Ah, the creepy clown. An old staple of horror cinema, and I would generally tend to say not one of my favourites – not in the sense that it creeps me out (like the very idea of the little girl/little boy ghost does) but in that it's not something that gets me excited or interested in a movie. I don't even mean that to pick on the trope, but I think a lot of these kind of archetypes get rather used to death and lose their freshness as time goes on.  And so it was I came to Terrifier with relatively low expectations, although I had to admit that the screen shots I had seen of this particular clown were pretty good and pretty unnerving. I was also aware that this was the start of a cinematic journey for said clown, so this felt like the place to begin.

So, for the sake of clarity, before I go on, this is the 2011 short film of Terrifier – there is an extended, full-length version from 2017 which I will come to in very short order, as well as the All Hallows' Eve movies.

Terrifier begins with our unnamed female lead character driving at night on a deserted road before being forced to stop at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. Again, it's pretty typical horror fare, although nothing offputting as a viewer. In fact the scene at the gas station works really well, with our first glimpse of the clown as a sort of weird, mischievous elf spreading his own faeces on the wall to the chagrin of the attendant. However it's not long before he takes an interest in our intrepid traveller, but not before calmly killing and decapitating the gas station attendant.

What follows from there is an old-school chase as our female protagonist tries to escape her freakish pursuer. While at first I thought this was just going to be a psychotic human in a clown outfit, it's obvious there's at least something of a supernatural element as the clown continues to pursue her through all sort of impossible odds and obstacles. There are a few cliches as you go along, but I feel like it has enough energy and verve to get away with them and still be perfectly watchable.

There's certainly a sense of pace throughout, as well as some good old jumps to go along with it. The visuals are effective, and the clown – Art, who would reappear in more than one feature film in due course – is a little different to plenty that have come before. Mike Giannelli does a great job in that role in particular, treading a fine line between the comedic elements as well being proper scary on a number of occasions. The black and white colour scheme also gives a sort of harlequin effect which is a little bit away from the typical circus clown.

RATING: 7.5/10. Overall I can see why this was an effective launching point for what came afterwards – it's neat enough as a complete project at twenty minutes, but serves as a solid introduction to an interesting horror villain and does leave you wondering more on the backstory and what else there might be to it. There's certainly nothing too revelatory or genre-redefining – in fact there are a number of scenes that you will have seen a resemblance to elsewhere – but it's delivered with enough of a sense of fun and with enough genuinely creepy moment to make it worth seeking out. They're not clowning around with this one, so it's 7.5 out of 10 from me.
 

Come on, could you resist a short film with a title like that? Whether or not it's inspired by the Cannibal Corpse track of the same name, it did immediately pique my interest. And the fact it's brought to you by Black Vomit films probably tells you we're wading into classic Film Gutter waters...
 
The movie itself follows the twisted Alexander, a serial killer and presumably our collector of dead human (although we never see the collection here per se). We open with him killing an unnamed female victim, with all the while a laughing man in a straitjacket giggling away maniacally. It soon becomes clear that this character, 'Madness', is one of three facets of Alexander's mind that are very much alive and real to him. Madness is joined by the gravel-voice and physically intimidating figure of Hate, and the alluring voice and form of Pleasure. It's actually a pretty effective device that gets used throughout – we've seen plenty of killers with the classic 'devil on their shoulder', but a killer with three demons all offering up individual ideas and suggestions? That can't end well. And it doesn't, as Alexander continues his spree by raping and tormenting another anonymous female victim before meeting his own end.

It's fair to say that you can't necessarily do a huge amount in 21 minutes, and indeed given when I saw here I think I could have gone for a feature film of this. There were enough interesting concepts and directorial panache from Fernando Rick that I think it could have sustained 70 or 80 minutes, maybe even more if we had delved into Alexander's history and backstory. But what it does in its alloted run time is pretty solid, and there were enough flashes of flair to lift this a bit above some of the tired old serial killer fare we often endure at Film Gutter. The whole thing was a slightly disorienting and discombobulating experience, which gave it an air of confusion very apt to the deranged mind of a serial killer. The performances on the whole were good, which each of the three 'demons' being really committed to what they are doing and Alexander himself being a sort of blank-eyed, dead-faced lackey to their foul desires (which are, of course, his foul desires).
 
