Grotesque (2009) User Reviews

They Would Have Been Slaughtered...

[Nightmare-Maker · 6/10 · 19 September 2009]

I know this was withdrawn by the BBFC, but I can't believe this was even considered for a release. I just finished watching it and it is basically just 2 people (a guy and a gal) getting tortured, raped and abused by a sick deviate! What you see on screen is VERY hard to watch at times (Nipples getting cut off with a pair of scissors, and a rape scene involving both the MALE and FEMALE!)), and the camera never shies away. I must say the gore effects are very well done. I picked my copy up off ebay for 4 pounds, I Wasn't disappointed, I knew what I was letting myself in for, but it is very sick, and most people will absolutely hate it...plus there is ablsolutley no plot whatsoever, why he tortures these two nobody really knows!

How on earth this nearly saw the light of day in the UK, the BBFC would have been slaughtered for letting it through!

"First I will hammer some nails into your nuts." An acquired taste.

[poolandrews · 5/10 · 21 August 2009]

Gurotesuku, or Grotesque as it's more commonly known amongst English speaking audiences, is set in Japan & starts as a guy (Shigeo Ôsako) attacks a couple (Hiroaki Kawatsure & Tsugumi Nagasawa) who are on a first date, he knocks them out with a hammer & puts then in his van. When the couple regain consciousness they find themselves in a small room, ball gagged & tied to rotating tables. 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. Hell I will openly admit the only reason I bothered to track a copy down & watch it was because it had been banned & not because I wanted to watch it, to be brutally honest I don't really have a problem with the film & I personally would have no problem with this being made available to adults who want to see it but I don't work at the BBFC (the British film censor board) so it wasn't up to me... 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. That's it really. The majority of Gurotesuku has a minimalist documentary feel about it as it focuses completely on one aspect in a voyeuristic way but then the makers pull a bizarre ending out of the blue that seems to contradict the deadly serious harsh realistic brutality that preceded it with a silly dark comedic end that involved a flying severed living head & motives for the killer that amount to him smelling which felt like it was more suited to The Evil Dead (1982) than a film attempting to come across as snuff. At only 73 minutes it's short, it does have some impact because of the brutality of it although I don't really know who it would appeal to, it's certainly not a film you would sit down with your mates & watch, unless you have weird mates. Not worth the notoriety that the recent BBFC ban will undoubtedly give it to be honest, this is just a Saw or Hostel film without any of the plot or character development or sophistication.

Although well made there's a lot of quick edits & shaky hand-held camera movement which gets annoying. Despite what you may hear Gurotesuku isn't that extreme, it's just that it's unrelenting & it's torture scene after torture scene without any chance to take a breather between them & I didn't think any one particular moment was any more graphic or disturbing than anything from the aforementioned Saw or Hostel films. 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. The special effects are pretty good actually although for such a modern film that is expected. The constant juxtaposition of classical elegant music on the soundtrack that conflicted with the vile nastiness of the torture on screen got a little boring & repetitive by the end.

Gurotesuku actually reminded me of the Guinea Pig Japanese series of films & in particular Guinea Pig: Devil's Experiment (1985) & Guinea Pig: Flowers of Flesh and Blood (1985) both of which were also pseudo snuff films supposedly showing real torture & murder. The acting is quite good, although the spoken dialogue is Japanese it's quite intense & the actor's do a decent job.

Gurotesuku is a film which will now be sought after & become notorious for nothing more than a bunch of people saying it should be banned in the UK for no good reason as far as I can see & quite frankly it doesn't really deserve the publicity since it's not that good & has no real story, artistic value or social relevance beyond two people being tortured & eventually murdered.

It is what it is

[smashthecontrolmachine · 5/10 · 2 June 2020]

Nothing to see here. It's predictable in that it has no story (as I suppose is how these movies are) but even still, I think some plot worth more than a dime would be have been suffice. I don't think the gore to be honest is all that much from what I can see...I know for some it would be too much but I wasn't impressed nor grossed out. To me, Hostel does about the same, in smaller amounts but more stylishly. This movie gets a zero for style points...any sense of character development is simply plodding. There's no real direction or purpose here. A cut here, a nip there...the implausible, downright comical escape which seems (pardon the pun) a complete detachment from the rest of the 'so called' movie. I'd say the ending only serves its purpose in that it finally puts this film out of its misery as well as its disappointment viewers.

