Gurotesuku
Tags: violence, cruelty, murder, sadist, flashback

Plot synopsis:
A young couple Aki and Kazuo are snatched off the street while having their first date as a romantic couple after a few years working in the same office, and wake up shackled in a basement, which has all its walls covered with plastic. With no further explanation, a sadistic madman degrades, tortures and mutilates them. Initially, he punctures Kazuo's belly with a screwdriver and slices his tongue, then rapes both, one at a time, forcing the other to watch. Sometimes he stops the torture to provide medical assistance and cure the couple's wounds, so they can continue alive for a long period of time. This way he cuts off all their fingers, makes collars with them, pops out Kazuo's right eye, removes the girl's nipples and cuts off her right arm. As the torture progresses, it is revealed he is simply doing it for sexual stimulation, and tells the couple he wants the two to survive. He finally castrates Kazuo, claiming he has found all the sexual relief he needs, so no longer needs the couple's "services". Then the couple is moved to a room which resembles a modern and clean hospital room, where the kidnapper takes care of the couple's wounds. While it is never explicitly mentioned on the movie, it becomes gradually apparent that the man has professional medical training, refined manners, taste for classical music and good wines and dressed with expensive clothes when he is not in surgeon dress torturing the couple. At some point he even mentions he is a wealthy man, which suggests he may be a reputable surgeon, not merely a violent sadist, looking for an extreme and different way to obtain satisfaction on his lonely life; however, the couple also notes the doctor has a particular rotting smell always present behind his clean and elegant appearance. After several days healing, the "doctor" simply tells the couple they will be free to go, he will turn himself to authorities and, as apology for all the suffering he inflicted to the couple, he will give them all his fortune which seems to be very large, as compensation. After all the horror, in a moment alone in the hospital room, Aki and Kazuo promises to support each other once they leave the place and become a formal couple. It is unclear if the madman changed his mind, or if playing with the couple's hopes to survive and being released soon was part of his mischievous plan from the beginning, but immediately after communicating to them they will be released, the next scene takes back the couple to the scary basement. After being drugged, they are shackled again, exactly as they were the first time. The "doctor" announces they must participate in one final test of love strength. He pulls out an extreme of Kazuo's intestines and attaches them to a hook. If Kazuo is able to cross the room to the other side (pulling off his entire intestines out of his body in the process), take a scissors and cut Aki's ropes to release her, both will be finally free. However, Kazuo fails due to blood loss and falls to the ground, agonizing (it is also revealed that the ropes restraining Aki have a metal wire running through them, rendering them impossible to cut with scissors; the task was therefore impossible). Aki begins to insult the doctor, telling him he is just the son of a whore that nobody cares about, and insists despite his refined manners and expensive clothes, he has an unusual and unbearable skunk odor, no matter how hard the tries to cover the stench. Angered, the doctor cuts off Aki's head in response and as her head falls down, it lands on the man's neck and bites him with her final breath. Kazuo on the floor, not dead yet, stabs him in the foot with the scissors as a supreme last action. The couple then dies facing each other. In the epilogue of the film, the madman is revealed to have survived what happened to him in the basement, although he cannot walk properly. He is in a quiet forest where he respectfully buries the couple next to each other in a traditional Japanese way, leaving the scissors on their tombs as a symbol. The next scene shows him back in the same car he used to kidnap the couple, covering himself with lots of perfume to hide his skunk stench while a girl is walking by, and the screen cuts to black as he goes after his next victim...Source: Wikipedia

Review: Grotesque (2009) *** (out of 4)Extremely graphic, depraved and vile film from Japan about teenagers Kazuo (Hiroaki Kawatsure) and Aki (Tsugumi Nagasawa) who are on their first date when they're kidnapped by a sadistic surgeon (Shigeo Osako) who takes them back to his house, ties them up and begins to torture them.
In all honesty this is a good thing because a film like this doesn't need any boring backstory and in fact the worst thing about the movie is the one flashback introduction to the two teens.
A sick doctor kidnaps a couple and torture them in different ways, often in gory ways.As a torture movie, this film can clearly be classified as a "torture-porn", or more likely "gorno".
With a lot of torture throughout this film, it can also be called a modern variant of the infamous "Guinea Pig"-film series, especially the first two movies being "Devil's Experiment" and "Flower of Flesh and Blood", which "Grotesque" seems to pay a homage to.Like other films like "Ichi the Killer" and "Murder-Set-Pieces", this film was said to be available in Norway with an 18-rating, only to get banned later by Medietilsynet (the Norwegian answer to MPAA).