It certainly has something of the look of a 70s slasher, and in no small part pays a homage to that sort of era and style. Some of the visuals almost felt lifted right out of that time, which is no criticism. It's a lively and lurid little piece that fans of gruesome serial killer pieces would probably get something out of, and certainly one that I did as well. If you were going to level a criticism it's that there's not really any message here, or anything much Dead Human Collection has to say – apart from maybe that a sense of destruction and violence can ultimately only lead inwards.
 
RATING: 7/10. A good offering in a subgenre that isn't always my favourite, Dead Human Collection isn't perfect but it has a certain energy and brashness that gives it something above many others. The acting works well, the mood is grim and sombre and the pace doesn't let up from start to finish. There's no particularly deep meaning, but even with that in mind it's likely to keep your eyes on the screen for its short runtime. I could have lived with more, but this solid 20 minutes will do just fine for 7/10.
​

Extreme horror cinema is a broad church, and can take in movies that approach things in all sorts of ways. Some are flat out, balls to the wall gory, violent and exploitative. Other are quieter, subtler, depending much more on disturbing context, mood and atmosphere. For me, both can be equally effective, although I think the second may be harder to achieve. Blood, vomit and bodily fluids are more likely to be ‘universally’ disturbing – it’d hard to imagine anyone working their way through the Vomit Gore films without being perturbed by at least something, if not nearly everything. However a softer approach leading to a shocking finale can have every bit as much impact – the close of a movie like Megan is Missing will absolutely never leave me, and for an hour or more there’s nothing visually disturbing, just an uneasy mood. She Who Must Burn takes a similar approach, being monumentally uncomfortable viewing all the way through – anyone watching this movie will have that sense of watching an absolute car crash about about to unfold, and unfold it does.

The story follows two groups in a small American town, Angela and Mac and Jeremiah and his followers. Angela is a counsellor at the local abortion clinic (a minor criticism on that is that we never see a nurse, doctor or anyone more senior than her) and Mac works as deputy sheriff at the local police station. Jeremiah is your local church leader and tensions in the town are starting to grow as Angela has not only protesters outside her clinic but even outside her home. But things are going to take another step up as Jeremiah’s wife, Margaret, decides to leave him after a particularly brutal beating he inflicts when she says she’s on the pill. She goes to see Angela, who dispatches her to somewhere safe and what has been a bubbling conflict is about to explode in pretty spectacular fashion.

She Who Must Burn is certainly not flawless, but it has a fair amount going for it. For a while it’s hard to believe this kind of religious fundamentalism exists in modern America, although eventually it starts to sit a bit better and a look at the news would probably show this kind of thing does still exist in some places. The performances are generally pretty good, although the dialogue can be a bit too on-point. There are a few minor detail quibbles that individually don’t affect things that much, but when you roll them all together becoming a bit of an annoyance. Without trying to spoil too much, why you would just let a murder suspect go home is beyond me – surely no law enforcement in America would let that happen? It’s sort of explained but remains slightly infuriating.

For all the imperfections here, it remains a movie that really engaged me and I found pretty agitating and distressing – in the right way, if you see what I mean. I was shouting at my screen in absolute fury in a number of places, which is not an easy effect to achieve. It’s compelling viewing although it’s not hard to guess where it’s going – all the same, you simply can’t take your eyes off it. It’s car crash cinema pretty well delivered on a low budget, and I’d generally recommend it as worth a look – although if you’re particularly religious I can’t quite imagine how this would sit with you. It’s not got a great deal positive to say about Christianity, although it’s hard to think of a more extreme version of its proponents.

RATING: 7/10. There’s a lot good, and a few things that are not so good. It’s decently directed and imagined – although there are some scenes that look distinctly like stock footage – and the actors all do a pretty decent job. It held my attention strongly all the way through, despite being distinctly uncomfortable viewing at the same time. That’s always been an approach I’ve liked where it comes to films, and it’s decently done here. So this one earns a very respectable 7/10.

As we mentioned a few weeks back, Film Gutter had the pleasure of having a small hand in Derby Film Festival, particularly the Paracinema weekend exploring genre and off-mainstream cinema. And as you can imagine, despite being up all night on Saturday watching a host of extreme movies, there was plenty else to catch throughout the weekend, and it felt like a good idea to bring the focus to a couple of notable entries that might be of interest to our readers here at Film Gutter.

