the harrowing true story of the murder of teenager Bobby Kent.


The True Story -

"Kent and Puccio had known each other since third grade, had lived on the same block in Broward County since that time, and were good friends as adults. Bad blood, however, existed between the two. Puccio felt "ill-will and hatred" towards Kent because Kent would bully and pummel him. Both sets of parents were wary of the friendship as well. Marty's parents, Martin Sr. and Veronica Puccio, were cautious because Marty often returned from being with Bobby with bruises or bleeding. Fred Kent thought of Marty as a wayward slacker who had no future (Marty was a high school dropout) and felt the friendship with his son would destroy the future he was helping Bobby build. Both boys were avid steroid users which, according to testimonial accounts, significantly contributed to Kent's erratic aggressive behavior.

Kent and Puccio had also delved into making homosexual porn movies in the hopes they could sell them to local shops to earn extra money. Neither Kent nor Puccio actually participated in these movies, but rather allegedly directed them and either coaxed or forced Lawrence Shafer, a Florida man in his early 40's to commit lewd acts on camera. Kent tried to peddle the movie, entitled Rough Boys, to porn shops across south Florida. However, none took him up on the offer due to the poor audio and video quality as well as the lack of any sellable sexual activities in the film beyond Shafer dancing nude and playing with a dildo.

For a few weeks prior to his death, Kent dated Ali Willis, best friend of Puccio's girlfriend, Lisa Connelly. Willis moved back with her parents in Palm Bay, Florida, and broke up with him after Kent allegedly forced Willis to watch a graphic homosexual porn movie while he had rough sexual intercourse with her. Kent reportedly said he was going to murder her and smother her baby unless she returned to Broward County to date him. Willis returned and she and Connelly concocted a plan to kill Kent. The girls obtained a gun (Connelly's mother's gun which Lisa stole from her for that night) and lured Kent to a rock pit in west Broward but backed out at the last minute.

The plan was for Willis to seduce Kent and begin having sex with him. While this was happening, Connelly would sneak up behind Kent and shoot him. Connelly allegedly later said that she did not shoot Kent because the police can trace bullet fragments to the gun they originally came from.

The next day a wider circle of friends conspired to kill Kent, including the newly recruited Derek Kaufman who the group heard through friends was a gang leader and mafia hitman. Prior to meeting the group, Kaufman had no association with Kent, Puccio or any other member. The group again lured Kent to the rock pit in an undeveloped area in Western Broward County, Florida. Puccio had told Kent that they were going to race cars and that Willis wanted to have sex with him again. That night, despite blistering Florida summer heat and humidity, Puccio was dressed in black jeans and a black trench coat with a red bandana tied around his head. According to Willis, "Marty came out of his house looking like Rambo."

Sometime around midnight, Willis led Kent away from the group down by a canal that ran up against the area. Heather Swallers then was instructed by Derek Kaufman to join them and figure out if Kent suspected anything. If she felt he didn't, Kaufman told her to ask Kent if there were any alligators in the canal. Once she did that, the murder would commence. Swallers asked Kent if the canal had any alligators and Kent sarcastically told her she should go skinny dipping and find out for herself. Almost immediately after, Donny Semenec charged Kent and stabbed him from behind in his neck. Kent whirled around and called out to Puccio for help. Puccio then stabbed him in the abdomen, and when Kent tried to flee, Semenec, Kaufman, and Puccio tackled him and stabbed and beat him. Several times during the murder, Kent pleaded and begged Puccio for mercy, telling his friend "I'm sorry! Marty, whatever I did, I'm sorry!" but Puccio continued. While Kent was down, Puccio cut his throat and hit his head against the ground so hard he fractured a vertebra in Kent's neck.
Kaufman delivered the final blow with a weighted baseball bat to the head. Kent's body was then dumped into a canal."


Sick, sick, sick movie. Well acted and powerful. Do not watch this film if you are easily offended. But if you do decide to see this movie make sure that you get the UNRATED version, it's a big difference. Before seeing this you should already know what you're getting yourself into. This is a Larry Clark film for Christ sakes, the director of "KIDS", it's not going to be a fun watch at all. Bobby Kent did not deserve to die, even though what he did was unbelievable wrong, these kids should have not taken justice into their own hands. It also goes to show you how little involved some parents are with their kids. Such a shame. Go and see this movie as soon as you can, highly recommended!


Brad Renfro and Nick Stahl in Bully

Filmed where I live. And not far from the truth...at all(at least for some people anyway). I remember at the time this was first released, and I remember me and all my friends not being shocked by this movie. Not the least bit. We just found KIDS to be...well...very truthful. I know it may sound despicable, and yes I now agree, but what part of "youth" is a fairy tale anyway?

In fact though, "KIDS" is a SCARY movie. There's nothing scarier than the truth. And yes, now that I'm older, I watch KIDS and I find it to be...disturbing, raw, ugly, but always, and most of all, powerful!

I'm also tired of people complaining about the "pornographic" part of KIDS. These are the same people who knew it was rated "NC-17", or who have heard of it's controversy, or knew of the film's subtext. If a film is "NC-17" or "UNRATED" or is known for being controversial, AND if "pornography" makes you squirm, than stay away from these kind of films in the first place. Because chances are it's going to really exploit something, whether it be sexuality or not, given the MPAA rating or such a reputation. So why even bother watching if you're going to overly judge something of that nature, and let that sort of material "alone" ruin the movie's overall significant theme? These are also the same people in which pornography, but won't admit it of course, is a part of their lives, in one way or another. So get over it! KIDS uses "sex" to tell a story, yes we see that. That alone is going to make you hate this movie? Listen, if the movie sucks than it sucks, but judge the movie by it's whole, not cause it has an element of being overly exploitive. A movie can exploit and still be a fantastic movie. If you can't see KIDS for what it is, than "sex" obviously bothers you that much, where you can't distinguish art from true, full blown, pornography. This is a movie right?...Or is it a porno?...Or am I mistaken?? Come on now, give me a break.

Every artist has his or her own methods, and ways, of expression. Larry Clark uses sex. But this only makes his movies stand out and differ from others. That doesn't mean all of his movies all of a sudden suck. I mean, yes, it could suck. But just because he uses "sex"?? Sex aside, what about the story? Judge it for that. Judge it for it's technical standpoint, character development, it's own message and theme. Larry Clark is just telling the truth here, and because he tells his stories in such a horrifyingly honest way, than "sex" might just have to be a part of it.

Here, let me make it easier on you...

KIDS is NC-17...sex might be involved!(BUT THIS IS NOT A PORNO FILM) lol

Now you know what you're getting into.

I highly recommend this movie. Excellent film. Like I said before...it's "disturbing, raw, ugly, but always, and most of all, powerful!"



"KIDS"
"A wake-up call to the modern world."
- New York Times


Check out this video I made myself. A tribute to Larry Clark films. Just copy and paste this...
http://www.flixster.com/conversations/1110888

A truly chilling creep fest of a movie. This one sends chills down my spine. Way more frightening then the original Amityville! Watch this one alone in the dark.

Highly Recommended!