Every Bit As Graphic and Vile As You've Heard

[Michael_Elliott · 15 March 2012]

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. As a life-long horror fan it seems every few one, two or three new movies cause a stir but when you finally get around to watching them it's clear that it was all hype and they're usually disappointing. Over the past few weeks I had heard a lot of GROTESQUE and I must say that director Koji Shiraishi has made a very brutal film that lives up to everything that has been said about it. The movie is a vile piece of trash but there's no question that it's well-made and certainly effective. I guess you could say that this is Japan's answer to American series like SAW and HOSTEL but those films don't have anything on this. The torture scenes, as you'd expect, are extremely graphic in detail so I'd say that 98% of people out there aren't going to be able to stomach them. I'm a pretty jaded horror fan and I've seen some incredibly brutal films but this here would certainly rank right near the top. The sexual violence in the film includes an incredibly humiliating situation where the girl is raped in a way that I won't ruin here but it's certainly one of the most unpleasant things you're going to see. The torture devices include a chainsaw, eye gouging and a couple scenes to the male anatomy that is going to have male viewers turning their heads like children. At just 75-minutes the film really doesn't waste any time building up a story or trying the stretch out the characters. 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. The performances by the three actors are extremely good and very believable. Both victims really make you feel the pain they're going through and Osako is so cold and chilling that he's certainly a character you'll never get out of your mind. GROTESQUE is thankfully going to appeal to very few people and it's hard to recommend except to those who want to see how far you can be pushed with violence and torture. It's hard to stomach but it's effective.

From A Veteran Of Extreme Cinema

[BigDaddyWarbuxx · 1/10 · 21 January 2013]

For years I have watched some of the most graphic, intense, and disturbing movies that I can find. This isn't because I'm some twisted weirdo or anything, but because I'm an all-encompassing cinephile that can and has given 10 star ratings to movies from Beauty And The Beast to Antichrist. To truly love all that film has to offer, you have to understand all that film has to offer.

When you watch extreme cinema, you have to know that the violence and imagery is, if used correctly, serving a purpose, which is usually to heighten your senses of pity, disgust, sympathy, repulsion, etc. Also, it's best if the film has some sort of purpose: Salo is a metaphor for how the upper-class treats and exploits those that they deem below them, Hostel is a satire on the image of the ugly American that has been experienced by other countries, and I could keep going.

This brings me to this film, Grotesque. Without ruining the film (it does that on its own), I will say that there is only the slightest bit of back-story (which is lazily done and seems it might have been an afterthought), and no attempt at putting any of this within context. Bottom line: a guy abducts a couple and brutally tortures them. That's it. No point, no reason, no character development, nothing.

Not only that, it's a technically flawed film as well. The cinematography is horrible: hand-held zoom-ins, overdone color filters, and an overall poor job. It doesn't help that the majority of the film is very dark and shot on digital video, so you get that annoying video blur whenever the camera moves. In terms of writing, for the most part there isn't any. When the film finally gets to a point when the characters are saying something other than "Please stop!" or "Why are you doing this?!", they act in a way that makes absolutely no sense. People that would have gone through what they went would never, ever, show the signs of acceptance or gullibility that they do. They would be hardened or almost catatonic. 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. These type of films are not everyone's cup of tea. When they say it was just pointless violence, however, I usually check out of the movie and assume they did the same with the movie. With Grotesque, I guarantee I never check out of the film. I stuck with it. I assumed there would eventually be a twist or revelation that would give this film a reason to exist. I assumed wrong.

what the hell was this??

[dragonkings01 · 4/10 · 8 August 2009]

I'm a big fan of Horror and especially import Horror movies, But this wasn't my thing at all. The new wave snuff films (or rebirth of 70's uber violent films) are just not my taste... this movie is a prime example of these pointless torture movies, While in context the aspect of torture in a horror film i.e. Saw, Hellraiser, Texas chainsaw (the original) etc... works great because it's bad people getting their come up-pence or just a cautionary of the cruelty of man but this film is just a fictionalized snuff film with no story what so ever. Watching people getting brutally killed (particularly those who were just there) for the bulk of the movie then.... "the end" after some silly f/x does nothing for me except feeling a little dirty for watching this piece of trash.