One of those features with an extreme flavour was Phobia, which I managed to clamber out of bed for on Sunday afternoon, and was rather glad I did. Brought together by Domiziano Christopharo – a growing name in the field without a doubt – this project brought together 14 international directors, all of whom were given a remit to explore a particular phobia in a variety of short films. I'm a well-documented lover of anthology films, so this one certainly had a special appeal to me personally. On top of that there were enough familiar up-and-coming names to draw me in as a viewer, especially Poison Rouge, who directed the absolutely watch-through-your-fingers nightmare that is American Guinea Pig: Sacrifice.

Like many anthology films, we kick off with our linking segment of a young lady watching the television and flicking through the channels, with a host of horrors being presented to her – our array of short films. Like many anthology films, what is presented to us feels rather hit and miss, some of which may of course be a matter of personal preference. The ultimate question for any movie in the subgenre is whether there is enough here to make it an interesting and worthwhile experience, and I would certainly say yes in this instance. Inevitably there are weaker segments here – the coprophobia (fear of feces) section unfortunately stands out as one of the poorer entries, being hamstrung by some unfortunate choices of visual effects. There were numerous other sections that were perfectly serviceable but in reviewing this one a few days later don't really linger in the memory.

With that said, there were a number of components here that do deserve some special praise – Lorenzo Zanoni's opener on chaetophobia (fear of hair) is a suitably sinister launching-off point with a great lead performance, mysophobia (fear of germs) is a gloriously – and dare I say expectedly! – bloody entry from Poison Rouge, Alessandro Redaelli's parthenophobia (fear of virgins) was a heartily entertaining offering and Rob Ulitski's gerascophobia (fear of ageing) was an interesting entry that took an unexpected and more subtle approach. However the standout here was Alessandro Giordani's astrophobia (fear of stars), a clever and well-developed entry that could easily have stood a much more substantial offering – it was certainly satisfying in its own right but it felt like it could have been a feature film in and of itself and been every bit as good.

If you have an interest in anthology films, and indeed extreme horror, then Phobia is generally a well-done feature that hits more often than it misses. There may well be a bit of discussion about personal favourites, likes and dislikes, but I think there's going to be plenty here for horror lovers to get stuck into. There is some real dark stuff, some brutality and gore, some flashes of humour and some of the quiet and understated too. It also uses the linking segment to deliver its finale, which I thought was a nice touch.

RATING: 7.5/10. The nature of the anthology film almost means that scoring a 9 or 10 is practically impossible, because it's made up of so many individual components that you can't absolutely love everything. With that said, I felt like of our fourteen here there were six very good installments, six perfectly fine installments and maybe a couple of duds, which isn't a bad strike rate at all. It's also very nicely done on a limited budget and is well worth a look for fans of the milieu – don't be afraid to check it out...

ROB ULITSKI ON 'GERASCOPHOBIA'

Alex: How did you come to be involved in 'Phobia'?
Rob: I came to be involved in 'Phobia' after working with Producer Sam Mason Bell on a previous, local anthology. He then introduced me to Domiziano over Facebook, and he invited me to create a segment. 
 
Alex: Your segment was on 'Gerascophobia' - fear of ageing. Was that your choice or a topic you were given?
 
Rob: We were given free rein with our Phobia choice. The only rule was to make sure there were no duplicates. The Fear of Ageing is something I've been interested in for a while, so I thought it would be the perfect theme for my segment. 
 
Alex: Was the idea for the segment something that came about quickly, or took a while to develop?
 
Rob: The basic idea came to me quickly, but the story in general took a few weeks to develop. I knew that I wouldn't have the budget to perform any ageing effects or special effects makeup, so I had to think of an idea that would represent the phobia but in a more creative and unusual way. By making the main character a wannabe model who feels like he has missed his opportunity, I had the ability to develop something I feel is quite relatable - we are all expected to look our best and overachieve at a young age, so perhaps the fear of ageing is something that is creeping up on us at a younger age.
 
Alex: 'Gerascophobia' was one of the more subtle and atmospheric portions of the movie - was that a deliberate choice, given there was some pretty extreme stuff elsewhere?
 
Rob: Whilst I had no idea of what the other filmmakers on the project were making, I knew that there were two ways to go about this idea. Either bloody and violent, or more subtle and psychological. I wanted to get creative with how I told my story, with the daydream sequences and the highly conceptual scenes, so I chose to go more subtle, and let the idea and visuals creep people out. So I wouldn't say it was a deliberate choice because of the film as a whole, but a deliberate choice because I knew I wanted to tell this story in a different way. 
 
