UK: Grotesque from 4Digital Asia in August

[MarcMorris]

On August 17 2009 4Digital Asia will issue Koji Shiraishi's extreme splatter / torture porn pic Grotesque (2009) on DVD. Having heard about this one for some time it will be interesting to see if the BBFC issue it with a certificate in its uncut form (if it is granted a certificate at all) - yes, it really is that extreme!

Press release:

Billed as "the cruellest Japanese splatter movie ever" (a statement that doesn't do the film's graphic scenes of torture and dismemberment anywhere near enough justice), GROTESQUE is a survival horror movie that makes the likes of "Saw" and "Hostel" look like "Mary Poppins" in comparison.
Written and directed by Koji Shiraishi (Carved aka A Slit-Mouthed Woman) and starring Hiroaki Kawatsure (Chanbara Beauty; Carved) and Japanese porn star Tsugumi Nagasawa (Tokyo Gore Police), the film takes the concept of Japanese extreme cinema to a whole new level.

A girl, Aki (Tsugumi Nagasawa), and her new boyfriend, Kazuo (Hiroaki Kawatsure), are mugged, knocked unconscious and kidnapped by an unknown assailant. They wake up to find themselves bound and gagged in a torture chamber-style basement at the mercy of a man armed with a mind-boggling array of kitchen implements and power tools whose only pleasure is gained from the suffering of others. So begins a slow and sustained assault during which the couple is gradually hacked, mutilated and degraded to the point where death becomes a more desirable option to living. Or is it? When one captive is offered the chance to die in order to save the life of the other, the question of how far one would go for a loved one is answered in the most unpleasant of ways.

Relentlessly intense and explicitly graphic in its scenes of torture, sexual abuse and violence, this is definitely not a film for the easily offended, the squeamish or the faint-hearted!

GROTESQUE (cert. 18) will be released on DVD (£12.99) by 4Digital Asia on 17th August 2009.

DVD: amazon.co.uk

Dread Central: Grotesque

[Angel]

Yes I wonder if it will be passed uncut. None of the reviews I've read mention any sexual violence.

[claire]

£5.98 pre-ordered is pretty good.

[Timmy Lea]

So, not the one with Alan Bates, Anna Massey and Sting then?

Drat.

[ExDrummer]

£5.98 pre-ordered is pretty good.

Damn, just saw tons of copies of the movie at the last convention - but they were all around 15 GPB (imports)!

Good to see that, guess I will join you with that 6 GBP offer

[claire]

No, not that crap with Sting.

ExDrummer - this title's unfortunately been delayed due to BBFC uncertainty ... so it may wind up being cut ...

[ExDrummer]

Argh, s**t!!

Maybe I'll import then...but I guess that's not worth it (15+ GPB + shipping) at least as long as I don't read any trustworthy reviews.

[loops]

Bad news, Grotesque has been REJECTED by the bbfc!:

BBFC: Grotesque

[Harold Monroe]

a backwards step for sure

i didnt think they bothered rejecting films anymore, looks like ill be importing if it gets good reviews.

[loops]

Yep, the BBFC have rejected Grotesque.

I havent seen it but it must be really extreme for them to Reject it. It will be interesting to read their explination for banning it.

BBFC: Grotesque

[fredzilla]

Ah, such a primitive idea with censorship! Especially when it comes to a country like UK that should have learned that movies are movies and nothing else. I'm happy I live on a safe distance from that country.

But I guess the UK-fans who wants to see this movie just can order it from some other country or.... maybe just download it. Long live freedom! Good that BFCC makes people download movies...

For me it dosen't matter if the movie is good or bad. Is it a work of fiction, why ban it? This could be a good opportunity for people to raise against the conservative retared system and demand some changes?

Or is everything just a very advanced PR-hoax to gain some more publicity...

[MarcMorris]

You could always order the unrated Japanese DVD:

cdJapan: Grotesque (Unrated Version)

[jacksmith1983]

I really don't think that Britain does have a "conservative retarded system" when it comes to film classification. Back in the eighties and nineties the BBFC were very draconian, but over the last decade or so they've grew up and become much more liberal and it is, in all fairness, actually quite rare for them to censor or ban material intended for the consumption of an adult audience. If anything the BBFC's decisions are actually criticised in the British media for being too liberal these days, although personally I completely disagree with that particular point of view as will most other people on this site.

Very little material is banned by the BBFC these days and the few films which are can invariably be purchased online from other countries where they are legally available. Such decisions really carry very little significance. Therefore I can't really support the view that the BBFC "makes people download films" either. People illegally download films because they don't like paying for them. After all if you're online it's just as easy to find a website offering an imported, uncut, licensed DVD of say Grotesque or the similarly banned Murder Set Pieces as it is to find them on an illegal torrent or Rapidshare site. So really the occassional BBFC ban is no justification in itself for the illegal downloading of films.

In the age of the internet BBFC censorship is nothing more than a very minor inconvenience, nothing more.

[abaddon]

Therefore I can't really support the view that the BBFC "makes people download films" either. People illegally download films because they don't like paying for them. After all if you're online it's just as easy to find a website offering an imported, uncut, licensed DVD of say Grotesque or the similarly banned Murder Set Pieces as it is to find them on an illegal torrent or Rapidshare site. So really the occassional BBFC ban is no justification in itself for the illegal downloading of films.

In the age of the internet BBFC censorship is nothing more than a very minor inconvenience, nothing more.

I year ago I would have been in total agreement, but the new Dangerous Pictures Act significantly increases the risk of importing banned DVDs. I don't download movies or buy bootlegs. If fact ~350 of my ~1000 DVD collection are imports. I've only ever had one DVD confiscated (the first AU) and all I got was a nasty and threatening letter that went straight in the bin. I'm still happy to import stuff that's just been trimmed or is unavailable, but an outright ban could be asking for trouble.

[loops]

How do customs know what is in your package? I have loads of imports and not once have they been opened and/or confiscated.

[abaddon]

I've had three or four packages opened by customs, but August Underground was the only one that was stolen. All the opened packages were from xploited, so they were probably targeting the sender. Don't think I'm on any blacklist, since nothing else has ever been opened, but you never know.

[loops]

I have never ordered from exploited, so that will be why i havent encountered any problems.

[gax]

just had a look at it and it looks like flowers of flesh and blood and that's banned so its not a surprise

[AndyBlade]

Predictably, the Daily Mail have picked up the story:

LINK

[Oscar Deutsch]

As a sampler, the trailer can be found here, but be warned, it contains some pretty graphic snippets - if the film is just more-or-less just a series of torture set pieces as this suggests, then I'm not really surprised that it fell foul of the current BBFC guidelines. Not saying I approve of the ban, since I haven't seen it, just that going by the trailer, it does seem to overstep what is currently permissible at the BBFC.

Again, be warned, definitely not suitable for work!

Trailer