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Posted 31st January 2011 at 11:26 AM by Sam@Cult Labs -
Posted 31st January 2011 at 10:11 AM by Almar@Cult Labs -
Posted 15th November 2010 at 10:44 PM by stefanmetal -
A Serbian Film - Pointless trash or pointed critique?
Is this a review of the original version nobody is allowed to see in this country or the BBFC approved Revolver version being released in Dec with over 50 cuts and 4.5 mins missing?Posted 13th November 2010 at 01:40 AM by shawnduhast
Updated 13th November 2010 at 09:34 PM by shawnduhast -
Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide
Is now def coming out on Monday - Marc Morris said their replicator delivered 1 day late because being a small company the big boys get their stuff prioritised :-(Posted 3rd November 2010 at 12:25 PM by shawnduhast -
Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide
I cant wait to own this it looks fabulous, amazing review.
Just makes me want it even more!.Posted 2nd November 2010 at 10:25 PM by Dr Shonzo -
Posted 2nd November 2010 at 09:03 PM by mercury -
A Serbian Film - Pointless trash or pointed critique?
Porn has an almost automated need to push boundaries due to it's abundance. When access was more limited, people would get off on a more 'normal' kind of porn.
It's like comedy in a way. Before TV, an act could use the same material for an entire career, touring the country playing theatres. When TV became the goal, the comedian had to become more creative and develop a constrant supply of new jokes.
Porn is like this, now you can access the entire range of human sexual expression in a couple of clicks, porn has to find new places to go to keep those who've seen everything paying money.
Porn thus pushes performers into acts that don't seem practical or physically safe. Double penetration in every orifice isn't something you can achieve without pain or even permanent damage and I doubt it's something that any women or man would physically seek out, even if they had a fantasy about it. I despise censorship but the free for all can distort sexual horizons. This is because porn exists in a bubble of orgasms and unfettered abandon, with women who love it and can't wait to, say, blow 200 guys in one afternoon. There are no consequences, diseases or broken hearts in porn and everyone wants three way strap on love on a daily basis.
Although watching sex acts isn't wrong or immoral, the expectations it can instill in the viewer are unrealistic. No one ever gets a hair caught in their teeth in a porn movie.Posted 2nd November 2010 at 06:08 PM by Sam@Cult Labs -
A Serbian Film - Pointless trash or pointed critique?
Brilliant!
Ever notice the way that sensuality and soul has been sucked from modern R&B music?
Old porn, at least the porno-chic end of things or the witty and liberated end of Euro-sleaze, was like a Barry White or Luther Vandross record. Modern Gonzo Porn is more like 50 Cent... Harsh, brutal and artless.Posted 2nd November 2010 at 05:54 PM by Sam@Cult Labs -
A Serbian Film - Pointless trash or pointed critique?
I would say as well that the music both complements the brutality of some of the goings-on, as well as the sort of thing that seems to be used in a lot of contemporary porn, which I find interesting - music that is aggressive, thumping, repetitive (dare I say tuneless?), rather than erotic or sensual, and perhaps reinforces the idea that in the extreme porn milieu depicted (spoofed?) here, love and humanity left the building a long time ago, to be replaced by porno scenarios in which sex is almost indistinguishable from violence/snuff. Far-fetched? How about the likes of Max Hardcore or the more extreme gonzo porn? I watched a recent interview with a porn veteran who was almost lamenting the demise of the 'golden age' of porn and worrying that one of his young proteges would be injured or maybe even die as a result of excessive demands put upon them to satiate the desires of an increasingly jaded market.Posted 2nd November 2010 at 04:49 PM by tobiaswragg -
Posted 2nd November 2010 at 03:29 PM by Sam@Cult Labs -
A Serbian Film - Pointless trash or pointed critique?
Sorry, Sam. That should have read that 'the soundtrack WASN'T as annoying as I was expecting'. I rather enjoyed the theme/end music, for example.Posted 2nd November 2010 at 01:22 PM by tobiaswragg -
A Serbian Film - Pointless trash or pointed critique?
Fair point about the soundtrack, if electronic music isn't your bag, I can see how it might irritate, but at least it's not peppered with bad US pop-punk and gangsta rap 'inspired' by the movie. There's nothing that annoys me more than a credit montage with some bad complaint-rock riding over the top.
Arguments about the dunder-headed nature of electronic music can wait for another day, maybe I'll send you a mix tape that'll change your mind!
The sensitive handling of family scenes and the way these early moments are echoed later on are one of the things that elevates the film out of the gutter and into a more interest place. It's certainly not a pointless trawl through taboos for it's own sake.
Salo and A Serbian Film have certain parallels so it's good you pointed that out. I think some films are akin to a kind of cinematic primal scream therapy. Salo is a demostration of an artist driven by disgust to disgust his audience into being as disgusted as he is, if that makes sense. I think the problem with a lot of critics is that they will focus only on the shock (I've read some Salo reviews that seem to portray the film as one long orgy of coprophagia without subtext) and not inform the potential audience that the movie could make them think. It had that effect on me.Posted 2nd November 2010 at 12:55 PM by Sam@Cult Labs -
A Serbian Film - Pointless trash or pointed critique?
