SLAUGHTERED VOMIT DOLLS (2006)

Dir. Lucifer Valentine, USA

Well, that was fun...

If you start scanning the internet looking for shocking or extreme films, you're almost certain to stumble across the work of Lucifer Valentine. The Vomit Gore Trilogy in particular, starting here with Slaughtered Vomit Dolls and continuing in ReGOREgitated Sacrifice and Slow Torture Puke Chamber, is notorious for its disturbing content and unique style of presentation. The trilogy itself follows the story of Angela Aberdeen, a bulimic runaway porn star who falls in with a deeply bad crowd. I say 'follows the story' – it's very difficult to pick up anything much of a narrative thread in SVD, and as far as I can gather parts 2 and 3 follow very much in the same vein.

Come on in, the water's fetid...

Cutting Moments (1997)

Douglas Buck, USA

Welcome back to Film Gutter, and today it's a quick and refreshing dip in the putrescent waters at the very limits of cinema, as we're looking at a short film this time around. There are a few others we'll be coming to in the coming weeks, but today's offering is Douglas Buck's Cutting Moments, a very shocking slice of suburbia that pays a grisly homage to Blue Velvet in tone and style. Despite the runtime of just 25 minutes, I was really surprised just how went into this film and how much I was left wondering about in the finale.

Where to start with this one? Gutterballs is a film loaded with sleaze, peppered with genuinely shocking scenes and also sprinkled with a large dose of comedy. The closest I can come to surmising this movie is to say it's Last House on the Left meets Kingpin. Yes, you heard me right.

Gutterballs has the look and feel throughout of an 80s comedy, ably assisted by a superb rock soundtrack that often put a smile on my face. The entire film is set in a bowling alley, after hours, where two rival teams bowl each night under the watchful stare of the abrasive alley owner. This rivalry appears to be pretty innocent at first, but soon enough takes a darker twist when Lisa drops a bowling ball on the foot of the creepy leader of the 'jock' team, Steve.

FILM GUTTER - Come on in, the water's repellent...

SUBCONSCIOUS CRUELTY (2000)

Dir. Karim Hussain, Canada

Welcome to Film Gutter for our latest trawl through the most unpleasant aspects of cinema. Once again we'll be taking a deep breath and holding our noses as we explore the most foetid waters of film as we know it. Today's choice is Subconscious Cruelty, another regular feature in many people's 'most disturbing films of all time' lists. And with good reason. In fact, if I were to make a list of the most confusing films of all time, this would be a definite contender for the number one spot there too.