Alex: How was it seeing the whole film put together as a final product?
 
Rob: It was an amazing experience. The QUAD is a great venue, and seeing it for the first time was a real ride. The filmmakers on the project vary in experience, but all of them have captured the spirit of the anthology, and I think it is a testament to the power of collaboration. 

So, on to the second of our movie reviews ahead of the Paracinema all-night at Derby Film Festival, where on the 5th May Film Gutter have helped to curate a great evening of cult, extreme and trash cinema. There was an initial confusion in my part with this one in not quite realising that Black Devil Doll was something entirely different from the previously-reviewed Black Devil Doll From Hell (http://gingernutsofhorror.com/film-gutter/film-gutter-reviews-black-devil-doll-from-hell-1984), which was probably one of the most laughably bad but somehow likeable movies I've ever had the fortune to watch.

But no, Black Devil Doll is a much newer production, although I think it's fair to say there's a dose of inspiration taken from Chester Novell Turner's previous cult feature. The story here – and I use the term story liberally – follows a convicted rapist and murderer, Mubia, who at the moment of his execution manages to leap out of his own body and into the body of a puppet owned by young Heather. As you can imagine, Heather is pretty startled to see her puppet come to life, and even more so to find a supposedly dead criminal inside it. Still, what barrier should any of that provided to true love blossoming? Yes, it's not long before Mubia in his doll form and Heather are enjoying romantic picnics, meals and indeed plenty of sexy times if the montage is anything to go by. This heartily upsets Heather's obsessed ex, White-T, who seethes as he develops a plan for revenge.
 
But Mubia – being the convicted sex attacker that he is – isn't satisfied purely with Heather, so he somehow persuades her to get some of her friends round and get them drunk so that he can have sex with them too. Why Heather agrees to this I'm still not quite sure on, but it is what it is and it's not long before Heather's voluptuous crew are swinging by for a party, much to the delight of Mubia himself (one of my favourite scenes is the Doll gawping as the four girls gratuitously wash the car they arrived in). Heather welcomes the girls and makes her excuses, heading for McDonalds (and it is quite specifically McDonalds in a weird bit of product placement) while leaving the girls to Mubia's twisted desires.

What follows is a veritable orgy of blood, gore and puppet sex that takes up a huge chunk of the runtime, and admittedly is kind of fun its own sleazy, absurd way. I'm willing to predict right now that after I've served up two slices of utter darkness with Song of Solomon and Your Flesh, Your Curse, this one will absolutely go down a treat. It's ideally watched as a late night movie, potentially while more than a little drunk. There are not great pretensions here, and it doesn't really matter – this is flat out for fans of gore, nudity and puppet naughtiness, and if you like any of those things there's plenty to keep you going throughout here.

It's a difficult movie to rate, because although it is entertaining it's also complete and utter fluff that is unlikely to live very long in the memory. I suspect in time I'll be able to tell people: 'Oh yeah, Black Devil Doll was fun,' without really being able to pinpoint much more than that about it. The short runtime probably even feels a bit long for what is such a slim storyline, and is padded out with some weird business about fried chicken that pads out the credits. The effects are OK for purpose but certainly don't look all that realistic, and there are a number of scenes that feel as thought they run longer than they should have.

With all of the above said, this is a perfectly satisfactory piece of exploitative trash cinema, and if that's your bag then your liable to get some sort of kick out of it. And while it's no classic, it certainly whiled away a Saturday evening perfectly fine, and I suspect will be an ideal 'switch the brain off' movie in the wee hours to boot. So I'm giving this one a rating of 6.5/10.

 The Paracinema All-Night Takeover offers five extreme horror movies – including Black Devil Doll – as well as a host of 80s action movies, all for one great ticket price! For more information, visit https://www.derbyquad.co.uk/idfest/dff/dff-pc--the-all-night-paracinema-takeover--18-.aspx

You can also get a ticket to see Song of Solomon individually, which is the first movie in the all-nighter, at https://www.derbyquad.co.uk/idfest/dff/dff-pc--song-of-solomon--adv-18-.aspx

Fresh from the fabulous experience of Starburst Film Festival in Manchester, Film Gutter is going to have a small hand in another film fest this May, namely Derby Film Festival. The opening weekend of the event from 4th-7th May is the Paracinema weekend, celebrating and highlighting films from outside of the mainstream, and the 5th May sees a very exciting night for fans of extreme cinema, with five movies screening throughout the night at the Paracinema All-Night Takeover!

