Gruesome

Rating: 5/10 (30 May 2007)

I watch a lot of foreign language films generally enjoy them quite a bit. However, I had reservations about seeing this film because of the violence in it. However, I heard an interesting interview with the director on NPR and he offered some insight into his making of the film so I went ahead and rented it. I regret the decision to watch the movie. Although the movie gave me some perspective on the brutality of the Spanish Civil War (I used to live in Spain), the actual graphic violence in the movie was completely unnecessary. It was downright vile. Del Torro takes the visual representation of violence right down to cheap hack'em up-slash'em up levels. Disgusting. Furthermore, the incongruous interweaving of stories is unsuccessful in my opinion. The ending is as disturbing and unsatisfying as the rest of the movie. Del Torro tries to wrap the movie up and put a little bow on it at the end, but it just doesn't work.
My only positive comment is that the sets and costumes were well done and I encourage others to see foreign movies. If you like disturbing and dark movies, you will probably enjoy this. But I thought the whole movie just didn't click or justify the violence. The movie made me feel icky. Yuck.