If you a fan of Devils rejects, Vacancy and the like check it out but if you are like me a little and like at least a little mental stimulation with your gore fix skip this one.

J-Splatter that's worth a watch... for horror fans only. *spoilers*

[El-Scotcho · 5/10 · 19 September 2009]

Could Kôji Shiraishi be a new Takashi Miike? He's already made 4 film this year, and appears to attract controversy for the type of extreme 'splatter' movies he makes. Most notorious at the moment is this little slice of horror entitled 'Grotesque'. The BBFC have already banned it, but that doesn't really mean anything anymore does it? Does it? Or does it??

What Kôji Shiraishi appears to be doing here is attempting to outdo Eli Roth's dreadful 'Hostel' movies. A sort of 'who can make the grisliest horror movie' trip. Well, he certainly succeeds in terms of outright horror, and includes scenes that American film-makers won't go near... specifically a scene which includes sexual assault.

Note that, as I write, this movie is not available outside of Japan, and the DVD has no subtitles, so It's possible I've missed some intricate subtleties of the plot. Oh no, wait! There isn't one HAH HAHAHAHA!

Ahem. So, what's the rumpus? A serial killer kidnaps a young couple and ties them up and tortures them. That's the story, well, more of a basis for torture to be honest. The film includes scenes of Nihon nipple-sucking (and nipple cutting), chainsaw choppiness (or rather choppenis), testicle-nailing, vicious stabbings and gut-spilling goading. The effects are okay ,sometimes laughable, and the ending is hilarious. Tongue firmly in cheek, Mr Shiraishi?

It's a pity I didn't understand the dialogue, the girl (AV actress Nagasawa Tsugumi) has a final speech which is obviously crucial, and could go some way to justifying the violence. Or could it?

Anyway, it's bad, but not that bad.The horror isn't very cringe-worthy, (where as some of the effects are), and it certainly doesn't justify being banned. For what it's worth (duration is 1hour 13mins), I believe someone should give it a decent DVD release in the future (in Holland, definitely).

If you're a fan of horror, you should see it. It you work for the BBFC, you should sleep with it. Well worth a watch.

Vile...Depraved....Revolting and Disturbingly Real Shocker from Japan........

[nightwatch4773 · 7/10 · 20 February 2013]

This to me is what Hostel, Saw, and the myriad of other torture porn flicks over the years tried to do. I saw this film back in 2009 and I can remember the entire film vividly. The plot although tenuous is so disturbing and nihilistic that I felt I had to take a shower after the film. We have 3 characters in this film and almost the entire running length takes place in a dark dank underlit torture room reminiscent to a nazi-experiment chamber. I give this film a 7/10 for the sheer nastiness and how relentless the film is in depicting the pain and suffering of the two young youths abducted. This film has guts and guts is what you will see. I am not surprised the Nick Cage thought this was a snuff film because for the life of me this felt so bloody real. After the film I was so disturbed and depressed that I couldn't walk home alone. This hasn't happened since the original Halloween for me but I was just a kid than. If you couldn't handle Human Centipede, Serbian film or the Antichrist than stay far away from this one. You have been warned!!!!!

Pure Pornography

[chicagopoetry · 1/10 · 31 March 2010]

Okay, let me save you the trouble. I'm going to "spoil" every scene of the movie Grotesque for you because then, hopefully, you can just imagine it and skip actually watching it. 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? So here we go . . .

Bad guy grabs a sledgehammer and attacks a boy and a girl who are out on a first date. When boy and girl wake up they are chained up in an abandoned warehouse, yawn, just think of every Saw movie ever made. Things then get pretty ugly from there. Bad guy rapes girl and then he rapes boy. Then, let's see, here we go, not necessarily in this order: bad guy stabs boy, pokes out one of his eyes with something like an ice pick, pounds big nails into his testicles, and cuts off his penis, then he cuts the girl's nipples off with scissors, chops off all their fingers with a chainsaw, strings the fingers into necklaces and puts them around their necks, chops the girl's arm off, pulls out the boy's intestines and hangs them from a hook, cuts the girl's head off with an ax, and then he goes out to find some more victims.

Story over.

