Begotten

Begotten (1989)

  • 67% of critics liked it
    (6 reviews)

  • 66% of users liked it
    (5,571 ratings)

BEGOTTEN is the creation myth brought to life, the story of no less than the violent death of God and the (re)birth of nature on a barren earth. Astounding and baffling critics and audiences alike, BEGOTTEN was named one of the Ten Best Pictures of 1991 by Time Magazine. Time's Richard Corliss… More

Play Trailer

Unrated, 1 hr. 18 min.
Directed By
E. Elias Merhige
Genres
Drama, Horror, Art House & International, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Cult Movies
In Theaters
Jan 1, 1989 Wide
On DVD
Feb 20, 2001

Critic Reviews

  • Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com

    Plays too much like an earnest repertory-theater group going through various bizarro configurations.

  • Jeremy Heilman, MovieMartyr.com

    A passion play that wavers between amateur-hour incompetence and an undeniable directorial vision.

  • Michael W. Phillips, Jr., Goatdog's Movies

    I have said 'I have never seen anything like it' about other films, but it has never applied to something so entirely alien as this.

  • Phil Hall, Wired

    Brilliant experimental feature, truly shocking and original.

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Coxxie M


    God takes the shape of a woman and guts herself with a scalpel while breathing like Michael Myers then shits herself and we get to watch shit run down her leg for 3 minutes? how the hell could the world's most gifted filmmaker possibly show a scene after that and shock us?

  • Greg S


    God disembowels himself with a straight razor, among other metaphysical atrocities in this nearly narrativeless 70 minute experimental feature where each frame of film has been painstakingly transformed and distressed to create a starkly beautiful chiaroscuro universe. A very hard… More

  • Pierluigi P


    A tedious pseudo intellectual experiment that would have worked better as a short film.

  • Francisco G


    A very interesting meditative movie shot only with two colours, black and white that requires a lot of patience to appreciate but is indeed unique and surreally beautiful on it's brutality. The type of movie you only watch once in a lifetime.

  • Dimitris S


    A brilliant collage in my opinion!For the record,there's hardly any comprehensive information regarding the incontrollable dimension this film portrays,it's almost like nightmares/dreams joined a pact and the real world is entering oblivion! Whatever was Merhige's… More

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