Over the next few weeks we’ll be bringing the focus to the movies on offer, which will include two we’ve already reviewed (and loved!) on these pages – Kasper Juhl’s stunning Your Flesh, Your Curse as well as the wild experience that is American Guinea Pig: Song of Solomon.

Which leaves us three very different movies indeed to look at – Ron Bonk’s She Kills, Jonathan Lewis’s Black Devil Doll and today’s focus, Guy’s fascinating short, Difficulty Breathing.

Now any of our regular readers will be aware that we dip our toes into Japanese cinema quite a bit, because it has a huge repertoire of movies to select from and a reputation for producing some of the darkest, most challenging and flat-out strangest movies out there. Difficulty Breathing is certainly a worthy entry to that pantheon – simply shot, and following a single unnamed female lead, this is a distilled tale of one woman’s descent into insanity.

In the opening we see her out on the street, but as she goes on her way she finds herself drawn back to dark memories of a rape that she suffered. Haunted by those events, she rushes back to the safety of her house – and only rarely for the rest of the movie does she ever leave it. As she begins to run out of food, and suspect she is pregnant as the result of her sexual attack, her mind begins to unravel and the darkness that she felt she could keep outside soon enough inveigles its way into her home…

There’s no doubt that Difficulty Breathing is film-making on a very small budget, but it is generally effectively done. The lead actress gives a strong performance and her fear and paranoia is believable from start to finish, and the camera angles are certainly interesting also – at times they get extremely up close and personal, which just adds to the discomfort for the viewer. There’s very little dialogue, but it’s not really necessary at all in a story focused on isolation and reclusion. You also have to give a tip of the hat to the sound design – the first thing that rolls across the screen is a message saying ‘Play Loud’ and that’s certainly a piece of advice worth heeding! There are lots of simple but clever little devices in play here that genuinely added an audio element to the horror.

For all that, there were a handful of reservations. The beginning of the movie is certainly a slow build, and it’s only really in the last 15 minutes that we begin to build a real head of steam – I wonder if it could have potentially been a touch shorter and tighter all things considered. Some of the effects don’t look all that great, although that’s a relatively minor quibble in a film that is much more about psychology. The ending felt a little abrupt to me as well, although to some audience members it might feel like the perfect fit. I felt like a bit more steering in that direction would have been beneficial personally though.
 
With all the above said, what you have here is certainly a worthwhile way to spend forty minutes, especially for those who love their extreme cinema dark, disorienting and a little abstract. In fact, that might just be three things that Japanese horror cinema does better than anyone…

RATING: 7/10. A movie with effective atmosphere, a good central performance and some well-chosen sounds and camera angles, Difficulty Breathing shows plenty to like and is likely to appeal to fans of Japanese horror in its wider sense. It’ll certainly be interesting to see what kind of reaction it gets in front of an audience!

The Paracinema All-Night Takeover offers five extreme horror movies as well as a host of 80s action movies, all for one great ticket price! For more information, visit The Derby Quad Website 

You can also get a ticket to see Song of Solomon individually, which is the first movie in the all-nighter, at Song of Solomon at The Derby Quad 

All through March we had the chance to focus on some movies from Unearthed Films, who have always been one of the leaders in the extreme horror field. Of late the company has continued to expand and grow, blazing a lot of exciting trails, and it has just announced its latest venture – the Unearthed Films Extreme Horror Channel on Vimeo.
 
For those of you unfamiliar with Vimeo, it's a video streaming service on which independent filmmakers can showcase their work across a wide range of genres, either for free, for rental or for you to buy. I've used it a number of times in the past – in fact it was the first place I saw the incredible Tras El Cristal – and always found that it runs like a dream.
 
What's especially exciting about the Unearthed Channel is that it allows the films to be presented in an uncensored and uncut format – something that is rarely achievable on other popular platforms, who shall remain nameless here. So if you want the full glory of the Unearthed back catalogue, then this is the place to get it.
 
There's a good amount to choose from to begin with, and lots more content – taking in both new films and bonus features – will be going live as time goes on. But here's a few recommendations from me to get you started...