SPOILERS - A disturbing journey into the depths of human depravity that will be missed by many

[FredSlim · 7/10 · 5 October 2009]

Gurotesuku isn't easy to watch. But today's anesthetized horror generation demand such movies. Flicks like Hostel, Saw and 'insert torture-porn flick of your choice here' have lost their original edge and this has led directors to dream up new and ever more macabre ways to shock and sicken just to stand out from the crowd. 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. I highlight the hospital scene because it seems quite clear that the aggressor is frustrated at the fact that love could perhaps indeed lead someone to volunteer unthinkable pain onto themselves in order to protect another. 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.

sick

[xxstephbxx · 1/10 · 19 August 2009]

Have seen a lot of horrors and this isn't one of them, no thrill, no build up and certainly no suspense. If seeing people raped and mutilated is your thing then this is for you. However, have to recommend any of the saw's for a proper build up where you are honestly left wondering whats coming next.

Have never registered with IMDb before and always trusted peoples judgement. I am asking you please trust mine and find something to make you sit on the edge of your seat instead of this excuse to show abuse.

It has since me writing this been banned from the UK purely for its violence, i think it simply should have been banned for the plot. The reason being, there isn't one.

Aptly named.

[BA_Harrison · 8/10 · 2 October 2009]

When a film is deemed so heinous by the BBFC that a certificate is refused outright, fans of extreme cinema are naturally intrigued; I know that when I'm told I can't see a movie because it might possibly damage my fragile little mind, I'm all the more keen to view it, curious to see if my sensibilities (and stomach) can withstand the challenge.

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? Or hows about Guinea Pig?). 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... ahem... completion (cue lots of sticky bodily fluids). This doesn't seem to do the trick for their captor, so out comes the chainsaw, and off come the fingers (which are used to make a pretty pair of necklaces). Kazuo also gets her nipples and an arm removed as punishment for screaming out.

Aki is then asked if he would die to save Kazuo and replies that he would; this results in our loony breaking out some more tools and saying the one thing no man ever wants to hear: "first I will hammer some nails into your nuts." Ouch!!! A spot of nut hammering and a little penis pruning later, and it's mission accomplished for the maniac, who is so thrilled by Aki's willing sacrifice that he spares his life, nurses the pair back to health and promises to set them free.

Oooh! The little liar: he has no intention of letting them go, having devised a further challenge for Aki—one which he hopes will result in an even more satisfying climax.

Whilst Grotesque is admittedly little more than an excuse to show 73 minutes of amazingly harsh and realistic scenes of sadistic torture (at least until the surprisingly comical OTT finalé, which is like something straight out of a Peter Jackson style splatter-fest), it achieves its purpose with aplomb, providing a relentlessly gruelling experience for those of us who like to test our limits; you may have seen equally repellent scenes in other films, but its unlikely that you'll have seen as many in a single film.

Strike up the banned.

[horizon2008 · 7/10 · 21 August 2009]

Well, its now been banned in the UK as of a few days ago. And as with the legendary British Board Of Film Censors onslaught on horror movies in 1984, this will of course make it a much more sought after movie now than if they'd left it well alone. Its 2009 today, and most folks with minor internet savvy will quite easily be able to obtain a perfect copy for a fee (or for free) as opposed to the under-the-counter, grainy bootlegs of years long past. So Englands banning of any movie these days has little effect on those that really want to see it anyway. Now on to the movie itself...

For anyone to say they "enjoyed" this film Id have to ask them a few questions about their mindset. Don't get me wrong, I definitely don't think it should have been given a UK ban, but its really not something you'd want to sit down to with some popcorn and a quiet night in with your partner. For all its hype however, (and I was taken with some apprehension before I watched it), parts of it aren't as bad as you might expect. For example, the eye gouging scene is much less shocking (IMO) than Dalis "Un Chien Andalou" which was made 80 years ago in 1929. This is mainly because the camera doesn't actually let you see what happens - just the aftermath (even thats not so bad). Other things like the sexual assault finish off (excuse the pun) with something that a bawdy anime cartoon would be proud of - liquid overkill in the extreme lol. Not to mention, that even though there's graphic violence all over the screen, the victimiser only lifts the female victims top up, not her skirt, and I asked myself could this be because of Japans aversion to pubic hair? Other things just don't make a lot of sense either (no I don't mean the plot) for example: if this kind of torture was dealt out on any human being (I would imagine) they'd either bleed to death long before these sorry pair passed away, or their reactions to the violence would have been much more extreme. And the females end made me laugh out loud - no, really, I mean literally (wait for that one). The main part of the film then fades into both the couples lives ebbing away to the tune of "Land of Hope and Glory" - and I couldn't help but have another chuckle at this.