What a great family film...LOL, are you kidding me? Don't let the cover fool you, this is one fucked up movie! Murder, rape, suicide, depravity, child molestation. This movie is like "American Beauty" but on crack. Sick thing too is that this movie is actually funny as well, but it's the kind of laughter that you feel guilty making. This is one of the darkest comedies I have ever seen. This film was directed by Todd Solondz, the same man who brought you "Welcome to the Dollhouse" and judging on his films, sort of like Larry Clark, I wonder what kind of sick life Todd had lived and if any of this is from his past experiences.

"The story mostly revolves around a family and it's three daughters. Helen, the eldest sister, a successful author who is adored and envied by everyone she knows, but also has the sick fascination with getting raped. Trish, the middle sister, an upper middle class housewife happily married to psychiatrist Bill Maplewood and has three children. There's one problem. Bill likes little boys and he masturbates to teeny bopper magazines. Bill also has crush on his son's 11-year-old friend and he will do anything that it takes to get the pleasure that he needs from him. Joy, the youngest sister, is seen by her family as overly sensitive and lacking direction. Because of her loneliness Joy will sleep with anyone who will give her the time of day, including men who will use her and steal money from her.

Then there's their parents, Mona and Lenny, who are separating after 40 years of marriage. Lenny is bored with his marriage, but does not want to start another relationship; he simply "wants to be alone." As Mona copes with being single during her twilight years, Lenny tries to rekindle his enthusiasm for life by having an affair with a neighbor. There's also Allen, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, a pervert who makes obscene phone calls to women while he masturbates, and likes sticking post cards on the wall with his own semen."


Expecting that the MPAA would brand this movie with an NC-17 rating, which would make distribution difficult, the filmmakers opted not to submit the film for rating, hence sealing limited distribution and difficulty in advertising.

Toward the end of this film there is a conversation between Bill Maplewood, the child molester, and his 11-year-old son Billy. Let me tell you, this conversation was so sickly intense that it send chills down my spine. I don't know how the hell they got such a little kid to go along with such a disgusting and vile conversation, but he did play it off extremely well. It was scary and shocking. You have to listen to what the father say's to his son, watch it and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

This movie is great. Dark and twisted, but great. Highly recommended if you can stomach this kind of thing(but don't worry, most of the stuff is just suggested).

"August Underground"...this movie will knock you on your ass! Fucking hardcore stuff. I gave this movie 1 star simply because it filled my stomach with too much nausea and made me too depressed. This is garbage, but it's shocking to the max. Disgusting shocking filth.

Gore. Degradation. Torture. Sexual humiliation. Rape. Vomit drinking, and Necrophilia. This movie certainly pushes the limits beyond any film I have ever seen.(if you can even call this pile of trash a film). But I do have to say, this movie only sets out to shock you. And it did just that!...and a whole lot more. Believe me. This is an uncompromising and in your face raw experience. For a fake snuff film this certainly does indeed feel like a real one.

This is one movie that will quite possibly just ruin your whole day. You've been warned!

Sick ass film to the extreme. I am not kidding. This is a another hard film to get a hold of, but if you can try to find it. This is another Larry Clark film, the director of "Kids", and it's also his most deranged film yet. Vile and depressing. I feel guilty even owning this movie(you can find a few of copies of this online), but I bought mine at a horror convention. I don't even know if I should really recommend this one, but for those of you who can stomach it, go and see this now! No matter how sick it is this is still a very good movie. A very realistic and very honest film. The only reason why I didn't give this a higher rating is because this movie makes me feel too depressed and it ruins my day whenever I watch it.

"Ken Park focuses on several teenagers and their tormented home lives. Shawn seems to be the most conventional. Tate is brimming with psychotic rage; Claude is habitually harassed by his brutish father and coddled, rather uncomfortably, by his enormously pregnant mother. Peaches looks after her devoutly religious father, but yearns for freedom. They're all rather tight, or so they claim. But they spend precious little time together and none of them seems to know much about one another's family lives. This bizarre dichotomy underscores their alienation # the result of suburban ennui, a teenager's inherent sense of melodrama, and the disturbing nature of their home environments."


OTHER REVIEWS:

"Explicit sex (and I mean explicit, like triple-X explicit), masturbation, and near-incest are all on the menu."
- eFilmCritic.com

"...[Larry Clark's] most audacious film to date."
- Monsters At Play

"...scenes of graphic onanism, oral gratification, and ritualistic violence."
- All Movie Guide

"Thoroughly vile!"
- reelingreviews.com

"Makes "Happiness" look like Dumbo."
- Film Freak Central

"...leaves the viewer stunned - stuck between laughter and disgust, horror and compassion, not knowing what we should feel or what we are."
- Plume-Noire

"Everything is graphic. Very graphic. Perhaps, at times, too graphic."
- movie-views.com

"...this is well beyond what we're used to seeing within the realms of conventional cinema."
- DVDTimes

"...Clark has made a maniacal, demented, sexual, violent film that might cause a few hundred catholic riots..."
- Ain't It Cool News


lol...Good stuff! See this movie and judge for yourself. Let me know what you think.

Dark. Disturbing. Scary. Beautifully shot and brilliant.

As many of you probably already know, the whole movie is shot backwards. A few people that I talked to had shut this movie off in very beginning. They said that it gave them a headache, or that nothing was happening and that it made no sense. The few people who I know that actually sat through the whole thing said things like "it was too boring", or that "it wasn't shocking at all." I only know about three other people who personally love this movie like I do. Then again, I haven't sat down with too many people to watch this movie with. A lot of my friends don't even care much about the "art form" of films, let alone seriously appreciate films overall. That's another reason why I joined Flixster too, so I can finally talk to some people who are actually on the same level of film appreciation as I am. Now that I'm on this site I have found even more people who are actually into Irreversible and who understand it's brilliance. On the other hand I have read some negative reviews, and it seems that they're the same exact reasons why my friends hated it. I guess this is just a love it or hate it kind of movie. I for one loved it!

Plot -
"Events over the course of one traumatic night in Paris unfold in reverse-chronological order as the beautiful Alex is brutally raped and beaten by a stranger in the underpass. Her boyfriend and ex-lover take matters into their own hands by hiring two criminals to help them find the rapist so that they can exact revenge. A simultaneously beautiful and terrible examination of the destructive nature of cause and effect, and how time destroys everything."

I can't understand why some people didn't find this movie to be shocking. I watch a lot of hardcore, sickly difficult films all the time and this is indeed one of them. What more shock value did people want from this film?...A nine minute rape scene in 3D? This is one brutal movie. Maybe it's because some people just view this for the shock value alone and become disappointed by the overall quantity of disturbing imagery. It does seem to slow down a bit and almost come to a stop as the movie progresses. But this movie isn't just all about the violence and the gore, there's more to it here. This movie has a very strong message and it also tells a very emotional and complex story(carried along with some great cinematography). The acting in this is outstanding. Vincent Cassel's performance is truly fierce and ferocious. There's some truly powerful stuff here.

Sick and violent. This is in fact a very disturbing movie, as well as a high quality film. Highly Recommended...if you can stomach this.

(Major Spoilers)


Meet Ben...


Ben likes to strangle women and repeatedly batter a man's head wide open on a sink. Ben likes to rape a woman while the husband is forced to watch. He likes to scare old women to death, in result of an instant heart attack. He also likes to suffocate little children with pillowcases. Ben even likes to party hard.
So hard till he vomits on himself, and he even shoots down his own friend's at birthday parties!

Ben is an insanely SADISTIC serial killer...and also a celebrity!(Well, there's a first time for everything, right?)

