This is the second entry into the Guinea Pig series, and possibly my favorite of the lot. Flower of Flesh and Blood achieved cult status after actor Charlie Sheen allegedly contacted the feds after viewing this particular movie, believing he was watching genuine snuff. If that's true, it angers me particularly because Charlie Sheen is an actor and should know that a real snuff film wouldn't have all kinds of camera cuts and sound effects. But hey, it is Charlie Sheen we're talking about. The filmmakers did have to produce the actress to prove she was still alive. The Unearthed DVD release of this film has an awesome feature called "snuff vision", which allows you to watch the movie as it would have looked on a crappy VHS rip back in the day (closer to the version Sheen would have seen). This is significant because watching this film in DVD quality really shows the flaws and anyone can see through the snuff facade and see this is acted. But on an old, grainy VHS copy where details are not so clear, it becomes much more apparent how people could have thought this was genuine. Kudos to you, Unearthed.
Anyway, on to the film. Flower of Flesh and Blood is another short, like the other Guinea Pig movies, that focuses zero on plot and fully on gore. A woman is kidnapped by a weird samurai dude (played by horror manga artist Hideshi Hino, this film is based on his work) on the way home and he wishes to turn her into a "flower of flesh and blood". He gives her a drug to make her semi-concious, and he explains the drug will make the sensations pleasurable to her. Nice guy huh?. He then proceeds to butcher and vivisect the woman and add her parts to his "collection". It's as simple as it sounds. This movie is like a gorehound's wet dream. The FX were absolutely fantastic for such a low budget film. I spent the whole 40-some odd minutes of the film ogling over how well the filmmakers pulled this off. Not that it would convince anyone (besides Charlie Sheen) that it's real because there are several parts which clearly showcase all of the latex limb glory, but it's clear the FX guys put a lot of effort into this one and the effort is much appreciated. Remember that this was a movie made in the 80's, before all kinds of high tech special effects existed. FOFAB is a film that shocked many people, and while the film is definitely dated, it holds a warm fuzzy place in my heart.
I find this movie to be a big improvement over the first film, The Devil's Experiment. The first film played out more like a "real" movie, but it was rather boring to me in comparison to this one. Unless you truly enjoy watching vivisections, this film is like a showcase of gore FX that does not disappoint (unless you are one of those people who need to point out every little thing that's clearly fake). I highly recommend this film to those looking to try the Guinea Pig series for the first time, because this is just about top of the line as far as this series goes. All of the gore, depravity, and sadism that made the series famous to begin with is highlighted here, without the awful comedic elements of same later entries into the series (see: Devil Doctor Woman). This is the real deal, and about depraved as most movies get. I'm sure most serious gorehounds have seen this one already, but I highly recommend it for those of you just starting out or if you're looking to push the limits of extreme cinema and what you can stomach.
4 OUT OF 5 STARS
**** out of *****
Anyway, on to the film. Flower of Flesh and Blood is another short, like the other Guinea Pig movies, that focuses zero on plot and fully on gore. A woman is kidnapped by a weird samurai dude (played by horror manga artist Hideshi Hino, this film is based on his work) on the way home and he wishes to turn her into a "flower of flesh and blood". He gives her a drug to make her semi-concious, and he explains the drug will make the sensations pleasurable to her. Nice guy huh?. He then proceeds to butcher and vivisect the woman and add her parts to his "collection". It's as simple as it sounds. This movie is like a gorehound's wet dream. The FX were absolutely fantastic for such a low budget film. I spent the whole 40-some odd minutes of the film ogling over how well the filmmakers pulled this off. Not that it would convince anyone (besides Charlie Sheen) that it's real because there are several parts which clearly showcase all of the latex limb glory, but it's clear the FX guys put a lot of effort into this one and the effort is much appreciated. Remember that this was a movie made in the 80's, before all kinds of high tech special effects existed. FOFAB is a film that shocked many people, and while the film is definitely dated, it holds a warm fuzzy place in my heart.
I find this movie to be a big improvement over the first film, The Devil's Experiment. The first film played out more like a "real" movie, but it was rather boring to me in comparison to this one. Unless you truly enjoy watching vivisections, this film is like a showcase of gore FX that does not disappoint (unless you are one of those people who need to point out every little thing that's clearly fake). I highly recommend this film to those looking to try the Guinea Pig series for the first time, because this is just about top of the line as far as this series goes. All of the gore, depravity, and sadism that made the series famous to begin with is highlighted here, without the awful comedic elements of same later entries into the series (see: Devil Doctor Woman). This is the real deal, and about depraved as most movies get. I'm sure most serious gorehounds have seen this one already, but I highly recommend it for those of you just starting out or if you're looking to push the limits of extreme cinema and what you can stomach.
4 OUT OF 5 STARS
**** out of *****