Japan’s darkest secret has become America’s newest nightmare
REVIEW:
If you’re reading this review, you’re no doubt already familiar with the legendary Guinea Pig films from Japan. If not, long story short, they’re a group of hardcore gore films from Japan, made in the 1980’s, definitely not for the squeamish, that pretty set new standards for how disturbing and depraved a horror film can be. The story of Charlie Sheen contacting the FBI regarding watching a snuff film is synonymous with these classics. They were distributed by Unearthed Films, a film company known for being one of the kings of disturbing cinema (they’ve also released films like Red Room, Slaughtered Vomit Dolls, The Coma-Brutal Duel, and a couple of Ryan Nicholson’s most recent films). To make this story go full circle (and to finally get to the review at hand), it’s only fitting that president of Unearthed Films, Stephen Biro, make his directorial debut with a very brave effort, American Guinea Pig: Bouquet of Guts and Gore.
But he’s not alone. Biro, who obviously knows a thing or two about the disturbing, teamed up with James Vanbebber (Deadbeat at Dawn) and special effects master Marcus Koch (see his work in everything from 100 Tears to Rot to Circus of the Dead) to try and bring all of you sick and twisted extreme horror fans something special. Do they succeed? Let my review here add to the collective “Yes!”
Start with two girls (Amy, played by Caitlyn Dailey, and Erika, played by Ashley Lynn Caputo from Amerikan Holokaust and Naughty, Dirty, Nasty) being followed by someone the we don’t see. They reach their car and get in, and then a guy appears in the backseat with a gasmask on and unleashes some kind of smoke/gas combo that knocks them out, and he drives them away. And it’s at this point that we get a version of the title screen from the original Guinea Pig films, but reworked to show this as the American edition. I imagine at this point, had I watched this in a theater with a bunch of like-minded sickos, there would have been a minor eruption of applause. But slow down, fellow viewers, as those nostalgic butterflies floating in your stomach will soon be coated in bile and working their way up your throat.
To say this is disturbing is an understatement. Let me paint you a picture: two women and chained down to tables by their throats. A long table covered with an assortment of tools, weapons, drugs, and video equipment is at their feet. Four men wearing masks circle the tables, three of them with cameras, the fourth, the one known as ‘The Actor,” a hulking beast with a Baphomet mask on (played by Eight the Chosen One). While the others keep the cameras rolling, The Actor’s job is simple: carve the women up into pieces amidst a barrage of The Director’s (Scott Gabbey) instructions (lines like “do it slower, make me hard” and a constant and impatient demand to “start on the left, never on the right” are the closest to the very darkest of humor you’ll find here). And that is exactly what you get for the next hour +.
There are some very well made effects in American Guinea Pig: Bouquet of Guts and Gore, with a couple parts that made even this jaded reviewer either look a little closer to make sure it wasn’t real or, during a certain scene involving an eye, watch through a gap between my fingers (eyes do it to me every single time). I’d compare the work to the original Flower of Flesh and Blood as well as to Niku Daruma, but with updated effects, new twists, and what, to me, seems like a more sinister storyline. The women are butchered one by one (starting at the left, of course), with the help of a drug that numbs them and a few drops of LSD that takes their minds elsewhere. Limbs are severed, bones cracked and crunched, flesh torn from muscle, teeth broken out. About one third of the way through, we find out that one of the cameraman, the one referred to as “VHS” (played by David Hood), is not there of his own free will, but The Director reminds him that they have his children.
As I said, the gore in American Guinea Pig: Bouquet of Guts and Gore is extreme and constant; as soon as the first cut is made, we’re not leaving the room until we’re finished with not one, but two victims. And personally, I don’t even think that’s the horrifying part. What’s more horrifying is the idea of what they’re doing, and why they’re doing it, as we get little bits of info here and there, as well as a little bit of behind the scenes at the end (which is where “The Editor,” played by James Vanbebber, makes his appearance). Well, and of course, there’s the hint of something far worse just after that, but that’s for you to find out for yourself.
I’ve been reading a lot about this movie for some time now. It’s had a lot of hype surrounding it, and a lot of early reviews have been very favorable. So I went into it with an open mind, but knowing it had a lot to live up to, not only in current hype, but also in tradition (see previous Guinea Pig films). To Stephen Biro, cast, and crew, congratulations. You lived up to all expectations, and even surpassed some by creating something so sick and twisted, so respectful to the past, while also still breaking some new ground. At the same time, you’ve also set a bar of your own: there were multiple films within the original Guinea Pig collection. I’ll be anxiously awaiting the next American chapter. Twisted as all Hell!
It lived up to the hype of extreme torture and gore, for sure. My major problem with it is that the girls are so totally incapacitated for the entire running time that they’re never really allowed to fight back. Even though this being a Guinea Pig film thus resistance being futile, I think to drug them to the extent that they don’t even know what’s being done to them (why LSD?) didn’t make much sense to me. It almost felt like the sadists’ twisted way of showing mercy to their subjects. The final moments definitely initiate this viewer’s panic, though!
Just finished the movie last night with a couple of fellow gorehounds. Here’s what I think about this ultragore love-letter…
Gore was 110%, technically very well done. The sadism is over-the-top and produces many nauseating gore scenes. I don’t mind a small lack of realism; I love that the girl had too many organs or that they both stayed alive well past what any real person would be able to. LSD was an awesome touch too. Absolutely everything on the visual and auditory level was effective and delivered what’s expected.
Unfortunately, the disturbing factor is heavily dulled down by the incredibly corny acting and exposition heavy dialouge. I know you’re doing this for your enjoyment, you don’t have to spell it out. This film would’ve worked so much better if they cut out the dialouge, kept it silent (save a couple of lines) and let the soundtrack and visuals do the talking, which they could’ve very easily. I hope they tone it way back narritively on the second AGP and really build a better ominous atmosphere, then it has the capability to really shake the viewer to the core.
Major spoilers…
But goddamn, they should have showed the baby dismemberment, and the child dismemberment. They should have f*ckin’ showed it to really push it way over the edge. But they cut out before it begins, leaving it implied. As far as the child torture taboo goes, Serbian Film busted it better. AGP had the opportunity and they f*ckin’ backed off. Room for improvement, I guess.
@BCGI You are a sick twisted guy all I got to say
All these films are silly. The Italians did it much better in the seventies and early eighties. You had a man eating his own bowels in athropophagous, every deranged thing you can imagine in cannibal holocaust , necrophilia and gore in beyond the darkness, a woman vomiting her insides in city of the living dead and so on and so on. “Films” like this one, the August underground films and all the other amateurish stuff with no plot whatsoever serve no purpose. The acting is atrocious, completely taking you out of the film, the story non-existent thus no chance of creating a real sense of dread through a combination of story and gore and everything “extreme” so turned up to the maximum that it becomes laughable.
I have seen the first two American guinea pigs , out of sheer curiosity , and they are terrible. I have a very strong stomach and can take anything thrown at me on a screen , cause there was a point in my life that I had to deal with real gore and vile stuff helping my sick father (who is doing great nowadays) , so watching anything on screen means nothing to me but when there’s a twisted story to go with the gore then I might feel a bit uneasy. Unearthed films are usually the lowest form of trash and watching the trailers for the next American guinea pig films, esp the exorcist rip off, makes me think that they are going straight for comedy,
I can’t imagine any hardcore fan of extreme cinema being repulsed by stuff like this over something like salo , for example. Maybe a script and a bit of creativity would help.