Even on the Danish DVD I have it clearly says that this film is banned both in Norway and the UK.In the UK this film is banned by BBFC, because this film has minimal narrative or character development and features more humiliation, brutality and sadism.Absolutely NOT for weak stomach and any viewer under the age of 18.So, can you manage to stomach through this Japanese hell of a movie, which is even worse than "Hostel" and "Saw" altogether?.
I wouldn't say gore wise this over-tops anything else that is out there especially from Japan (thinks Ichi the killer) but it is as full on as it can go.what turned me of was that the movie is very mean spirited and has no other feature than to show the torture and brutality inflicted on our two victims.
I don't mind the occasional torture scene liking films such as Hostel, Texas Chainsaw, Inside, High Tension, Martyrs, Frontiers and the Saw franchise but for all there faults they all give you some story, breathing room between the torture scenes, production, some meaning and actually entertain.
If being locked in the same room for and hour and 15 minutes while you watch the most extreme close ups of sadistic torture without anything else to it thrills you then maybe this movie is for you.I am trying to stress i am not opposed to gore, i am personally just opposed to gore alone with no other meaning besides thrilling those sickos that like this stuff and revolting everyone else - simply to revolt.
If your curious due to it being a banned film in 2009 (i can't believe a film is banned in this day and age) or just like a bit of gore than seek it out and have a look but i don't think this is a film that many will sincerely enjoy and watch again.
If that's not enough, the finale radically shifts the tone for seemingly a cheap laugh in a movie that hasn't earned or even tried to get that reaction at any time beforehand.Whenever I see someone review a film with this level of violence and knock it, even if I think it's great, I understand.
so i am not going to judge the film for not meeting any expectations of disgust/excitement,but rather point out that it really has no plot, and no visuality to speak about, i guess the film crew relied on the snuff-ish scenes to make up for the costs,because other than them, the movie is devoid of anything at all worth mentioning.
This is a movie, you don't undermine for it's shocking violence, where each sick torturous act out shocks the last (some torturous methods, mirroring the ones in Daddy's Little Girl), and don't think for a second, cause of it's 73 minute running time, that it lessens the amount of horror you expect to see.
Most people will know what their getting themselves into and at least there's more entertainment value in this than seriously sick stuff like the Guinea Pig and Slaughtered Vomit Dolls films.
Honestly, had the BBFC not banned "Grotesque" in the U.K., calling the film "little more than an unrelenting and escalating scenario of humiliation, brutality and sadism," this nasty movie wouldn't have even popped up on anyone's radar.
But alas, banning a film only makes people want to see it even more, so in light of the BBFC's decision I had to see, is "Grotesque" worth watching?
Everybody was hyped when Gurotesuku was banned in the United Kingdom...me included.I was expecting the Japaness "August Underground", in term of shock and violence, but it's not.The plot is just a excuse to show some violence: a maniac kidnaps a couple and tortures them.The movie had good special effects, but it's NOT that violent for enter in the annals of extreme cinema, don't trust comments like "Gorey as *beep*, U ARE A PERV IF U WATCH DIS !" Gurotesuku is the perfect example how banning a movie can make it popular on the internet and international market.Want a real shocking movie ?
I almost didn't even watch it because I don't like boring torture movies, so I left this one for a while thinking it was pure gore.
The ending also has a shocking twist to it.This movie is NOT all about gore and violence, like other people so falsely claimed.
Yes there is lots of it, far more than movies like "A Serbian Film" so if you cannot handle that, then go watch SESAME STREET or MY LITTLE PONY instead.
A Japanese entry into the torture porn genre is more graphic yet at the same time less powerful (not to mention entertaining) than similar Western movies, like Saw, Hostel or a Serbian Film.
It isn't a horror movie either and there is no deeper meaning.It is just a series of torture shots, one after the other and it is difficult to guess what kind of appetite it can feed in the viewer except neurotic perversions.For people looking for a fright there are movies a million times better - even if very graphic.
I just watched this movie reason why was because it's banned and i wanted to see what's so bad about it.All admit it's not really a horror movie its just a sick movie why sick torture acts it dose have a story but the story is sick and twisted.you will only be really disturbed by it if your under age (note not one for the kids you really need to be to understand this stuff isn't right) light hearted a woman or get disturbed really easy.its one to see out of curiosity over all as a movie in whole its not that good that's why i gave it a 4 out of 10.It dose have lots of blood and torture as that's what the movies all about but it isn't that bad but this movie should only be viewed by people who are old enough to know this is wrong and by people who are right in the head..