Man Bites Dog tells the story of a small film crew who follows around a demented, but an intelligent madman named Ben, in attempt to make a true "Snuff" documentary. It turns out the crew take a likening to Ben, and they strangely connect, hitting it off on their revoltingly shameless and gory adventures, and even share laughs together. At times, Ben even seems like a civil person, the polite man in the street who stops to cheer you up. He's even a caring family member most of the times. He's humorous, and he's also loyal and loves his girlfriend...

...We know this cause we witness it all on actual footage(but keep in mind of course, this is just a mockumentary).

But of course Ben has his charm, as most serial killers do. A side that we don't see when our backs are turned, and while the unlucky one's roam the street late at night. But the difference here though, is Ben doesn't have a reason to hide his viscous side. He knows he's being filmed 24/7, and half of his friends already know he's a damn psychopathic killer. Right there you know that this movie isn't meant to be taken seriously. Actually it's part of what makes this movie so dementedly funny. Yes, Man Bites Dog is a comedy as well! A sick, and disgusting, dark and vile comedy...but a comedy that's insanely outrageous.

Ben even finds it humorous! He jokes with the film crew in the middle of his slayings, and teaches them the right techniques in murdering. Like I said before, Ben's a humorous kind of guy.(only his humor is tasteless and despicably evil)...But hell! At least he puts the "fun" in killing!

Here's where it gets even funnier...

As the film progresses, the documentary film crew start fearing for their own lives. Ben doesn't seem so friendly anymore(well I really don't think he ever gave a sh*t), but accidents start happening, and the film crew are being offed one by one as well. Still, they continue to finish the documentary! Come on now? How are you suppose to take this film seriously after that being said? But that's what's great!(keep this in mind when watching the brutal killings. I don't know, it might help you stomach it better)...lol, I doubt it though! This is still a sick and fu*king down right disturbing movie. The violence is raw. There's no shying away either. The violence is in-your-face raw, with no remorse for the viewers. This is some sick sh*t!

The acting here is solid all around, which helps make things alot...well I guess...worse(I mean that in the best way possible of course). I'm just saying it adds too much realism to the slayings, which would be hard for most people to watch. But look on the bright side...Man Bites Dog is funny as well(again with the "acting" part, in helping to make the humor more convincing and funny). Just be very OPEN MINDED when watching this...grab a vomit bag, and (try to)enjoy this sick insanity.

You've been warned!


""Man Bites Dog" is probably one of the most disturbing, horrific, disgusting and ruthless films in the history of cinema."
- moviesmademe.com

"A black comedy that's as dark as night, Man Bites Dog is a worthy successor to A Clockwork Orange as this generation's most telling and unflinching look at our views on violence."
- Filmcritic.com

"Personally, I think the film has it's moments where I was thinking to myself "Why am I enjoying this?!", but all of it is underscored with a huge exclamation point and subtle yet effective humor that softens the blow. There are times when this combination will have you rolling on the floor laughing, and other times when you'll recoil in an attempt to pander to your better judgment."
- HorrorView

"This grainy black-and-white shoestring- budget "mockumentary," about a film crew following around a professional killer, is one of the most bizarre, hilarious, and disturbing things I've ever seen."
- eFilmCritic.com

""Man Bites Dog" is realistic, almost too realistic. The film is in truth more surreal than real, but the primitive styling and shaky "amateur" camera work persuade you to believe this is a documentary. You believe the harshness seen to be reality, with nothing surreal about it. This "mocumentary" wants you to feel horrified and disgusted. If you become too agitated to watch it, the film succeeds in its goal,(if you simply laugh at it you are sick), but if you sit through the entire movie (and I would recommend you do) the film will give you closure. But remember, even if it appears real, it's done for the sake of art, and what a masterpiece it is!"
- Movie Vault

A story about a woman tearing, eating, and slowly self mutilating herself. Literally.

In My Skin is a bizarre, bloody grotesque, and disturbing little film. Not a movie for everyone, especially for those with a weak stomach, but for those who are looking for something completely different, in a strangely deranged unique way, this is definitely the movie for you.

In My Skin very much reminds me of some kind of David Cronenberg film. Strange, graphic and bloody, but yet very compelling at the same time. Gore aside, this movie also has some great performances, and the art direction is top notch. It's an artsy film where everything here moves at an extremely slow pace, but nevertheless, it all still seems so strangely beautiful. There's some strange message here hidden behind all the gruesome imagery, one that needs to be examined by viewers, where we can share our opinions and try to understand the actual point. Would someone, as the female character in this movie, really do the kind of things that she did? I really don't know. But out of all the crazy things that people do in this world, I wouldn't really find it hard to believe that someone, somewhere, would be doing something like this.

Plot:

"Attending a party, Esther decides to catch a breath of fresh air in the garden and accidentally cuts herself severely. Only later does she realize her injury and when telling this to her doctor, he asks her, "Does this leg belong to you?"

While his question notes upon the irony of the situation, it actually is exactly what goes on in Esther's mind, as her body and mind are two. Hardly has her wound healed, before she cuts it open again, both in order to feel the pain, but also to watch how her flesh reacts. Slowly she becomes obsessed about her flesh, her blood and mutilating herself, going thru phases of self-vampirism and self-cannibalism, to a point, where she begins to peal her skin off, for later to take it out and feel it. Equally slowly, she becomes detached from the world around her, giving up friends and her job, retracting herself into a world, where she can be alone with her pealed skin.

The self-mutilation of Esther begins as any other act of self-mutilation, due to stress and low self esteem. She isn't as attractive as her girlfriend, nor as successful at work. During the early stages of the film, while her girlfriend is writing a report for the ministry unsupervised, she has to rewrite her report, as her boss found it flawed. But soon it becomes obvious, that she has become addicted to it. During a business dinner, the image of her boss pealing a grape excites her to such a degree, that she first rips her stocking, then, as she watches her arm being detached from her body, has to go away for a moment, to satisfy her urge by cutting herself over and over. Its not lust, but addiction, and within days, her addiction has reached a level, where she hardly can get home, before she maniacally indulges in acts of self-vampirism."


This movie also focuses a lot on slow driven character study. At first it gets us weirdly acquainted with the female lead, just enough as to where her pain later becomes more believable to us, and as the film goes on it only becomes even more shocking. I recommend this movie only for those of you who are really into extreme cinema.

Other Reviews:

"As unrelenting an exploration of isolation and dissociation as Roman Polanski's Repulsion."
- The New York Times

"A bizarre exercise in perversion that will well test even the most jaded art house audiences' appetite for the offbeat."
- The Hollywood Reporter

"Fiercely uncompromising psychodrama infused with a keen intelligence and a sinister primordiality."
- Chicago Reader

"In My Skin takes that pain/pleasure principle and magnifies it until you're either dumbstruck or running screaming from the theater."
- Boston Globe

"A truly trangressive film as unsettling as it is psychologically acute."
- TV Guide

"An experience you won't easily shake."
- Entertainment Weekly

"Spectacularly grotesque and literally nauseating, even for this usually intrepid moviegoer, In My Skin is among the more disturbing films in this blood-drenched cinematic season."
- Los Angeles Times

Extremely disturbing, emotional, and powerful film. This is one film that's not easy to swallow. Superb acting, raw but brilliant storytelling, well structured and beautiful cinematography. This movie will give you the chills. And yes, although it's not a horror film, the context alone is well over the line in crossing sickening boundaries that is horrifying enough to put you at unease.

