Japan is certainly a nation that has a strong reputation for extreme cinema, but over my time reviewing at Film Gutter I am starting to come to the conclusion that reputation is built much more on quantity than quality. There are some gems, don't doubt it – brilliant movies like Audition and 2LDK are personal standouts – but those are heavily outweighed by a lot of offerings that I would consider pretty poor. There's never been any fear of pushing boundaries, of exploring taboo or of taking artistic risk. But all too often the ideas simply aren't matched by the execution, and we end up with movies that are kind of a mess. Maybe things were made in a rush to cash in on the splatter phase, maybe things were made with too low a budget... who knows.

Enter Shogun's Sadism, an infamous 1976 offering that I had been aware of for a while and decided to 'treat' myself to one Sunday afternoon. The term is loosely applied, because this was another Japanese offering that simply didn't gel with me on a personal level. The movie itself is almost a portmanteau, being made up of two separate stories – the first following a young Christian girl who gets captured as a slave and violently tortured, while the other follows the master of a brothel who falls in love with one of 'his' girls and attempts to run away with her. I would say – on the upside for this movie – the setting makes the movie feel pretty authentic to the era, and the effects don't look too bad given they are over forty years old as I write this.
 
Unfortunately that is about where the positives end for me. There's very limited characterisation of anyone involved, and our 'bad guys' are just that and nothing more. It also feels like there's insufficient explanation of the historical setting and context – something that many viewers may already be familiar with, but I'm afraid I wasn't. The acting is no more than OK, and the bottom line is that much of the torture and gore feels pretty extraneous and – dare I say for someone who reviews extreme horror on a weekly basis – exploitative. With the plot being so very thin that sense is enhanced as you watch along, and without much reason to care about the people enduring it into the bargain.
 
I'm aware this movie does have a big cult following, and many people love it and consider it a classic of Japanese extreme and splatter, but I'm afraid to say this one just left me cold. Even at a mere 80 minutes it feels overly long and the two storylines show little to no connection, which just feels rather clumsy to me. If there were three or four it would feel a bit more like a proper portmanteau, but with only two it feels more like a couple of different movies crammed together to make the one offering. If you were to run two parts of Guinea Pig together – probably the first two parts for the best analogy – then it might look something like this. And sure, that might appeal to you, but it's not for me.
 
RATING: 2.5/10. I can see that the content itself, on a visual level, is certainly disturbing and the shooting and style do make it feel authentically like its historic period. Despite that, this is a movie I found pretty boring. I've never been a huge fan of gore just for the sake of gore, and this feels like a movie that is really going for that style and approach. If you're particularly big on Japanese splatter then this might just be the kind of thing that would work for you, but I can't give it any more than a  poor 2.5/10.

As I’ve intimated before, there are a few gaps in my extreme movie viewing history, and despite the fact that I consider Irreversible a fantastic – if extremely hard to stomach – piece of work, I’ve yet to see anything else from its director Gaspar Noe. Well, 2019 will be the time to put that right, starting with the director’s debut feature fim, Seul Contre Tous – known in English as I Stand Alone. I am aware that this one serves as a follow-up to one of the director’s early short films, Carne, so I’ll be endavouring to get to that one very shortly too. In fact having seen this one I have to say I’m rather looking forward to it, and this one certainly cemented Noe as an excellent director in my own mind.

Philippe Nahon stars in this one as The Butcher, a man who has recently come out of jail for attacking a man attempting to seduce his young daughter. While he has been in prison his mute daughter has been in an institution, and as we come into the story he’s yet to go and see her having been released. In fact I don’t think this movie gets off to the strongest start, because we are fed an awful lot of information about the lead characters in a slightly rushed introduction – this might just be summarizing the events of Carne for those of us who haven’t seen it (IE me) so I was willing to forgive it and keep on watching.

The Butcher is currently living with a woman that he hates, and her mother, than he hates equally. In fact absolute burning hate and rage run through this movie like a river – it’s probably the most furious and nihilistic film I’ve seen since the bleak and destructive Seed, maybe even moreso. The Butcher is obsessed with the idea of justice, and the idea that he has been dealt a bad hand, and those with money are keeping those without money down. His new and pregnant lover has promised to buy him a butcher’s shop in her home town of Lille, but as it grows less and less likely this is going to happen, and The Butcher has to work through a host of low-paid, demeaning jobs, his anger towards her just builds until an explosive scene where she accuses him of cheating. This causes him to snap, punching her in the stomach multiple times in a pretty horrible scene. With this heinous act committed, he takes the mother’s gun and decides to head back to his home town of Paris to start again.