Flowers: I lose track of how many times I have raved about this movie, and I'll basically evangelise for Phil Stevens' incredible feature at every chance I get. So here goes again – if you haven't found a way to watch this yet, you can rent is for about £3.50, and you should really treat yourself. This is a sinister experience in sepia, claustrophobic, nightmarish, darkly beautiful and all delivered without a single line of dialogue.

American Guinea Pig – Bloodshock: My personal favourite of the four so far, Bloodshock is a dystopian torture experiment in black and white. Using a host of subtle but clever effects to crank up tension, and with one of the most breathtaking finales I think I've ever seen, this is a tough watch in places but well worth the effort. The physical and psychological suffering depicted in the lead by Dan Ellis was a great factor in this movie working so well – be sure to check it out.
 
Collar: Ryan Nicholson's sleazy, grimy feature is wonderfully shot and tells the various tales of a completely dysfunctional and almost utterly unlikeable cast. A strong and unflinching vision of the darkness lying at the fringes of urban life, Collar catches something that fans of bleak cinema might well like.

Lung: It's that man Phil Stevens again! This is a sort of spiritual sequel to Flowers, if not necessarily bearing any direct resemblance, it follows much of the style and flavour of its predecessor whilst bringing something new to the table. This confusing and abstract journey of a man through a broken city – and his broken memories – is another wonderful offering for fans of arthouse with an extreme edge.

Madness of Many: Another very arthouse feature, this time from Danish director Kasper Juhl, MoM might not quite be up to the incredible standards of Your Flesh, Your Curse, but it is very good in its own right. This dark fable follows a young girl into the afterlife, showing us more of the suffering that she had to endure in life – often beautifully shot despite so much challenging, confronting content, I feel like this one marked the start of a really exciting phase in this director's output.

There's numerous films I'll be checking out myself – Dreaming Purple Neon and Lilith's Hell certainly stand out as ones I'm excited for – although recommending them pre-watching might be a bit too bold! However there's bound to be something for an fan of extreme horror, so it's worth checking out an parting with a few quid for some of the very best contemporary work in the field.

Just drop by https://vimeo.com/channels/unearthedfilmsextreme/ to see more!

Often there's a trailer emerges that really catches your attention, and for me one of the most prominent examples of this recently was Red Krokodil. This one looked like it was going to be an absolutely crazy trip, and comes from a very established name in the shape of director Domiziano Christopharo. So, did that one have as much bite as it promised to from the first look?

Well, yes and no. The story itself follows an untitled lead – credited as 'him' – living in a post-apocalyptic Soviet state. Maybe 'living' should also have had inverted commas there, because our lead is suffering horribly from the physical ravages of what is happening in the outside world as well as enduring a large internal struggle against the effects of the dark drug concoction that gives us the title of the movie.
 
Let's say this first – Red Krokodil is bleak with a capital b. There's absolutely no ray of hope or optimism anywhere in this movie, nor is there ever any sense that our hero is ever looking for anything beyond the merest goals of survival. The colour scheme is largely composed of greys and browns, deliberately offering up a very unappealing colour palette that is pretty displeasing to the eye. When we do have brief cutaways to brighter scenes it almost feels like too much for the viewer to take in, but don't worry, those moments are rare.
 
In fact, I'd say I have a great respect for what the director was going for with this movie – I'm just not sure it's entirely successful in what it is trying to achieve. It is grim and grinding, no doubts, but it didn't really deliver the same wild imagery and crazed visuals that I had anticipated from the trailer – in fact much of what features there is barely used, frustratingly. I'd hesitate to call that nothing but trailer fodder – it's interestingly used and certainly not throwaway – but equally this film is largely not what the teasers promised. It's far slower, more reflective and uneasy than that.
 
The primary problem is that I think it is just too slow – nothing much really happens throughout the whole thing, and it's hard to find a huge amount to latch onto in terms of what you want for the character. There's never much of a goal to cheer him on to achieve, so the story often seems to meander, starting steadily and only really gaining any traction after half an hour or more. Even at an hour and twenty minutes it feels long, and maybe could have benefited from 10 or 20 minutes less.
 
There are a few other minor quibbles – the voiceover that features in the movie so much becomes grating after a while, the metaphor and themes are a bit too obvious and there are aspects that don't make much sense (and not in the good way I had hoped). On the upside I think the main actor is good, but I don't think he quite has the raw material here to work with to deliver something really sparkling.
 
I'd almost advise watching this without seeing the trailer – I think I went into this one with my expectations set a little wrong, and on reflection I am a little warmer towards it than I was initially. But even with that said, I would consider this one decent rather than anything more special than that.