"In 1981 Kansas, 8-year-olds Neil McCormick and Brian Lackey are sexually abused by their pedophiliac baseball coach. Neil's promiscuous mom doesn't pay any attention. Brian's parents don't realize what has happened either. Brian reacts to what happens by developing amnesia and blocking out the event, for many years suffering from violent nose bleeds. As Brian grows up he becomes a rather asexual, geekish boy, and glimpses of memories in recurring dreams make him believe he has been abducted by aliens. Neil who had been the coach's favorite boy, often helping him trick other kids into abuse situations integrates his experiences by developing an extrovert gay sexual personality turning tricks and eventually making his entire living from prostitution. When Brian turns 19 years old, he meets Neil for the first time since childhood and they uncover the secrets they share as well as beginning to heal one another."

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who plays Neil McCormick) makes, yet again, another unbelievably powerful performance. Everyone in this film is convincing enough to help carry the story all the way to the end, and make it all very believable. It's sad, it's shocking, disgusting, but then again it's also very moving. This movie was given an NC-17 rating for a very good reason, and although there is an R rated version, this movie should only be viewed in it's entirety if you want the effect that it was aiming for(stick with the NC-17 version). Mysterious Skin is a film that's beautiful on the surface, but evil and haunting on the inside in everyway imaginable.

I highly recommend this film if you can stomach it.



Other Reviews:

"A complex and challenging emotional experience."
- Roger Ebert

"A raw and unadorned look at child abuse and its idiosyncratic repercussions."
- Mixed Reviews

"By the end of Mysterious Skin, I felt physically exhausted but I also felt satisfied at the way it all falls into place."
- Film Threat

"Mysterious Skin is a disturbing, difficult to watch film, but one every adult should see."
- San Diego Metropolitan

"There is a terrible, terrifying honesty at the core of Mysterious Skin that will make it chillingly recognizable to some viewers and important to recognize for others."
- Washington Post

"A tough but rewardingly original child abuse drama, centered on Levitt's brave and compelling performance. A rising star for sure."
- Empire Magazine

"Manages to deal with its raw, awful subject matter in ways that are both challenging and illuminating."
- Philadelphia Weekly

"Not for the squeamish, but it is a beautifully crafted and thoughtful film that genuinely provokes."
- New York Post

"So profoundly unsettling that I can't imagine watching it again -- except that it's also so finely acted and sharply constructed that I want to see it again immediately."
- Eric D Snider

Meet the lieutenant. A gambling addicted, perverted, and angry junkie. He likes to smoke crack, steals cocaine from crime scenes, screws over connected bookies, dances with prostitutes completely naked, and masturbates in front of young innocent teenage girls. He's also investigating the rape and torture of a seventeen year old nun, who's perpetrators inserted a crucifix eleven centimeters into her vaginal aperture, breaking the hymen membrane. They also used a sharp object to carve a cross between her shoulder blades and after they were done with her they took a crap on the church altar.

Does this sound sick to you? Well it's because this movie is sick.

Harvey Keitel plays the lieutenant, making a powerhouse performance and giving it his all. He even bares it all...literally. An interesting thing about this movie too is that, in one particular scene, we actually sympathize with the lieutenant. I shit you not. There's this one scene in the church when Harvey Keitel is crying, praying to Jesus, and we can see how much pain he's in and how much he regrets everything that he's doing. He was dealt a harsh hand in life and those drugs he did didn't make it any easier, but all in all he was still just a dirty scumbag. My sympathy for him couldn't last that long anyway for I kept remembering that one shocking and disgusting scene, when he pulls two teenage girls over for a broken taillight, and sexual humiliates them to the max.

Religion and faith also play a big part in this movie. Since the lieutenant is investigating the rape of a nun his own personal demons come into question and he begins to learn the true meaning of forgiveness within himself and for the perpetrators of this ghastly crime. It's like a "what would Jesus do?" kind of thing, but of course sometimes, we all can't forgive as Jesus would. Suddenly we find ourselves counting on the lieutenant to do the right thing, to cause punishment on the lowlifes who raped the nun, and to save the day. It's the power within the true concept of forgiveness that makes the ending here a total shocker, and it will quite possibly leave you pissed off to the extreme. But what does that say about ourselves? Should we be more forgiving to people no matter what they do? I for one lean toward NO. I'm sorry but I could never be forgiving to a person who had raped and tortured someone. Watch this movie and judge for yourself.

Premiere voted this movie as one of "The 25 Most Dangerous Movies", and it's rated NC-17 as well. If you rent this movie make sure you get the NC-17 version. It's a big difference and there's 5 full minutes more of disturbing shit. Highly recommended(if you can stomach this).

A beautiful, deeply eerie, and disgusting film. This controversial NC-17 movie is a small masterpiece.

Story 1:
"Hero"

Tells the story of seven-year old Richie Beacon, who kills his brutally abusive father, and disappears in a mysterious way, according to his mother.

Hero is shot in a documentary style, with interviews from people's accounts on the story and re-enactments. This story was the creepiest to me, especially the shocking and most bizarre ending. Everything in this story felt very real, and it was always convincing.

What really happened to Richie Beacon? And most of all...who was he REALLY?
Chilling stuff!

Story 2:
"Horror"

Shot in black and white, and plays off like a 50's sc-fi movie. Horror tells the story of a scientist who isolates the elixir of human sexuality, drinks it, and becomes a festering, contagious murderer. This story was fu*king gross. Disgusting and nauseating. But it was great too! It's a love story entangled with sheer terror. Very fascinating...and icky at the same time!


Story 3:
"The Homo"

Revolves around lifelong prisoner John Broom's obsession with fellow inmate Jack Bolten. Told through Broom's thoughts, much of this story within a story is communicated through flashbacks and vignettes that develop the characters of the two men.

The Homo is a depressing and revolting story. Amazing character development and storytelling, but very difficult to stomach, especially the "spitting" scene. It's sad, bleak, and uncompromising. This one will leave a bad taste in your mouth.


All these stories are told throughout and are in no specific order, although each are linked thematically to make a whole. It's a shocking, and bizarre movie, but yet has lot's of meaning. Great performances and solid storytelling, and great script. A very disturbing movie, but I highly recommend it to people who are looking for something quite different.


"Todd Haynes's "Poison" is a vision of unrelenting, febrile darkness. It presents three disparate stories in three greatly varied styles, all inspired by the work of Jean Genet, and its effect, as a whole, is like that of an especially vile infection; it moves diabolically through your system, spreading fever and nausea as it goes."
- Washington Post

"Poison weaves a trio of disparate stories into a fragmentary, postmodern triptych, one held together (however vaguely)by lurid themes of sexuality, violence, and personal revolt. The movie wants to shock, and it does."
- EW

"Poison is a very tough, queasy film, but extremely powerful and a strong feature debut for Haynes."
- Celebrity Wonder

"Many films try to be subversive, try to undermine the status quo in ways large and small (and Haynes is still up to that, to a lesser extent), but few succeed, too often ending in broad strokes or empty campiness (John Waters' films). Poison works because it is unafraid of being shocking, but still has a point to get across, and handles the balance well."
- HDFest


"Poison is a disturbing film. It will make you uncomfortable, but it also will make you think."
- Filmreference

"Part horror film, part drama, part expose, Poison is 1991's most controversial film."
- Café DVD

"Poison is a wholly original, provocative, unsettling and intelligent film that is a must-see for adventurous videophiles."
- TLA Video

"When I was in prison I got slashed in the face, my ears cut off, my eyebrows trimmed and a butcher's knife here, an ice pick here - Not fun at all, etc. If you drink and drive and you're unfortunate enough to hit somebody, you ought to pray to God that you don't go to prison."
- Chopper Read

This is a sick, raw and violent movie based on the true story of the notorious Chopper Read.