Unfortunately when he gets there many of the same problems stack up, including fresh issues of not having a home to go to and having only a handful of francs to live on. He tries to go to many old work acquaintances to try and get a job, but they can’t help him for various reasons – even the slaughterhouse that used to supply his meat is forced to turn him down. Similarly many of his old friends are down on their luck themselves, and aren’t able to offer him much financial support, although one is able to give him a place to crash for a few nights.

It’s a fascinating portrayal of a character who feels wronged by the world around him, and having been out of it in prison for so long is struggling horribly to find his place within it again. He’s almost a ghost in the world as we know it, drifting through the streets all but invisible. While the plot is relatively slim, it’s pepped up mightily by the endless trail of invective from our lead that illustrates his ever-darkening thought process as his life spirals horribly out of control. Rumour has it most of that dialogue was written by Noe while he was drunk, to capture that kind of sprawling, semi-aimless feeling, and it’s something you could easily believe listening to it. The movie is also punctuated with little visual messages to the reader throughout, including one that encourages you to switch off the film with a final warning before the conclusion plays out. In fact I won’t spoil what this is here, because it was just so strange and dark and fascinating it’d be a shame for you to come to it knowing anything more than that.

As a powerful statement from a new director bursting onto the scene, it’s hard to beat something like I Stand Alone – as a brutal manifesto on unreleased rage and the injustice that can cause it, and a gripping depiction of a life heading towards its nadir, this one packs a serious punch. There are one or two genuinely shocking moments for fans of the more physical elements of extreme cinema, but this a pure howl of rage that amply earns it place as extreme through every seething shot and scene.

RATING: 9/10. I was tempted to go full marks for this one, but I held it back a point for a slightly overdone info dump at the very beginning, as well as some of the camera trickery feeling a bit showy and unnecessary. But overall it’s hard not to be moved by this pure distillation of hatred and inchoate fury. The lead role is superbly played and it kept me absolutely riveted throughout. It’s not a pleasant film in any way – as I would expect from the man behind Irreversible – but again it is a very, very good one to warrant 9/10.

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There have been a host of filmmakers who have specialized in making low-budget horror features, but one we’ve not talked about to date here at Film Gutter is Alex Chandon. And as one of the UK’s pioneers on the scene, it feels like it’s about time we rectified that. Bad Karma is one of the director’s short features which – like Drillbit or Chainsaw Scumf**k – comes with a strong cult reputation. And with a tagline of ‘Killer Krishnas, Bondage Beauties, Stupid Students and Rampaging Rednecks in the craziest, bloodiest short film you'll ever see!’ it felt like it would be absolutely remiss to pass this short film up.

It’s fair to say that Bad Karma lives up to that tagline and then some.

The madness begins almost immediately, with a seemingly peaceful barbeque being interrupted by a couple of visitors espousing the virtue of Hare Krishnas. However all is not as it seems, as the pair shove their way into the house before transforming into hideous monsters (given the budget, I think that the effects in general look pretty good) and rampaging through the house, killing most of the party apart from survivors Dave and Hana (who makes her getaway from the shower by spearing her attacker with the shower rail). It’s an absolutely chaotic opening ten minutes before you really have the chance to draw breath at all and figure out what the hell is going on.

Of course what’s going on more widely is every bit as weird and wonderful, as the Hare Krishnas are actually killer aliens who are out to kill humans to raise Kalima – not all of the details are clear there, but it scarcely matters when you’re watching. And unfortunately they still have to kill Dave and Hana in order to complete that mission, so when the last pair alive from the party head to their friends’ house for help, the killer aliens are off in hot pursuit. It’s not long before this second house is under siege too, but thankfully help is on the way in the shape up a group of ‘rednecks’ who swoop in to fight the Krishna threat and save the day. Now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d end up typing…

Even though the summary above sounds pretty wild, even that doesn’t really do it justice. Bad Karma is everything I like to see in low-budget horror – while some of the acting may not be that great, it’s all carried off with real commitment by all involved, and the energy and pace of the whole film is absolutely infectious. I think it’s hard not to enjoy this movie on some level, whether you’re laughing, horrified, baffled, intrigued or a little of all of those things. Everybody just looks like they’re having so much fun with the material that it’s hard for you as a viewer not to have fun with it as well. And where else are you liable to see rednecks and Hare Krishnas fighting to the death?

