Grotesque is a horror drama from Japan about a young couple kidnapped, abused and tortured for no real reason. It may well become something of a cause celebre being the first film in a while to be rejected (ie banned) by the BBFC.

As much as I’m a gore hound I do like a bit of a plot, and despite this film lacking one, it managed to keep me engaged. Although very little happens in between dismemberments, thanks to fluid camera work and brilliant use of classical music it remains strangely watchable. This is a quality that’s rare and yet particularly prevalent in Japanese films, especially the work of Takashi Miike to which writer/director Kôji Shiraishi surely owes a massive debt.

Reminiscent of the infamous Guinea Pig films of the eighties the set design and lighting is visually similar to more recent Saw and (pitiful) Hostel films. It has little in common with the so called Torture Porn genre, apart from torture and porn, dispensing with superfluous and distracting plot and concentrating on the serious business of sexually abusing and eviscerating attractive young people.

Technically it’s as near perfect as a low budget film can be. Make up effects are excellent and convincing, the single set is very detailed but above all the lighting and camera work are excellent. I was impressed at the lack of shaky hand held camera work, instead there are smooth steadicam and boom shots, reminiscent of Argento and Carpenter. Sound design is over the top in places, unnecessarily punctuating minor actions, I couldn’t work out if it was trying to make a point or if it had just been poorly mixed.

Key to the success of the film is the performances of the three actors, which are uniformly excellent and completely unselfconscious despite the difficult subject matter. It would be hard to single out any one of them, although Shigeo Ôsako is wonderfully understated as the cold, emotionless tormentor.

My interpretation of Grotesque is that it is about indomitable human spirit, similar to Martyrs but without the philosophy, understated and totally stripped down of narrative bells and whistles. Yes, it is a gore film and a particularly nasty one at that, but I felt it had more to offer than Indiewood produced torture porn despite having none of the narrative. Perhaps most bizarrely I found it strangely uplifting despite the bleakness of the subject matter, to be honest it is a truly awesome little film.

It’s a pity (but unsurprising) that the BBFC don’t see it the same way and although I’ve not seen Antichrist it seems like a bit of double standard to ban one sexually and violently explicit, possibly misogynistic but very stylish, well put together and brilliantly acted film for another. Of course I could be completely wrong and in fact it is just a mean spirited sexist gore film, either way it’s required viewing for horror/gore fans.

8/10