"Read was born to an ex-army father and a mother who was a devout Seventh-Day Adventist. He was placed in a children's home for the first 18 months of his life, as his mother was either unwilling or unable to care for him. Read grew up in the Melbourne suburbs of Collingwood, Thomastown, Fitzroy and Preston. He suffered from bullying at school, claiming that by the age of 15 he had been on the "losing end of several hundred fights" and his father, usually on his mother's recommendation, beat him often as a child . Read was made a Ward of the State by the age of 14, and was placed in several mental institutions as a teenager, where he was apparently subjected to both Deep-Sleep and Electroconvulsive therapy.

By his mid teens, Read was already an accomplished street fighter, and the leader of the Surrey Road gang, made up of himself, 'Dave the Jew', Cowboy Johnny Harris, Terry the Tank and various other affiliates. Cowboy Johnny was killed in a street fight, protecting Chopper, during this period. Read and Dave The Jew had him cremated and sprinkled his ashes in a local swimming baths after closing time, in accordance with his wishes. Dave the Jew is the only ally from this period of his life who Read does not go into personal detail about in his books, stating only that Dave is a slightly-built, upper-class Jewish man who suffers from several undiagnosed mental conditions, and despite being a ruthless toecutter and murderer, is completely unknown to the police. Chopper remains good friends with him to this day.

Read's criminal career began with the robbing of drug dealers, based in massage parlours in the Prahran area. He later graduated to kidnapping and torturing members of the criminal underworld, often using a blowtorch or bolt cutters to remove the toes of his victims before killing them (Hence the slang term "Toecutter", used for Headhunters).

While in Pentridge prison's H division in the late 70's, Read launched a prison war. His gang, dubbed 'The Overcoat Gang', because they wore long coats all year round to conceal their weapons, were involved in several hundred acts of violence against a larger opposing gang during this period. Around this time, Read had a fellow inmate cut both of his ears off in order to be able to leave H division temporarily. Whilst in his early biographies Read claimed this was to avoid an ambush by other inmates, his later works state that he did so to "Win a bet". Several other members of Read's gang also cut off their own ears in a similar fashion after this incident. Read was ambushed and stabbed by members of his own gang in a sneak attack, when they felt his plan to cripple every other inmate in the entire division and win the gang war in one fell swoop was going too far. Read lost several feet of bowel and intestine in the attack. Ironically, one of the attackers was James Loughlan, a longtime friend of Read's. Read was, at the time, serving a seventeen year sentence after attacking a Judge in an effort to get Loughlan released from prison.

The nickname 'Chopper' was allegedly based on the protective Bulldog from the cartoon series Yakky Doodle, due to Read's habit of protecting the small and innocent from harm. Read once claimed to have served two years for GBH in 1978 after attacking a local pimp and drug pusher who was attempting to force a 13 year old school girl into prostitution, claiming "It was worth it".

Described variously as witty, charismatic, sadistic, and frightening, Read admits to being involved in the killing of 19 people and a further 11 attempts. Many of his associates in the underworld claim that Read is prone to making up numbers to increase his own notoriety and the sales of his books. Read himself has stated on numerous occasions that he would "never let the truth get in the way of a good yarn.""


Disturbing and ultra-violent, bloody crime flick...yet darkly funny at the same time. Very well acted and great direction, along with some good storytelling. Eric Bana plays an amazing psychopath in this movie. I can't believe this guy really did what he did, and he got away with most of the shit too. If I ever saw Read walking in the street I would definitely cross to the other side. lol

An interesting dark and extremely gritty look at a true psychopath. Highly recommended!


Eric Bana as Chopper Read


The real Chopper Read

Depressing, depressing, depressing. Downbeat fu**ing movie. This film almost brought tears to my eyes. Such a gloomy, cold and dreadful feeling throughout. Björk does an amazing job in this, giving us a heartbreaking and emotional performance. Everything in this film plays off very realistically, from the cinematography(which was shot digital) to the flawless acting, almost playing off like Larry Clark's "Kids"(in terms of realism and camera work). Dancer in the Dark is part musical, part drama. The singing, unlike most musicals, never for one second takes away from the realism, as for it's all just a part of Selma's(played by Björk) imagination. Selma's only escape for a moment of happiness is through her music, and only for a moment of singing are we, the audience, brought to a brighter side of the story...and then BAM! When the signing stops we're brought back to reality...a cold, damp and dreary place that is not the least bit pleasant. And if you think the whole beginning of this film is bad, just wait until you see the ending. A complete and total shocker to say the least.

"Selma has emigrated with her son from Central Europe to America. The year is 1964. Selma works day and night to save her son from the same disease she suffers from, a disease that inevitably will make her blind. But Selma has the energy to live because of her secret! She loves musicals. When life feels tough she can pretend that she is in the wonderful world of musicals...just for a short moment. All happiness life is not able to give her she finds there?"

Although a tough and very depressing movie I still highly recommend this film.

This one is truly horrifying. It's shocking, ugly, depressing and repulsive. This documentary will definitely leave some sort of mark on you and I'm sure you won't be able to shake it off that easily. It's based on the true story of "The West Memphis 3"(Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, Jason Baldwin), who "supposedly" murdered three young children in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Arkansas. They say that Damien Echols, the alleged ringleader, was partially influenced by Death Metal and that he dressed in black clothes and practiced in the Wicca religion. These were just a few subjects that were brought to the people's attention at the trial. The West Memphis 3 still sit in prison till this day and there are many who actually believe that the three defendants were wrongfully convicted at the trial.

Damien Echols was sentenced to death. Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwinwere were sentenced to life in prison.


The Murders at Robin Hood Hills:

"Three eight year old boys(Steve Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore), were found stripped naked and had been hog-tied with their own shoelaces: their right ankles tied to their right wrists behind their backs, the same with their left limbs. Their clothing was found in the creek, some of it twisted around sticks that had been thrust in the muddy creek bed. The clothing was mostly turned inside-out; two of the boys' underwear was never recovered. All of the boys had been severely beaten about their heads and faces, and Byers further had a fractured skull. Chris Byers had deep lacerations and injuries to his scrotum and penis. The original autopsies were inconclusive as to time of death, but stated that Byers died of blood loss (from either stab wounds or a deep head wound), and the other boys drowned."


You have to watch this documentary and tell me what you think. You might actually think that they're innocent because at the trial there were just so many things that really didn't sound right. Or you might just agree with the courts and believe that justice was well served. You'll know more what I'm talking about when you see this documentary. It's scary. This is real life horror, and it's actually more terrifying then most horror films out there. The good news is that you can watch the whole thing on YouTube. Last time I checked they had the whole documentary in several parts, but be warned, the subject matter in this is disturbing as Hell. Just go to YouTube and type in "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills"


There is also a sequel to this documentary titled Paradise Lost 2: Revelations.