So, is it worth seeing? Id probably say yes. But heres how you approach it: Imagine you're a special effects judge, and take the "movie" as a collection of special effects you want to review. Then, give your mark for the quality of each scene within. Thats how I saw the film. Not as a story of any value (as it doesn't really have any plot) but as a vehicle for showing what a good effects team can achieve with a few pounds of latex and a bucket of fake blood. And Id certainly like to see a "Making Of" documentary to learn how they did some of the scenes within. But in the meantime, Im sure over the last few days (and in more to come), Google will have quite a lot of UK users searching: "Grotesque" to see what all the fuss is about. Such is the enquiring human nature when you ban something.

Ho Hum

[paul_kevern · 3/10 · 21 August 2009]

Well, having heard mention of the BBFC banning on Twitter, old school curiosity got the better of me. That compounded by being told I'm not allow to, made me watch it.

I have to say I'm surprised they even bothered going to the expense and effort of submitting it to the BBFC. I can't see them ever passing it really. Its competently made, and fairly well filmed considering (compared to the Guinea Pig films at least) but really has no emotional content or story. Pretty much just the couple and the torturer, and about 3 locations. Admittedly I saw it with no subtitles but there was obviously not much going on story wise, just abuse and torture in a fairly unpleasant way. As usual for these types of movies, fairly boring and pointless, interspersed with endurance pushing scenes of torture. The only bit of amusing fun gore was the absurd scenes at the end. On the whole not really recommended.

Maybe I'm getting old, but I really can't work out anymore what or who this type of film is made for.

Gore at expense of everything else. !

[vamplad79 · 8 September 2009]

Just watched and only because it is banned and therefore had to seek it out and say a big ' f#@k ' u to any board who try to stop me from watching a film unless of course it involves snuff, real animal killings or kids. Anyways, the film was quite well shot and the acting for what it was - was good. All and all the production values are great. 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. The story is very basic even for a slasher with very minimal exposition. Two people are kidnapped and tortured in full on ways - that's it I didn't learn anything here nor did i come away entertained so one has to ask why was it made - who was the director thinking this would please audience wise. The film is at the very edge as far as a film can show and if that is the sole purpose then congrats to the film makers but this isn't my type of film and i doubt it would be a repeated view for many sane people out there. This is a one time watch if that and only if you are curious about it.

With no real contexts, all you are left with is graphic torture after another and if that is all that entertains you when you watch a film..well....i am frankly a bit scared of you. 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. That's not film-making to me.

For me, there is no redeeming factors to this movie besides some production value and the debate it will create around censorship and going to far in film. Regardless of the film just being mean spirit, the film is actually just a bad film. 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. The only merit here may be to other film makers regarding the production value and Japanese horror theater but to the casual viewer there is nothing here for you - but it doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to watch it.

Terrible, owing NOT to the infamous scenes but to the lack of creativity

[nurika · 2/10 · 27 August 2009]

well i have seen this film at an unofficial screening,and i knew that i am neither disgusted nor thrilled by the body horror scenes (cutting of organs, blood-wash etc), i can really 'keep that as just a part of the narrative' as it were, and evaluate the film for its cinematic virtues. 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. as a counter-example, i could speak about ring (both USA and jap. versions), saw series, 28 days/weeks later, all of which present various points of view, subtexts, sequences of elaborate cinematography etc., and which all, in my opinion, deserve being watched several times in ones life time. so believe it or not, its not my elitism, extreme high modernist tastes etc. by all means, this film is a crap

Torture porn at its worst.

