God help me, I kinda liked this

Rating: 8/10 (6 November 2006)

*possible spoilers* OK OK, it's no masterpiece, that goes without saying. The claims about the film being borderline pornographic in the beginning...are true. I even joked to myself, thinking sarcastically "I'm sure this will all have some relevance to the plot of the story". Well as it turned out, it sorta did. It helps if you view it as a satirical piece. While watching it I was reminded of films like "Audition" with a bit of humor thrown in the mix. There are times when you want to laugh at certain scenes in this film. There are even some people who assert that this is a "comedy", in a sense. Unfortunately, the acting in this film is good, perhaps too good. Whatever laughs are delivered in this film are quickly eviscerated by the sheer pain you can feel these victims take, at least with normal people. There is still an odd 'light' feel to the movie's tone, however. What really ended up getting to me, was not the scenes that a number of people found shocking, but the fact that this film was based off of true events. It was quite blatant that the film was trying to make a statement, particularly with the shots of the hoar house in the beginning, and the "museum" in the second half. And that's what I took the film for, an unmerciful delve into human exploitation, whether its sexploitation or torture perpetuated to fulfill a person's sick desires. The film then ended up transforming into a feel-good revenge flick toward the end, fortunately. Everyone loves a bit of vigilante justice. This is certainly a love it or hate film. Is there room in your tolerance level for a pornographic torture flick?