Depressing, unsettling, and chilling to the bone. This is the true story of Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, who's friendship became an obsession and an escape into a fantasy beyond any imagination, which led them to murder Pauline's mother, by bludgeoning her to death after she became an interference in ruining their perfect relationship.

This movie is haunting...and deeply, deeply disturbing! Heavenly Creatures will bring you down. It not only portrays the events which took place, but it also takes you deep in depth through the minds of these sick, obsessed, and delusional, lost little girls.

The performances here are simply unforgettable and the cinematography is flawless.


- The Real Pauline Parker

- Melanie Lynskey as Pauline Parker


- The Real Juliet Hulme

- Kate Winslet as Juliet Hulme

The trial was a sensational affair, with speculation about their possible lesbianism and insanity. The girls were convicted on August 30, 1954, and each of them spent five years in prison. They were released with the condition that they never contact each other again. To this day, they have not contacted each other.

This is top notch, Grade "A" filmmaking. Heavenly Creatures is a dark, and nightmarish masterpiece.

"One of the most genuinely disturbing films I have ever seen."
- Film Threat

"What makes Jackson's film enthralling and frightening is the way it shows these two unhappy girls, creating an alternative world so safe and attractive they thought it was worth killing for."
- Roger Ebert

"A dark, astounding film from Peter Jackson, showing his mastery of blending fact and fantasy. A deserved winner of Venice Festival's Silver Lion and Toronto Fest's Critics Award. Along with Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, this is 1994's most audacious film."
- Emanuel Levy

"Revealed in unforgettable fashion by a capable director, the events that unfold in this film are not easily forgotten."
- ReelViews

"Yes, it's a heart-rending drama, but it's also a chilling real-horror film and so much more. It is the single best film in Jackson's filmography, and a compliment to New Zealand cinema."
- Classic-Horror

"Heavenly Creatures is as intense and disturbing as the real-life crime it re-creates."
- EW

Try to see this movie if you can, it is so hard to find. It's not released on DVD yet but there are some copies floating around on the internet. I actually got a great copy of this movie that I bought at a convention a few years back. It's based on the true story of teenage Ricky Kasso aka The Acid King. He got that nick name because he use to drop several hits of acid everyday.

Here's the true story. I'll sum it up for you...

What happened was Ricky Kasso and a few of his friends, who were brainwashed by him, use to worship Satan and held seances at their friends houses. They also made animal sacrifices and they practiced the Satanic Bible. Actually, what's interesting also is that they use to hold seances in the back of the infamous "haunted" Amityville house. No shit.

Next comes the murder of one of Ricky Kasso's own friends. One night at a party when Ricky was passed out sleeping, his friend Gary Lauwers stole 10 bags of angel dust from Ricky's pocket. When Ricky found out what the kid had did, him and his other friends lured Gary into the woods with promises to give him drugs and have a party. After taking several hits of mescaline around the campfire things suddenly spun out of control. Ricky Kasso had threatened to kill Gary if he didn't say "I love Satan" and after Gary was being stabbed repeatedly all he could say was, "No, I love my mother". Ricky had stabbed Gary somewhere around 36 times, burned him on parts of his body and gouged out his eyeballs. After the murder Ricky Kasso and his other friends had bragged about it to people around the town. Eventually Ricky was caught by the police, and while waiting in his jail cell Ricky committed suicide by hanging himself.

One of his other friends also killed himself when he found out how much trouble he was actually in, and Ricky's other close friend was acquitted of second degree murder because of his mental state after doing so many drugs that night.

This movie was awesome. It's very creepy in the real life sense, being that this was all an actual true story. The acting was believable, especially Ricky Kasso played by Vincent Kartheiser, although in this movie the character's name was Ricky Cowen. There's really not that much violence here, but this movie really didn't need it. The subject matter alone was gruesome enough, especially at the end when the young kid gets murdered. I also liked how they showed a bit of a build up as to why Ricky Kasso turned out the way he did. It's like in the beginning you actually feel a little bad for Ricky, knowing that he could have gotten the help that he needed, but no one was really there for him. All that quickly changes a little later on in the film when you find yourself wanting to strangle the hell out of Vincent Kartheiser's character. Anyway, this movie is a must see! Try to find it, perhaps maybe on EBay or something.

Also, look up the real picture of Ricky Kasso. Talk about a creepy looking kid!

Amazingly structured, beautifully shot, and brilliant, straightforward and honest dialogue. Storytelling is dark humored, luridly amusing and entertaining, and funny as hell in the demented sense. It's sharp, perversely genuine, witty and brutally forthright. Avoid the "R" rating at all cost and watch this in it's true form, RENT THE UNRATED VERSION!

"Fiction"
Vi is a hip college teenager who allows herself to be exploited and abused by any guy, including her writing professor, in order to get inspiration for her creative writing class.

- In my eyes, this story seems to me it would be more on the "Non-fiction" side. But you can be the judge.

"Non-fiction"
Toby Oxman is a hapless loser/shoe salesman who wants to be a famous documentary filmmaker. For his first project, Toby explores the dysfunctional Livingston family, focusing mostly on the oldest son Scooby, an alienated, hates-the-world, ticking-time-bomb, bisexual, high school student with dreams of being famous.

- Strange how this story is "Non-fiction", but hell, I love it's eccentricity. Just makes the movie more intriguing.

Storytelling is disturbing, but it's always fun! Coming from the guy who directed "Welcome to the Dollhouse" you should already know what kind of material to expect. Todd Solondz is a great director, always with a strange and twisted, but interesting outlook on life. He's an amazing artist.

I highly recommend Storytelling.


"A masterful comedy that will divide audiences, but it left me laughing hysterically. I hope that doesn't make you think I'm a sick bastard, but if so, piss off."
- Film Threat

"I saw it a third time. By then I had moved beyond the immediate shock of the material and was able to focus on what a well-made film it was; how concisely Solondz gets the effects he's after."
- Roger Ebert

"Solondz has finally made a movie that isn't just offensive -- it also happens to be good. He's still shouting, still violating our politically correct sensibilities, but the shocks now have thematic purpose. They don't just titillate, they resonate."
- The Globe and Mail

"The leanest and meanest of Solondz's misanthropic comedies, feasts on the anguish of adolescence and confusion of college -- white suburban-style."
- Village Voice

"Almost as uncompromising, and sometimes as funny, as "Dollhouse" or "Happiness.""
- Chicago Tribune

"It's extremely well played and often very funny. But beware: Solondz uses humor as a booby trap, so be careful what you laugh at."
- TV Guide

"A movie that advances the career of a demonstrably gifted filmmaker, a fearlessly funny movie whose laughs draw blood, a bracingly provocative movie that won't apologize for its bad temper."
- Rolling Stone

Extremely powerful and chilling movie that's somewhat based on a true story. This movie will give you goosebumps, from it's nerve wracking opening to it's nail biting and intense climax. The performances here are solid, moving, and the script is nothing less than perfect. This movie is simply mind blowing.

Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of Turkey. The Turkish courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made by his lawyer, his family, and the American government, or the "Midnight Express".