I found it surprisingly interesting and enjoyable, I have to admit, as I really didn't think that I was going to like it, although it perhaps may fall into the trap of reveling in what it purports to condemn, a criticism which has also been thrown at, for example, Salo. Stylistically, I could have done with less of the handheld camera shots which, far from giving tension and gravitas to the proceedings, merely make me think of MTV and advertisements. I've skimmed the plot synopsis part of this review but I thought that there was a quite touching moment near the end of the film, echoing a similar moment near the beginning, but with added poignancy. Also, speaking as someone who loathes techno, most of which strikes me as muzak for dunderheads on Ecstasy, the soundtrack wasn't as annoying as I was expecting.Posted 2nd November 2010 at 12:43 PM by tobiaswragg
Updated 2nd November 2010 at 02:28 PM by tobiaswragg (clarification) -
A Serbian Film - Pointless trash or pointed critique?
Hostel and Saw are more like a continuation of amoral shock cinema in the Guinea Pig style. Exercises in sadism for entertainment purposes, made Hollywood slick for the multiplex.
Torture-porn is now popular culture. Is there an argument for taking the genre format and repurposing it as a metaphor for something deeper?
Saw is particularly worrying, as it's a globe striding franchise, spreading braindead torture for tortures sake. Hostel is a tabloid baiting snorefest which again, seeks to test the audience like an endurance race, without any meaning or reason outside the desire to gross out for extra dollars.
Plus there's Human Centipede, seemingly produced for the kind of people who enjoy sharing their paedophile punishment fantasies on tawdry Facebook groups.
A Serbian film doesn't have any thoughtless irony and contains levels of metaphor and meaning that simply wouldn't occur to the average gore porn director seeking to get the next headline.
Perhaps the atrocities in Serbia have had a direct influence on the filmmakers (in fact that's a certainty). How do you comment on genocidal acts, mass rape and the post-war explosion in sick and explotative gonzo porn from former Eastern Bloc countries? In a world of free access to the worst kind of content, artists should be free to comment on the social effects of such a phenomena.
Of course, it could be argued that you can make such points without infant rape and sexual beheadings and I'd be interested to get an unbiased opinion from someone who lived in the country during the events that influenced the movie...Posted 2nd November 2010 at 12:39 PM by Sam@Cult Labs -
A Serbian Film - Pointless trash or pointed critique?
OK, controversial opinion alert!
Whilst I seem to get what this film is trying to achieve, I do wonder how long we can defend such material as being "ironic" or "post-modernism".
Where does one stop? Unlike the great era of exploitation, even though shock was often the primary function they naively always tried to push a storyline. With films like "A Serbian Film" or say the "Hostel" offerings I get the sense all they trying to say is, “look at what we can get away with”.
Having said that, they seem to be asking some questions, and that's a good thing.Posted 2nd November 2010 at 12:05 PM by devilman -
A Serbian Film - Pointless trash or pointed critique?
I've not seen this film (and I can't say I'm in a hurry to watch it!) but some very good points made Sam. Excellent review.Posted 27th October 2010 at 07:33 PM by ramses -
A Serbian Film - Pointless trash or pointed critique?
That spoiler Warning needs to be a lot bigger!!!
and add "Do Not Read Until You have Seen The Film" and put any plot points in "hidden spoilers"
A profoundly disturbing film with a very strong message that is going to be lost with all the proposed cuts of currently over 4 minutes. Uncut this film really gets under your skin in getting its valid message across with a main character out of his depth but always trying to do the right and moral thing.
When cut this will just be another torture porn movie as it will have lost its overall message and will actually be turned into what the Sun and Daily Mail and others are claiming it is now.
Everything about this film is very professional the photography, acting, music the points it is putting across which seem lost on some people including Horror Critics and fans is all in context in the film as Sam says above. At no point does it ever try to be "found footage" or a "snuff" movie as it is so cinematical.
Also as Sam says once you've seen it you can't go back but then you will have a valid opinion on this film unlike all those who have not seen it and are just judging a book by it's cover and taking scenes out of context.
Recommended Viewing but with a strong caution.Posted 27th October 2010 at 04:16 PM by shawnduhast
Updated 27th October 2010 at 04:27 PM by shawnduhast -
Silver shamrock - vhs death
YeeeHaaa! got my loggin on!!
Cheers Sam, the milky bar buttons are on mePosted 23rd October 2010 at 11:49 AM by Trailer Trasher -
Mudfish and a Bear Called 'Hoss
the john west advert where the fisher man tries to steal the salmon off the bear and it turns out the bear knows kung fu, does the ropadope and knocks the fisherman out. best advert ever....Posted 29th August 2010 at 02:32 PM by pedromonkey