Fortunately, these days, where there's a will, there's usually a way, which means I am now able to fill you in on the details about this sick flick from Japan which has gotten so many censors' knickers in a twist.In a nutshell, Grotesque is director Kôji Shiraishi's reply to horror film-makers in the West, who in recent years have been claiming 'torture porn' as their own concept, when in fact, the genre was practically invented by the Japanese (can anyone say Nikkatsu?
By ramping up the violence in his film to never-before-seen levels of nastiness, Shiraishi is basically flipping the bird to all the Eli Roth's of the world and screaming 'Follow that, if you dare!!!'The story, for want of a better word, sees a young couple, Aki and Kazuo (Tsugumi Nagasawa and Hiroaki Kawatsure), abducted by a lunatic (brilliantly played by stony-faced Shigeo Ôsako) who sexually abuses and physically tortures people in order to get his jollies: apparently, this sicko can only be sexually satisfied by observing his victims' will to survive.For starters, the psycho pushes a large nail to the back of Aki's throat (through a hole in his ball-gag!) and inserts another into his abdomen; then both Aki and Kazuo are stripped and sexually stimulated to...
The best film I've seen that fits this 'genre' over the last few years is 'Martyrs', and while I wouldn't credit Gurotesuku as being at quite the same level it does seem to achieve something, given appropriate interpretation and invention, that many viewers seem to have missed.On the face of it this just seems to be an opportunity to torture and maim an innocent couple with very little motivation for engaging the viewer in a story or character development, but as a psychological study of the human mind it is a potentially terrifying hour and a half that, if viewed in the right way, deserves far more credit than it will inevitably get.The story summarises as thus: a couple venture out on their first date and after getting on fairly well (though it's obvious that the guy has far more affection for the girl) they are knocked-out by an unknown assailant and wake up chained to surgical-style beds where they undergo some extremely horrific torture for what turns out to be quite a legitimate reason (psychologically speaking) by the aforementioned perpetrator.
The general point is that the assailant has never known love, and therefore decides to torture those who dare to experience it by finding out how far they are willing to go to protect the subject of their emotions.What follows, and in particular the 'hospital' scene, is a traumatic roller-coaster of 'would you, wouldn't you' dilemmas that could surely leave anyone who watches the movie asking how far THEY would actually go to protect a loved one.
And in such a situation, dangling a carrot of hope in front of them, only to whip it away again, would surely be a fitting way to break one's spirit.The fact that this transgression, and the general tone of the movie, will be missed by many is testament to the fact that American cinema has prepared viewers for a far more linear and character-based analysis than this and engaging the masses in this way will obviously; ultimately lead to a very niche-market appeal.Despite an annoyingly redundant scene at the end of the film, those who claim to appreciate this category of disturbing cinema, and who are willing (or daring enough) to immerse themselves in the sickening extremities of human nature will be disturbed, horrified and unsettled by Gurotesuku, and considering these three adjectives are arguably the most sought-after by hardcore horror aficionados, it's difficult to argue that it doesn't succeed..
It is mostly a horror film but the love story sub-plot is quite interesting, maybe even the main focus of the film.(slight spoiler) I also have to mention that there is a ridiculously hilarious scene near the end where a decapitated head bites a guys neck and its really out of place and that made it even more funny.It delivers the violence and gore but the plot is also interesting on its own so it doesn't really matter if you're watching because you want gore or because you like Asian horror.If you like something different or just more torture this should be a satisfactory watch..
Within the genre of 'gorno' or tortureflick -what's in a name- i think it's a good movie.The effect's are well made, and there are certainly a couple of nice twists to make the whole thing very amusing and watchable.In my opinion it doesn't drag too long and the acting is good.So if you liked the Guinea Pig series i think you're spot on with this one.It's better made and certainly equals the sickness.Much better than any Saw or Hostel.Maybe only outsickened by Salò.Recommended only to people with taste for depraved cinema.