Brad Davis playing Billy Hayes

"Midnight Express is based on Billy Hayes, book of the same name adapted into screenplay by Oliver Stone. Hayes was a young American student sent to a Turkish prison for trying to smuggle hashish out of Turkey. The movie deviates from the book's accounts of the story, especially in its portrayal of Turks, to such a level that many have criticized the movie version, including Billy Hayes himself. Later both Oliver Stone and Billy Hayes expressed their regret on how Turkish people were portrayed in the movie."


The real Billy Hayes

Real or not this movie is still scary(in the real life sense) and stuff like this does indeed happen in prison anyway. This movie stirred up a lot of controversy for it's time and I can see why. This is one of the best prison movies ever made. I highly recommend this film.

"Searing and unforgettable. A harrowing descent into a real-life hell that's so relentlessly intense it will leave you feeling drained."
- Fantastica Daily

"Grim, nightmarish, unforgettable prison tale."
- Kansas City Kansan

"Harrowing and involving."
- Shadows on the Wall

"Alan Parker's Midnight Express works like a hammer lock on the viewer's mind."
- Spirituality and Practice

"One of the most terrifying "prison flicks" you'll ever see."
- eFilmCritic

A film that's unknown by most. Disgusting, sad, and vile disturbing movie. Do not watch this one if you are easily offended.

"As each relentless night turns towards day, Ernest Rackman turns towards violence to escape thoughts of loneliness and suicide. Then he poses as a police officer and rescues a young girl from her parent's apartment, where she was forced into a compromising life. Having discharged his violence, he plans to move forward with this new relationship, but the demons of loneliness and despair still haunt him."

This film definitely takes a lot from Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, only this time our main hero(who's hooked on drugs 24/7), is trying to save a young girl from the dangers of child pornography/snuff films. Ernest Rakman, played by Michael Wyle, sure does know how to play a double of Robert De Niro's character in Taxi Driver very well. I kind of think of Ernest Rackman as an evil, and more sadistic twin brother of Travis Bickle(from Taxi Driver). As much as God's Lonely Man takes from Taxi Driver, it still stands out as a good film on it's own.

The violence in this film is extreme as well, and toward the end it becomes very bloody. There's one part in this when they show glimpses of a child snuff film, and let me tell you, it is a nerve wracking and in your face raw experience. It's also followed by a massacre that will leave you stunned and speechless. This is by no means an easy film to swallow. The subject matter is harsh and it's followed by extremely nauseating dialogue. God's Lonely Man shows us the real horror that is out walking the streets, and reminds us that stuff like this is indeed happening.

Nothing in this film becomes hard to believe and everything plays off very realistically, thanks to some very good acting. We have already seen this kind of character development before, especially in Taxi Driver, but God's Lonely Man shows us a similar hero doing something more, in a completely different situation. No matter how messed up on drugs and crazy Ernest Rakman was we need more people like him in the world. Maybe then children would be safer, but who knows?

This film pushes the limits, even for an NC-17 rating(which it had received). As violent and disturbing as it is, I still do recommend this movie. We should all at times be reminded again and become more aware of what's going on out there(in this case being the danger of young children). But then again, if you are seriously easily offended...don't watch it.

Other Review:
"In 'God's Lonely Man' Frank von Zerneck Jr. has crafted a film with all the simplicity, beauty and elegant stealth of an adder. A lethal tale stripped to its primal elements, there is nothing about it that does not either hypnotize, sting or transport with strange beauty and chilling, corrosive terror. That it is a first film only makes it all the more stunning."
- WES CRAVEN

Sick, twisted, and darkly funny. This movie is insane! Michael Pitt is the MAN in this. He is so freaking evil that it's scary...and funny at the same time. He makes an unbelievable powerhouse performance here. This is one disturbing movie you won't soon to forget. I think this version is way better than the original version. I highly recommend this evil and twisted deranged little film! Awesome fu#&ing movie!

"A day without sex is a day wasted."
- Bob Crane


Sad, and at times quite painfully funny. Moving and deeply disturbing in it's depressing nature. As perversely real and somber as it is, Auto Focus is simply fantastic.

Bob Crane has an urge for sex in the same way a heroin addict relentlessly craves his or her next fix. He's blinded by the sexual pleasures which slowly deteriorate his naturally talented capabilities and the essence of his charmed, kind heartedness. What starts out as a promising dream becomes a fu*king nightmare from something so pleasantly pure and natural. His drug doesn't come from any needle. It doesn't come in the form of a pill or a powder. It doesn't come from the bottom of a bottle. In fact, Bob's drug has a mind of it's own and it comes in the form of a beautiful woman...hundreds of them. And by "drug" I do speak of the kind of deadly addiction, an addiction that's harmful in everyway possible. For those who have any doubt or are questionable about the extremities that sexual addiction can cause, crippling the mind, destroying your consciousness and driving close ones away, I assure you that Auto Focus will set you straight.


The Real Bob Crane:
"In 1965, Crane was offered the starring role in a television comedy pilot about a German P.O.W. camp. Hogan's Heroes became a hit and finished in the Top Ten in its first year on the air. The series lasted six seasons, and Crane was nominated for an Emmy Award twice, in 1966 and 1967."



His Death:
"During the run of Hogan's Heroes, sitcom costar Richard Dawson introduced Crane (a photography enthusiast) to John Henry Carpenter, who worked in the stock room at Sony Electronics and could acquire early VCRs.

On a late night in 1978, Crane allegedly called Carpenter to tell him that their friendship was over. The following day, Crane was discovered bludgeoned to death with a weapon that was never found (but was believed to be a camera tripod) at the Winfield Place Apartments in Scottsdale, Arizona. Crane had been appearing in Scottsdale in a production of a play titled Beginner's Luck at the Windmill Dinner Theatre, now known as Buzz, located at the southeast corner of Shea Blvd and Scottsdale Rd."


At times Auto Focus may sicken. This film sure gets it's hands dirty but it never becomes redundant, and it's clear that shock wasn't it's prime agenda, but only to simply give us an idea of what really went down in the most suitable way possible, although hard given the sleazy realities of Bob Crane, but always done with great skill and well polished structure.

It's strong solid performances and sharp crafty script make it seem all the more precise, realistically dangerous and it becomes a mind blowing experience. A jaw dropping story that needed an audience and couldn't have been told any better, visually. Auto Focus is a great film!


AUTO FOCUS

"The film is pitch-perfect in its decor, music, clothes, cars, language and values. It takes place during those heady years between the introduction of the Pill and the specter of AIDS, when men shaped as adolescents by Playboy in the 1950s now found some of their fantasies within reach."
- Roger Ebert

"A hilarious and harrowing portrait of addiction and self-annihilation."
- eye WEEKLY

"Auto Focus is tough stuff, but it's as profoundly resonant as it is immediately disturbing."
- Premiere Magazine

"Sordid, surreal tale of "Hogan's Heroes" star Bob Crane's rise and fall grabs you tight like a clammy handshake and doesn't let go."
- James Rocchi (Netflix)

"Creepy, authentic and dark. This disturbing bio-pic is hard to forget."
- Denton Record Chronicle (TX)

"Two thumbs up, way up!"
- Ebert & Roeper

Martyrs is like watching five different horror movies in one. And that's not a bad thing cause all movies are dark, creepy, and shockingly frightful. It's brutal beyond belief. I've read a lot of reviews comparing this to the French horror film "Inside" in terms of being graphic, and although Martyrs is not as gory as Inside, it is indeed far more brutal. Martyrs deals with the supernatural, evil alter egos, sadistic rituals of torture, and spiritualism. It's a mystery, a drama, an intense "religious" thriller, and a mind-blowing, brain fuck puzzle piece that will leave you feeling exhausted way after the credits have rolled. This is not a pretty film in any way, shape, or form. Martyrs will not have you cheering on or rooting for the bad guy. What you will see probably won't please you or tickle your funny bone. In fact, this movie will destroy you (your evening that is). It'll fill you with dread, leaving you no room for comfort, and just when you think you can breath from relief it'll tightly grab you by the throat, squeezing every last ounce of hope from your fragile minds. Martyrs is more than just a horror film. It's a test on your tolerance for iniquitous extremities, but even much more than that. Violence aside, it has a story to tell. An intriguing story that'll have you questioning your spiritual beliefs, and the afterlife, with such bloody finesse that'll leave a taste so sour you'll regret liking this movie as much as you do.