[ragingbull_2005 · 4/10 · 10 July 2012]

Expecting a plot in an exploitation flick is akin to a cardinal sin. this movie is no exception. two youngsters, who are on their first date are abducted by the sadist in the poster. the psychopath wants sexual release which he can get only by torturing the couple to death. with such superlative plot, the movie moves in the expected direction. the psychopath starts with sexually abusing the girl, then goes on to more innovative tortures like pinning the guy's balls to the table, chopping off the fingers and making a garland out of them, taking out the intestine.

you must have got the general idea by now. so if you want to inflict some unforgettable punishment on your worst enemies, advice them to watch this flick. trust me they would become mortally afraid of you.

No redeeming qualities whatsoever

[ilikeair57 · 1/10 · 8 August 2013]

First, I would like to say that I understand that this is a love story in disguise. It shows what pain one would go through for the other.

Now that that's out of the way, this movie is awful. There's hardly a back story or really anything presented about the characters at all. We know the killer is a doctor (I can't recall which kind) and the couple works together. That's all we know. On top of that, there's not much of a story either. The couple gets tortured by a psychotic killer who gets sexually excited through torturing people. Whatever happened to plot development?

The violence is stupid, pointless, and in the ending scene, completely ridiculous. If all you care about is seeing people go through extreme pain, go and watch this movie, because that's all that's there. Most people I've heard try to justify the violence in this movie say something like "BUT DIS IS LUV STURRY ND IT HAZ DEEPIR MEENING". If you've actually been paying attention to the little information you've been given in the beginning of the movie, you wouldn't think there's a deeper meaning at all. Even if it was truly a deeper meaning, that doesn't make it good. The point of the violence is to show what some people will go through for another out of love. The topic of love isn't original after it's been brought up countless times in all forms of art for thousands of years.

If you care about a movie having substance, or not wasting time out of your life you will never get back, don't watch this movie. You will regret it.

A reenactment of the classic kids board game Operation!

[morrison-dylan-fan · 6/10 · 6 October 2011]

Reading up about the BBFC deciding to ban the follow-up to the The Human Centipede (2009-also reviewed) (partly,due to them feeling that someone might try to do the operation in real life!) I started to notice people bringing up a film that "aunty" BBFC had recently banned,due to feeling that whilst all of the "outsiders" can watch it,the film is just a bit too risky to be brought out in the UK,due to there being a strong chance that it would give the little kiddies nightmares.

Wanting to find out what had been locked behind the door,I went on Amazon UK,and quickly found a Region 1,uncut DVD of the film for £5 ($10),which meant that I would thankfully have the chance to see something which will never see the light of day in the UK.

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.

Along 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.

On 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.

Worst. First date. Ever.

[asda-man · 2/10 · 23 August 2016]

It's funny because if Grotesque wasn't banned in the UK then I don't think I would have bothered watching it. No one would probably have even heard of Grotesque if the BBFC slapped an 18 certificate on it, but because they refused it has turned into something of a cult hit. It's a curiosity piece for connoisseurs of carnage but those looking to get truly disturbed are likely to be disappointed. I don't quite understand the reasons for the ban as Grotesque shows us nothing that we haven't seen before. In fact, it's so over-the-top in its ideas and execution that it's more likely to illicit laughs from viewers more than anything.

If you look at Kôji Shiraishi's earlier found footage horror, Noroi: The Curse then you'll find an expertly executed chiller that relies on atmosphere and imagery to produce genuine scares. Grotesque is pretty much the opposite to Noroi. I can't believe it's made by the same director as Noroi which is quite possibly the scariest film I have ever experienced. The only thing scary about Grotesque is how bad it is. To sum it up, it's two people in a room getting tortured by a psychopathic doctor. They were just walking back from their first date and a crazy man bops them on the head and they have to sexually excite him with their will to survive.

It's a terribly thin plot which only the thick and the psychotic would appreciate. Somehow though it isn't as boring as it sounds. It's only 70 minutes long but even still, a film set in one room with only three characters could easily drag, but Grotesque zips along quite merrily. This is the only redeeming quality of the film, it's never boring. But maybe that's because I was just waiting to see how far my cringe threshold could take. I won't spoil anything, but I was thrashing about like a that's sheep about to get sheared in a scene which involved an eye. I hate eyes and this scene is almost up there with Zombie Flesh Eaters.

It's just a series of gore scenes really and I have to say that the special effects are very good. The acting was also better than I was expecting, with the doctor being particularly menacing and convincing. It's also pretty well-made for the most part, although parts did look very amateur. In the end though Grotesque is just a pointless exercise in shock. It ends up being so melodramatic and ridiculous though that it just becomes funny.