RATING: 6/10. There are elements to like here – some solid acting, a splash of really good visuals and a handful of good ideas – but I think it's just too slim in terms of storytelling and doesn't really have the narrative drive that I would have liked. Slow and meandering in places, this one also had a voiceover I could have lived with less of. If you like your cinema grim and nihilistic, this one could be right up your alley, but for me it just didn't have the spark it needed to really ignite this one to a great rating. ​

As someone who missed out on the original Guinea Pig movies when they were released – and probably for the best, as I was four when The Devil's Experiment was horrifying audiences for the first time – it's an extremely exciting experience to be able to watch the American Guinea Pig series. The US update of the classic extreme horror series has certainly brought a similar variety to the originals – from the out-and-out blood feast of Bouquet of Guts and Gore to the psychological torture of Bloodshock, and not forgetting last week's review, a ritualistic slice of self-mutilation in the shape of Sacrifice. Every movie brings something different to the table, but I feel each intends to bring to life another aspect of what extreme horror can be.

And that's no different for the third entry in the series, Song of Solomon. Pitching itself as an extreme exorcism movie, this one feels like it's the most mainstream of the series so far – and that's no criticism, more a compliment that this feels like an extreme horror movie that, like A Serbian Film and Martyrs before it, could reach a wider audience. The look and feel of even the credits is cleaner and sharper than previous, and there feels as though there is an extra layer of polish. It's impressively made on a tight budget and I think this could be a real breakout for the series.

The story follows the aptly-named Mary, who is inhabited by a powerful demon, and our opening sees her father killing himself in a pretty brutal fashion. There are numerous very gory scenes within the movie, and the practical effects never look less than great – the team has done a great job of things there for sure.

This opening scene leads to a host of priests coming to visit Mary in the hope of exorcising the demon, only one by one to fall to its tricks and temptations. Behind that there's a deeper story that is hinted at, with each priest visited by a mysterious figure before they attend to the possessed woman. It adds a nice layer of intrigue that is eventually paid off, and enables a host of actors to bring their own take to what a priest should be – particular stand-outs for me were Gene Palubicki's growling Father Corbin and David E McMahon's evocative Father Powell. It also drives home just how powerful the demon is in defeating one exorcist after another, which brings a great aspect of escalation to the story. It's not a prolonged battle of wills, more an uphill struggle for a host of hopeful combatants seeking to defeat the demon – and as each fall by the wayside you begin to wonder if evil will win out after all...

The other standout performance comes from the lead, Jessica Cameron, who is so believable in displaying the power of the demon and comes across as genuinely sinister on a host of occasions. It's a powerful, committed central performance that the film just wouldn't have the same impact without, and some of the visuals created for her character will stay with you for some time.
 
So yes, there is an awful lot good about Song of Solomon, and it's another high-quality entry in the series. But it is also fair to say that not everything is perfect. There are some performances from the lesser characters that weren't awfully strong, which did have the effect of slightly diminishing the significance of events at times. And while I was never less than entertained throughout its 85 minutes, I was left with a slight sense that we fell somewhere between two stalls – some of this movie was really chilling and psychological, and has lived in my mind ever since I watched it, while at other times it was absolutely outrageous gore, and there were times where I felt those two elements didn't quite mesh. If I can ever dare utter these words in this column, I think that Song of Solomon could have been ever better with some of the gore removed or toned down. There are enough strong performances from the central cast that there were moments I could have lived without it.
 
I know, I know, I suggested toning down the blood and guts at Film Gutter. That might just be a first...
 
In all seriousness, if you're a fan of extreme horror, or even if you just love exorcism movies, then Song of Solomon is well worth your time. It might be a bit harder to stomach than more mainstream entries into the subgenre, but it does get the fundamentals practically dead-on and doesn't rely too heavily on ladling on the claret for its effect. There are some great acting displays, the plot moves along at a good pace and has some layers to it, the exorcism aspects are very believable and the practical FX are really well-delivered. Even though at a few junctions it felt like it was trying to do two things at once, I was never less that riveted, and that's no small achievement in its own right.