He said that cuts were "not a viable option".The film's director and screenwriter Koji Shiraishi responded that he was "delighted and flattered by this most expected reaction from the faraway country,since the film is an honest conscientious work,made sure to upset the so-called moralists".A young couple Aki and Kazuo are kidnapped by sadistic madman and sadistically tortured and mutilated in his basement.For example our torturer cuts off all their fingers with a chainsaw,makes collars with them,pops out Kazuo's right eye,cuts off girl's nipples with scissors,cuts off her right arm and castrates Kazuo.He is doing all this cruelty galore for sexual kicks.He is actually trying to measure the strength of his victims love.The finale of "Grotesque" is extremely gory and silly at the same time.Still I sort of enjoyed this modern piece of depraved filth.8 out of 10..
The guy stands there & makes it clear to both that he will torture them & if their will to survive is strong enough & he gets sexually aroused enough he will spare them, however once the unbearable torture begins how long can the captives hold out for...Also known under the title Grotesque: Unrated Version which was what the version I saw was called this Japanese extreme torture horror flick was directed by Kôji Shiraishi & was recently banned here in the UK which has predictably had the effect that everyone now wants to see it because it's 'banned' whereas if Gurotesuku had been rated 18 without any fuss no-one would ever have heard of it & it would have sold a few hundred copies on DVD at most.
Anyway, what we have here is a film almost totally devoid of any meaningful narrative or plot & an increasingly boring conveyor belt of sadism, humiliation & torture as some guy (we never find out who he is or his name) gets sexually turned on by watching other people suffer & try to survive & cope with horrible injuries he inflicts upon them.
There's some blood splatter, needles are stuck into people, hands are cut off with a chainsaw, severed fingers are seen, an arm is chopped off, a head is chopped off, a woman has her nipples cut off with scissors, someones guts are pulled out & this guy hammers nails into his victims testicles that isn't overly graphic but the mere thought of it will send shivers down any mans spine & he also cuts his penis off which again isn't actually shown (due to a well placed sheet) but it's clear what is happening.
View on the film:For the film only featuring three actors for the whole of its 75 minute running time,the cast impressively never make the characters that they are just going round in the same constant circles,with Tsugurmi Nagasawa and Hiroaki Kawatsure as the unlucky couple,giving the characters a good bit of depth,that really seems to be lacking in the script.A long with giving the characters a bit of extra background,the two actors have to be highly praised for taking part in some extremely tense scenes,with beautiful actress Tsugumi stunningly barring all physically and emotionally to help build an intense atmosphere.Reading the outline to director Koji Shiraishi's script,my initial through was that the film was going to be a Japanese take on Hostel 2.Instead,Koji goes in a slightly different direction,to create a great,nasty,short- sharp-shock of a movie.Although he does throw the idea of giving the characters some "background" overboard almost from the off,Shiraish shoots to the jugular do have a very good hit ratio,with the disturbing " invasion of privacy scene" being one of the few scenes this year which really caught me off-guard.For the violence in the film,which got Aunty BBFC to go red face with anger,the scenes are (mostly) not as realistic as I had imagined,with all of the characters strangely showing not as much pain as was shown in Tom Six's crazy Grotesque- inspired film The Human Centiepede.For the ending of the film,Koji goes very left-field with a fun "twist" at the end,which seems to have been taken from Lamberto Bava;s disappointing "ectoic Gothic-horror" Macabre ,Although,unlike that film,Koji executes the scene well,by having built up a great puddle of blood for the whole movie.Final View on the film: A film that does everything it sets out to do,which should one day be at last given the chance to be seen in the UK..
Another torture movie.Take HOSTEL, remove the story, amp up the nastiness and gore and you've got GROTESQUE.
Although, I don't know how you can "spoil" a movie that doesn't actually have a plot; I mean, revealing the different methods of torture in a pornographic pseudo-snuff film isn't exactly revealing "spoilers," is it?
Plus, Japan have been putting out some pretty good gory movies the last couple of years.However, I don't really understand why "Grotesque" would be banned, because it is not really that horrible, perverse or extreme.
After discovering this I tracked it down on the internet just like any other person would, again I was surprised, after viewing the movie I fail to understand what could possibly be so bad that it had to be banned, OK so there are some torture scenes but you see nothing, hell you see more torture in Saw and Hostel, both of which I felt were majorly over hyped, the story is good but the so called horrifying torture was quite a let down.
I found Grotesque to be disappointingly predictable, the script was OK, rather amusing to honest, but I feel you should have seen more in the torture scenes, fine, if you want to make a film where you hammer a nail into some guys testicle, don't be shy, get a close-up!
Pointless and stupid if you ask me.If you want to watch a non-story line, pure gore, pointless movie, Grotesque is for you.