Is it possible to tell a psychological horror tale through
the medium of extreme bodily violence?
Can horror told on a primarily physical level still be cerebral? Can it engage your brain while kicking you
square in the junk? Felipe Eluti’s film
Visceral: Between the Ropes of Madness (out 3/24 from Unearthed Films) answers
with an emphatic “YES!” It’s an ultraviolent
mood piece gruesome enough to satisfy gorehounds but smart enough to deliver an
intriguing character study in a torture flick’s clothing.
Synopsis: A boxer loses the biggest fight of his life. He
slowly finds himself, giving up his dream and finds that life is not worth
living. At least, those lives around him are not worthy of life. He steps
through and unleashes an entity that torments him and guile's him to do
unspeakable acts of torture and murder. As body counts rise and lives are
diminished, will he have any hope? Any way to fight back to what he once was?
Visceral is not told as a straight forward narrative. In fact, the story is rather thin by
conventional standards. It has very
little dialogue and the vast majority of all character interaction takes place
in torture/murder/rape settings. This is
the story of one man’s descent into a mental hell. If told in a linear form, this probably
wouldn’t have been enough to carry us through the film’s fairly short runtime
(116 minutes including 12 minutes of credits).
What Eluti brilliantly does is tell that story in three different
timelines, switching between them jarringly and without warning yet anything
but randomly. Telling the story in this
way enables him to reveal things in an order that enables them to have maximum
impact. It’s a technique that many
movies have tried, almost all of them less effectively than Visceral.
I fear that one of the film’s biggest strengths may also be
what some will see as its greatest flaw.
I love it when a film doesn’t hold the viewer’s hand and instead gives
them credit for being smart enough to figure out a difficult narrative style. There is only one visual cue to alert the
viewer that we have switched to a different point in the story. It’s not apparent at first. It may even be a little bit confusing until
you figure it out. Once you do, however,
things start to fall into place and the progression makes sense. A less astute viewer might be tempted to say
that the film is jumbled and nonsensical.
I hate to say “if you didn’t like it, you didn’t get it.” That just smacks of pretentious film school
snobbery. I think this flick may,
however, be a case where that statement rings true.
If everything I’ve said so far makes Visceral sound a little
too arthouse for your sadistic tastes, put that thought out of your sick little
head right now. Those looking to satisfy
their cinematic bloodlust will find everything they need. This is not a flick for the weak of heart or
stomach. I’ve seen a lot of violent
flicks in the last few years, but very few where said violence is this
raw. The camera remains very fluid and
sometimes shakes a little too much for my liking, but it never flinches or cuts
away from the brutality. The gore looks
fantastic, and the lack of dialogue from the main character adds a palpable
creep factor. While pervasive, the violence never goes over
the top in the sense of being unrealistic.
Oh, no. It feels all too real.
That reality is aided by an aspect of filmmaking that is
often overlooked – sound design. The
movie’s score (more of a dark industrial soundscape than a score actually) sets
the mood perfectly, but the sound effects are where it really shines. Each fist lands with a sickening thud that
makes the impact of flesh on flesh resonate through your core. The beautiful squishing and gurgling sounds
of blood and entrails are perfect. I
would also be remiss if I didn’t mention some really good shibari-style rope
work. Those perverts out there of the
BDSM persuasion (like a certain horror blogger) will particularly enjoy this
added touch.
Visceral is an apt name for this film. You feel it in your guts every bit as much as
your brain. It’s a movie that plays from
multiple angles. Some will find a top notch
gore flick. Some will find a harrowing
peek into the abyss of insanity. Hell,
some may come away having seen a fucked up PSA about a hot topic in the world
of sports; head trauma. Whatever
perspective you choose to view it from, this is a film that lays bare its
tortured soul for you to touch if you dare.
If you go into it just as open, you’ll be rewarded
with a remarkable viewing experience that is at the same time mindraping and, well…
Visceral. I haven’t seen a lot of
Chilean horror, but after this and Hidden in the Woods, we may be looking at a
new hotbed of genre goodness. Nathan
says check it out.
Here it is, Cellmates. The second round of Horror Business Episodes for your streaming and downloading pleasure. Horror Business and its sister show, Missing Link Mixtape, can be heard on alternating Monday nights at 10pm only on The FDTC Network.
Episode 8: The Netherspawn