RATING: 8/10. AGP really feels like a triumphant return for the Guinea Pig name – in fact, despite the original's undoubted cult value, I think these are largely significantly better, as my comparative review ratings will bear out. Sure, maybe the originals have dated since the mid-80s, but these new takes feel sharper, more on-point and more ambitious than their predecessors. This is certainly the most ambitious yet and I think the one that might just bring the series to many more people's attention. In taking a popular horror trope and making it more 'extreme', this is bound to attract more press and in delivering an effective story – it's certainly simple but it is also cleverly done – with strong performances at the heart. I think many horror fans will enjoy this more – and certainly find it a touch more palatable – than some of the other AGP movies, although a few keys scenes still require a strong stomach. Overall I think this could be a big film for extreme horror in 2018, and deservedly so.

All through March Film Gutter will be taking a look at some of the recent and upcoming releases from Unearthed Films. If you haven't heard of them, where have you been? Unearthed have long been bringing out some of the best modern and classic extreme horror movies, and you can check out all their releases at http://www.unearthedfilms.com/news.htm.

Sometimes I'll take a bit of time after watching a film to have a think about its plotline, its characters and its impact upon me. Other times it's to consider some of the complexities that might have been contained therein, giving me some time to unpick a multi-layered movie.

Sacrifice, frankly, I've had to take some time just to get over. In fact there's no way I could have reviewed it right after watching it because I was feeling a pretty shaky and a little faint.
 
Given some of what has come before at Film Gutter, this should give you an indication of just how brutal Sacrifice is. And I can't even say I wasn't warned – but then I've been told lots of time just how extreme a movie is only to be relatively unmoved. Surely this one couldn't be that bad? But when the head honcho at Unearthed Films himself, Stephen Biro, tells you just how full-on it is, you'd better be listening – the man knows of what he speaks.

Sacrifice follows the story of Daniel, a young man with some pretty serious psychological issues and some deep physical scars to go along with them. He's still struggling with the death of his father, who inhabits the story as a sort of ghost, a disembodied voice that often offers up conflicting instructions. When he returns to his old house, he's not there for a simple trip down memory lane – he's there to carry through a ritual, and one that will involve inflicting some truly hideous and grotesque acts upon himself...

The plot is pretty thin, but then again Sacrifice only runs to sixty minutes, so it doesn't need to be terribly complex. We do get a reasonable amount of set-up of the character and of the situation before we get to the really gruesome stuff, which I think is good – as much as I loved the second entry in the series, Bloodshock, we were rather thrown into that one at the deep end. At least here there's a slightly softer introduction to allow you to get you feet under the metaphorical table before the claret begins to flow.

And man alive does it flow – sure, there might have been movies out there with more blood pouring out of a whole lot more people, but this surely has to be the most blood shed by one individual. The effects in this one look really believable – horribly so, as this one would probably be a lot easier to watch if it didn't all look so authentic – and equally Roberto Scorza is very good in the lead role. It's a challenging part, no doubt, but the fact he is so committed to it and all the absolute carnage the character puts his body through is extremely commendable.  

I think the only thing that helped me ultimately get through this movie was the fact that there are a handful of moments of relief, little glimpses into some kind of dreamworld that serve as something of a breather from the utter self-mutilation Daniel is determined to inflict upon himself. Those scenes are very nicely shot and a good antidote to the bloodstained bathroom in which we claustrophobically find ourselves for most of the film. The ending of the film doesn't come as a huge surprise, as well as containing what to me felt like a slightly unnecessary footnote, but those are minor quibbles really. If you consider yourself a proper gorehound, if you consider yourself someone who can absolutely watch anything without flinching, if you want to say that you have seen one of the most extreme horror movies of recent years, then Sacrifice is surely the film for you.

I would love to tell you that I didn't flinch, but I'd be flat-out lying. In fact, if you had my live reaction to this movie on webcam, it probably would have been absolutely hilarious. I was up and down out of my seat, shouting at the screen,   head in my hands, gesticulating... I felt like I absolutely lived every minute of this hour, and that's no bad thing.
 
RATING: 7.5/10. My finger has only hovered over the stop button twice in the history of Film Gutter – once during Thanatomorphose and once during Vase De Noces. This goes down in history as the third, and god I wanted to stop it. But I managed to plough on regardless and survive this utter endurance test of a movie. And that's all you can do really – come out of the other side in one piece, but probably not unscathed. For all its genuinely shocking content, it generally looks very good and is well-shot, has strong effects, a solid lead performance and enough variety to keep it interesting. But it is not for the faint-hearted out there, or the extreme horror novice.

Brace yourself if you do decide to go in for this one...