Grotesque is worth one watch if you're curious and a hardened horror nut. 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. This one does have a dark sense of humour but the plot is non-existent and the characters are un-investable. The amount of gore and depravity is quite shocking at times but even still it's almost instantly forgettable as soon as the credits roll.

Hyped, but not that great

[Viva_Chiba · 6/10 · 14 October 2010]

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 ? Check out: Cannibal Holocaust and the August Underground trilogy.

So realistic.....yet so pointless!?

[stevehoyland · 5/10 · 13 July 2020]

A doctor with sickening and depraved needs kidnaps a teenage couple and forces them to play his depraved game of physical and psychological torment and agony, whilst constantly teasing them with promises of eventual survival and release. This film will no doubt stimulate debate, particularly In the 'English speaking world', as to what Is acceptable In movies and what Isn't (Japanese cinema Isn't very well represented outside of Japan, so the current and most popular genres of modern Japanese cinema are largely unknown to the outside world). How this film passed the censors Is beyond me, yet 'Grotesque' Is apparently available to buy and rent In most countries.It has very realistic scenes of male and female rape and the most terrible kinds of torture Imaginable. The whole thing has only the three characters and apart from the opening scenes, we never go beyond a couple of rooms throughout the whole movie.If you enjoy extreme physical & psychological torture, then this Is certainly the film for you. Sadly, there's no story to It - we just watch the agony of the two Innocent kids!

Like "Hostel" and "Saw" going to Japan to take some anabolic steroids

[chribren · 8/10 · 29 August 2013]

"Grotesque" is a Japanese horror movie directed by Koji Shiraishi year 2009. This film only runs for at least 70 minutes.

Not much plot is in this movie. 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?

Banned film, out hostels Hostel

[videorama-759-859391 · 6/10 · 21 August 2014]

Grotesque is a challenge of the visual senses, horror for the visually challenged, where at one point at to stop, then resumed viewing it later. The plot is simple, yet from the doctor's crazed point of view, the premise is rather intriguing. A young innocent couple who are going steady, I guess, after dining out, are kidnapped by this brilliant maniacal surgeon, who has them tied up in his basement, what have you and tortures the living f..k out of them. His reasons are, for his own sick entertainment, to see how much they can endure or hold out, before they give up, and accept the inescapable fate of death. Also he wants to test their love against each other. I'm not gonna tell you what he does to em', but it's a lot to take. I'll leave that to the imagination of us sick ones to conjurer thoughts and images. For some of you, you'll be screaming for a re watch of Audition or even Hostel, which would come as a relief, as it would a comedy, after trying to get through this. 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. You don't get away that easy. Actually in it's early part, I was actually disappointed as awaiting the real moments of shocking violence, where I guess my expectations were fading, or I was dubious, but with the buzz of that chainsaw sounding, I was quickly corrected. It's a film, really for the toughest of the senses. I'm not kidding. I'm never been so unnerved or discomforted by a film such as this, truly my heart was beating a lot through this intense view. This unsettling view isn't helped, when the actors don't overact. They put just the right amount of acting into their believable characters. One shocking tease to the film, involves a scene which at first, you don't think is a dream, which for one victim counts as a double whammy of a downer. This whole merciless film has nasty intentions, a lot of people will find it repellent, where the stronger ones will see the view through. The burial scene of our ill fated lovers at the end was memorably bizarre, it's actually the strongest image of the film, I can't get out of my head. But with all I've said, what it all boils down to is a movie almost wholly based on torture, saved for two scenes. This doesn't constitute for good horror, but for it's qualities to shock, unnerve and intensify, I must praise this nasty piece of horror, for what is, despite it's degrading or immoral themes, upon two human beings. God forbid, this one spawns a sequel, I for one, don't think I could stomach it.

Have a Empty Stomach before viewing this.

[dennis-giles67 · 4/10 · 18 November 2020]

This is a nasty piece of torture/porn. It has no plot at all,and the special make up effects in this are very very realistic. 75 mins running. This is the 2nd time I have seen this since 2009. Don't expect to ever see this on streaming sites,with subs. Be afraid,be very very afraid.