Is Martyrs a scary movie? Not so much in terms of a cheap scare, your typical jump from a seat moment, but in terms of causing anxiety and creeping under your flesh, rattling your bones...this movie will knock your socks off.

Martyrs is hardcore stuff. I highly recommend this movie for extreme horror fans.



"MARTYRS is the clearest indication yet that today's French horror is the only platform allowing a currently all-too-safe genre to find its excitement, power and strength again."
- Fangoria

"All in all MARTYRS was a visceral ride that will leave nobody indifferent. You'll love it, you'll hate it or/and you'll get your ass whooped by it. Shit, some people fainted at my screening. FAINTED!"
- Arrow in the Head

"Remarkably disturbing in a jaded cinematic world where we think we've seen it all and also unforgettably moving, MARTYRS is a movie to haunt this and future generations. Chalk it up as another triumph for fearless French horror."
- Horror Bob Review

"By the end of the film MARTYRS becomes immensely uncomfortable, and making it through the final 30 minutes is a tough task."
- Bloody Disgusting

"Even the most jaded hardcore genre fan will fail in walking away from this flick unaffected."
- Dread Central

"Martyrs is absolutely brutal, and one of the most shocking films in recent memory. There aren't many films that can match its style, intensity, or finale. So if you like horror dark, I highly recommend you give this one a look, it doesn't disappoint."
- Upcoming Horror Movies

"Albert Fish is the man who some believe to be the "most deranged killer in American history" (Rampo Catskill Library system, Biography resource center, Albert Fish ). So much so, that the character, Hannibal Lector in the movie Silence of the Lambs is partially based on him. Murder was not the only thing that Albert Fish indulged in. He also dabbed in cannibalism, fetishism, pedophilia, voyeurism, exhibitionism, and masochism."
- allserialkillers.com


- Albert Hamilton Fish, AKA the Gray Man

Personally, I also agree with the source above. Albert Fish is by far, one of the most deranged serial killers in American history. The movie, The Gray Man, tells his story. Over the years there has been a string of true crime, serial killer based movies, all for the most part shown in graphic detail. Among my favorites are Ted Bundy (2002), Ed Gein (2000), The Hillside Strangler (2004), Dahmer (2002), and Helter Skelter (2004). I'm now adding The Gray Man to that list. I would have to say The Gray Man is definitely the least violent out of all these films, hell, there's nothing really that graphic at all. Visually we don't see any gore, or any gruesomeness of the murders, but what this movie implies is just as horrifying as anything you can imagine. A lot is off-screen, but we hear of the aftermath in horrifyingly explicit detail, things that may make your stomach turn. Of course the film doesn't cover all basis of Albert Fish, and I wish it would have, but then I'd be asking for a nine hour miniseries. It gives just enough to explain the horrors that this sick man endured, and inflicted on others, letting it known that anything, no matter how evil it is, can be possible.

I wish the movie gave more of a background on Albert Fish, yes they showed a glimpse, a faint idea of why his childhood might have corrupted him, but I was hoping for a detailed story on his upbringing. Something much more. Something to help me better understand his evil ways, and not that it would be excusable because it's not, but I would like to believe maybe some people, no matter how evil, could have had a chance. But maybe it's inevitable. Perhaps he did have all the support he needed, maybe plenty of them did, it could be that you're just born fu*king evil. They focused on a small portion of Fish's life, mainly his later years and immediately into the murders, close to when he was finally arrested. Actor Patrick Bauchau, who plays Albert Fish, couldn't have done a better job, nor could they have cast anyone better. His performance is horrifying, to say the least. It creeps under your skin.

The movie is very low budget, so there's nothing here that's groundbreaking. It's actually a lot cheaper than the other killer-based movies that I mentioned before. But for such a low budget they did a fantastic job, and being that this is the only movie thoroughly based on Albert Fish, I wish they would've had more money to go all out on this one. I have to say though, with that much money they did a fantastic job at brining the 1930's to light, and production value was pleasantly surprising, the scene of New York City was quite impressive. Performance wise, other than Patrick Bauchau, was decent. Wasn't bad, but it wasn't the greatest either. Again, this wasn't shot with the biggest budget, nor was anyone big involved, so spending money on bigger names and film stock is limited, which means less takes and you would have to move along a lot quicker. Without the right production company to back you up in this case, things could be a bit complicated. But the director, Scott L. Flynn, surely did the best he could with what he had, and the outcome was great. He made himself a great little film, one that's scary and disturbing on every level.

I highly recommend this film to those who are fans of true crime, and for horror fans as well, cause there's nothing scarier than the truth.


"I like children, they are tasty"
- Albert Hamilton Fish

Sickening and repulsive low budget horror film. Silly at times, but always disturbing. Takes you deep into the filth and dark corridors in the life of a true psychopathic family. It's sad to imagine that this is how some crazy people really live. Mum & Dad may be a hard movie to stomach, but I loved it! I highly recommend this to true hardcore horror fans.

DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE, unless you're a BIG David Lynch fan. For those who remember your dreams this movie will be a frightening experience of the most potent psychedelic features in the darkest corners of your mind. For those with no recollection of your dreams this movie is a short reminder of what causes the cold sweats, setting your mind into a state of depressive consciousness. For those looking for answers, or reasoning behind your dreams, than the answer may lie here. Eraserhead is an emotionally frightening nightmare to say the least. It's a dream simply recorded on film, just as bleak and cold as any nightmare you may really have. It's a shattering, lonely, and sometimes repulsive exercise for our subconscious thinking. Before the creation of Eraserhead, David Lynch had a dream. This is what his dream was.

I guess it's safe to say we all share at least one thing in common. If not for our personality, religion, or upbringing...than what about our dreams?

Any interpretation of this film is correct. It relies on our own personal perceivability. What do our inner demons tell us? Is there life in fantasy, and does it really matter? Are there living, breating people, with a pulse and a heartbeat in our dream state? And when we wake up does someone, like our character Eraserhead, impatiently wait for us to return?

This movie is weird, yes. But what dreams aren't? Believe what you will, and make sense of what you want. Eraserhead is a movie in a cold, and scary world. A dimension of improbable madness. A parallel universe of distortion and paranoia...but it's a world we might all share.

It's a morbid, strangely beautiful, landscape of horror. It has the texture of death itself, but yet it's still very much alive. It's a work of pure genius.

Dream while awake. Watch Eraserhead!