![]() Their defining statement comes in the form of a brutal, aggressively nihilistic, found-footage trilogy of mayhem known as August Underground. Which is, precisely, Yamazaki and Miike's goal.ĭirectors/Writers/Cast: Killjoy, Fred Vogel, Cristie Whiles, Jerami Cruise, Michael Todd Schneiderįred Vogel's Toetag Pictures is an independent horror film production company and studio known for low-budget, boundary-pushing works of extreme cinema. Images of needle-based torture, dismemberment, and eating a bodily fluid that definitely should not be eaten collide with intense psychosexual obsession in a way that sledgehammers the viewer into submission. When Asami Yamazaki finally starts acting with her own agency, hoo boy, look out. Miike's switch-flip smacks you in the face, forcing you to confront the inherently problematic premise of the film, and the inherent sexism baked into dating, romantic pursuals, and even the film industry. The two pledge deep, melancholy feelings of love for each other. Under the advice of his film producer friend ( Jun Kunimura), Aoyama starts literally "auditioning" women to potentially be his love, and immediately falls for Asami Yamazaki ( Eihi Shiina). Audition starts with a premise and tone of a light romantic drama - Shigeharu Aoyama ( Ryo Ishibashi) is a lonely widower who's newly looking for a new love. Why does Auditionmake the cut over his many other films? In part, because of its borderline-cruel bait-and-switch. Takashi Miike is a beyond-prolific director, whose most notorious films like Ichi the Killer and Visitor Q regularly soak the viewer in imaginative viscera and psychologically punishing taboos. The final shot and decision made are purely evil. Taboos involving sexual violence, necrophilia, incest, and pedophilia are lensed with unsparing detail, giving the film an instant sense of notoriety on the festival circuit. And when I say "unspeakable," I am not being hyperbolic. But the director's methods and subjects involve tranquilizing Miloš into a state of catatonia and forcing him to do unspeakable things on camera. So, despite his better instincts, he agrees to star in an artsy porn film from a provocative auteur ( Sergej Trifunović). Retired porn star Miloš ( Srđan Todorović) is having trouble taking care of his family. To make this point, Spasojević and co-writer Aleksandar Radivojević have crafted a plot that takes us past the point of the underworld. A Serbian Filmputs the entirety of Serbia in its crosshairs, its director Srđan Spasojević explicitly commenting not just on the broader implications of living in a war-torn, fascist-leaning society and government, but on the specific hypocrisies of this same government funding bourgeois, "safe" films that seek to whitewash their own atrocities. The bluntness of this film's title should clue you in for the bluntness of its content. Writers: Aleksandar Radivojević, Srđan SpasojevićĬast: Srđan Todorović, Sergej Trifunović, Jelena Gavrilović, Slobodan Beštić, Katarina Žutić Here, then, are the most disturbing movies of all time, a list of transgressive cinema that will leave you shell-shocked and cowering. Some of these movies are made merely to shock with empty provocation some have something genuine to say at their core all of them will disturb you. A brand of movie that brands the viewer, searing their brain with unforgettable imagery and dissection of the most base and perverse human impulses - impulses which just might have something in common with the more "sanitized" form of screen violence we find acceptable (whoops, I guess I am self-indicting a little!). There is a subset of cinema that is interested in exploring the extreme, the profane, the taboo, the disturbing. Instead, I'm here to examine what happens when filmmakers turn this dial past the breaking point. I am not here to indict folks who enjoy this kind of content - I am one of them. ![]() ![]() Perhaps it's an act of vicarious catharsis perhaps it's because we know it's all fake which gives us "permission" to enjoy it perhaps it's because the actual stakes, both in and out of the text, seem so low. From the shenanigans of Looney Tunes cartoons to the Avengers beating the shit out of Thanos in a four quadrant blockbuster, moviegoers get a kick out of people getting a kick. We delight in watching acts of violence on screen. ![]()
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