In surmising films I sometimes uses phrases like ‘despite its limitations’, but Bad Karma is one of those movies that works because of its limitations, in the vein of something like Combat Shock. If you pumped in the money for a slick, smooth version it would lose the heart and soul of what makes it great – the shot on video look and crazed energy just sort of sweep you along throughout the 36 minutes, and it’s a pretty heady experience. Admittedly this won’t be for everyone, but if you like high-energy movies with creative violence this one could well tick the boxes for you.

RATING: 8/10. Bad Karma is not perfect, but by wearing its faults on its sleeve it somehow becomes a much more charming experience than it could have been. The whole thing is a rollercoaster delivered with verve and enthusiasm by all involved, and really races through its runtime with barely a second to stop and breathe. These kind of movies can be hit and miss, but this one has to count as a hit, and scores itself plenty of good karma from me with an 8/10. One to just strap yourself in and enjoy the ride...

Hey! I see you, Nick Philips! You can’t hide behind that pseudonym, you know…

Earlier this year, I developed a borderline obsession with the low-budget work of one Nick Philips. Although a little detective work (thanks IMDB!) tells you even that’s not his real name, which is actually Nick Millard. And, with Satan’s Black Wedding, we have a third nom-de-plume thrown into the mix. That’s not to mention Alan Lindus, Clem Moser, Otto Wilmer, Jan Anders and even more besides that were also various guises for this director. And let’s not forget that most of these movies have more than one title – not that uncommon for the time, but it can become something of a minefield for a viewer.

So, this is Satan’s Black Wedding, and a distinctive change of pace from the slashers we’ve seen previously. The difference is apparent immediately, as we lead with piano music over Gothic art rather than that bloodstained openings we’re accustomed to. And while there are absolute lashings of claret in this one, it’s not about a murderer this time at all – it’s about an undead priest and the coven of vampires he is in control of, which is expanding all the time. Our story follows detective Mark Gray, who is hot on the case with a number of strange deaths going on, with bodies being completely drained of their blood. What could it be, I hear you wonder?

Anyway, in the midst of all this, Mark’s own sister has gone missing, and he’s been left with a very strange manuscript she was in the process of co-writing with a beautiful and mysterious woman whom Mark becomes entwined with. This leads him to the mysterious Father Daken, whom we eventually find out has officially been dead some 150 years…

Now, while I can’t say this is any kind of a classic, it does represent a step up on the likes of Criminally Insane and Doctor Bloodbath. It actually feels like a film, with characters seen interacting on screen. The production values aren’t great, but do feel a bit better apart from some pretty terrible sound design – it’s a little bit painful hearing all those hard s’s being hit throughout. The cast of actors is very different for this one, and they’re a little better, despite Father Daken looking a little like he’s on loan from Manos: The Hands of Fate. The plot does have some sort of intrigue and a twist ending that maybe even makes a little sense. The blood effects don’t look too bad, although the vampire teeth installed for each character are truly terrible and almost jolted me out of the film entirely.

So, yeah, it is bad, but it’s not terrible. There were bits of this film that I liked, but there were still a number of issues despite a host or areas being improved from Millard’s previous work. The atmosphere was decent and the musical choices were pretty good, the performances were mostly just one side or the other of OK and again the idea was decent enough, if maybe a bit too Hammer-esque to stand out as a really original concept. The problems really lie in the poor effects and a couple of instances where the acting became really hammy and overdone. I wouldn’t suggest anyone go out of their way to check this out, but if you have gotten a kick out of Millard/Philips’ work from before then this is certainly an improvement on those.

RATING: 3.5/10. In its own weird way, this one was a pleasant surprise. There are plenty of great movies it’s not a patch on, but it’s practically a masterpiece by the benchwork of the other offerings from this director. The idea and delivery has a certain appeal, but there are still a number of fundamental flaws in various areas of this one. If I can track down any more of the director’s work I just might, because it’s steadily become a sort of grim fascination for me. This one ranks as the best of the bunch so far, but still lands a modest 3.5/10.