In need of greater link between sadism and sexual gratification

Rating: 7/10 (28 August 2006)

In this thought-provoking film, Eli Roth cleverly uses a polarization of human emotional extremes, as though it were something from Dante's inferno: for here we have three back-packers, Americans Paxton and Josh, joined on their rounds by Icelandic clown, Oli, all in pursuit of hedonistic sensual delights, yet concluding their wanderings in an unimaginable living hell. From one end of the spectrum we go, seeing the young males initially enabled to live out their wildest sexual fantasies, to spewing vomit as they plead to their captors for mercy in the face of drills and chainsaws. Its powerful stuff. The film is also highly atmospheric, particularly in the underworld dungeon scenes, when one can almost smell the detergent that is being sprayed against the the ensanguined walls in the aftermath of slaughter. Possibly the main factor which rather lets this movie down is the film's failure to fully exploit the link between sado-masochism and sexual gratification. Imagine the impact of the American sadist engaging in an act of forced penetrative sex with his oriental victim as he removed her eye from its socket, or the German chainsaw sadist perhaps indulging in an act of masturbation as he set about his butchery (though admittedly, this is hinted at by some of his facial expressions). Nonetheless, a movie that is once seen, never forgotten.