Guest Blog: Alex Davis 'The Hardest Movie I Ever Watched'

Today on the blog I'm very pleased to welcome Alex Davis, with a guest post about his new project, Film Gutter. So, without further ado...

Take it away, Alex:

GUEST BLOG: THE HARDEST MOVIE I EVER WATCHED

Over the last year, I’ve had a wonderful time working on reviews and interviews over at Ginger Nuts of Horror, all focused on the world of extreme horror. It’s a fantastic scene of people, who have been hugely helpful and welcoming, and I’ve legitimately stumbled across some of the best films I’ve ever watched. But there have also been moments where I have thought ‘why on Earth did I do that to myself?’ I’ve never shied away from a challenge, and consider myself someone who is quite hard to shock. I expect there are a few films that I’ve seen that would have defeated a lot of viewers along the way. But the one that sticks out by some way as the hardest to watch, and that is Thanatomorphose.

The date was 19^th April 2015, and with the house to myself I decided to settle down for a movie for Film Gutter. This year I’m trying to keep a bit more ahead of the curve, but for a long time after I started it was watch it, review it, send it and live it went. So I got myself comfortable for Thanatomorphose, one of those films I had seen on a number of ‘most disturbing’ lists. And it turned out to be anything but a comfortable experience.

Now, what disturbs people is distinctly individual , but for me this one was kind of the perfect storm. The story follows a young lady in a fairly uneasy love triangle between her ‘alpha male’ boyfriend and a rather gentler and shier friend. The movie openings with a mind-wrenching cacophony of colour and sound, a strange shooting style repeated later on to even greater effect. When we get to the real ‘meat’ of the story, what begins as a fairly ordinary seemingly illness soon becomes a living hell for our lead. Her body begins to give in on her, rotting away to nothing. The shooting and visuals are so graphic and unflinching that it left me utterly speechless throughout. But when you add into that the fact that her decay also sees her mind descending and her animal lusts taking over, you have a combination that made me feel perturbed in a way no movie ever has before or since. Oh yeah, and I ordered myself a kebab before starting this one. A kebab. What the hell was I thinking? When it arrived there was no way I could eat it... Kayden Rose does a fine job in the lead, growing increasingly fascinated with her condition and also embracing some utterly horrible scenes. The final scene is punctuated with an absolutely awful scream as her body finally dissolves to nothing, and I was left with my hands over my ears asking myself ‘Is it over? Is it over?’ Never have I wanted to turn off a film more.

And you might ask yourself, why the hell didn’t I? A fine question. First up, in taking up the quest of Film Gutter, I made a sort of silent vow to myself to NEVER turn off a film, no matter how upset, nervous or physically sick it was making me. And secondly, it’s the kind of morbid curiosity that was in evidence throughout Thanatomorphose. Why do drivers slow down to look at car crashes? Why do people gather round when people are attacked or mugged on the street? We want to know. We kind of need to know, as humans – we can’t help ourselves. And for this very reason I had to get to the end of this film. Not because I ever thought there would or could be a happy ending – in fact, so much extreme horror has a bleak finale! But I just had to witness it.

Now, a lot of people don’t share that urge with me. Which is kind of what Film Gutter is there for – by no means is it simply a mechanism for masochistic self-torture. Film Gutter is a safe window to look in to and find out what you wanted to know without looking at it yourself – we’re offering the newspaper coverage the day after that car crash. You can get the facts, but you don’t need to witness the gore, the violence and the deviancy yourself. Just how shocking is A Serbian Film? Do they seriously do it with a zombie in Nekromantik? Just how twisted are the Guinea Pig movies? And are there seriously films called Human Pork Chop and Bad Butt?

If you love extreme horror, hopefully you’ll find some useful guidance as to what’s among the finest on the scene. But if not, this is a glimpse into some of the brilliance and madness that is out there – and remember it’s a fine line between those two...

Film Gutter Volume 1 is out now on ebook, with 50 reviews, interviews and more exclusive content from the world of extreme horror. Read it if you dare, and watch them if you’re even more daring! More here. 

Guest Post: Alex Davis on The Dark Side Of Cinema

So, I was meant to post this yesterday as part of a blog swap with Alex Davis, but life got in the way. So a day late, here's Alex's wonderful guest post. And over on his blog, you can find me talking about a key influence on The Quarantined City and one of my favourite ever shows, Twin Peaks.

Take it away, Alex:

The Dark Side of Cinema

One of the things I've always really loved to have in my working life is a bit of variety. Freelancing gives you the opportunity to explore lots of interesting things with a kind of freedom you don't often have in a regular working environment. And when, at the very start of this year, I noticed Ginger Nuts of Horror – a fantastic website if you've never been by – were looking for reviewers and writers, I decided to throw my hat in the ring with a pitch for a series looking at the most extreme of cinema. And so, Film Gutter was born.

I've always enjoyed things that are from the edge, alternative, a bit outre. And the same very much goes for films – I've rarely been one for a blockbuster, much preferring independent and world cinema. What first set me off thinking about Film Gutter was a quick trawl through Youtube at people's lists of 'disturbing films' or 'disgusting films' or 'controversial movies' and it struck me how many I had already seen and not been that affected by. And that started me wondering – is there a line I won't let a film cross? Is there a point where I would press the stop button and give up because something had disturbed me so much? If those things that really shook other people up had produced so little effect in me, was there something out there that would make me feel that perturbed?

So the rationale was effectively something akin to masochism, a movie-based Man vs Food – bring it on and see if you can break me. Six months in, I've taken in some absolutely horrendous movies, but it's been fascinating to explore what is out there and what people are doing in extreme horror. There are a lot of films I don't know if I would have checked out or not if I wasn't writing the column. 

So here are a few highlights of the first six months of Film Gutter:

Best Film: Flowers, all day long. An astounding piece by director Phil Stevens, without a single word of dialogue in the whole piece. The visuals and the atmosphere are simply incredible, and the wordless performance from the six female leads are also wonderful. This one is on its way soon from Unearthed Films, and I can't suggest checking it out enough.

Worst Film: Yet to type up my review for this one, and I may yet not bother, because Chaos was so awful. Lazy characters, cliché violence and dialogue put into the mouths of teenage characters but clearly written by somebody many years out of touch. Just lousy from beginning to end, some kind of attempt at an informational film but not even achieving that.

Most Harrowing Film: Megan is Missing. A relatively simple found footage movie, but well played by all the teenage actors and having one of the most horrific, impactful finales you are ever likely to see. The last twenty minutes of this one left me absolutely shellshocked.

Most Reprehensible Film: Snuff 102. It's rare to find a film was so few redeeming features as this Argentinian piece. Flat out horrible and simply designed to upset from the get go, with graphic and realistically presented snuff violence and scenes that send me a bit queasy even to think of.

Hardest Film to Watch: Thanatomorphose. My hand lingered over the stop button so many times during this movie it's untrue. I made this stomach-churning body horror even worse by watching it while I ate dinner – very bad move indeed. The last few minutes of this one had me covering my ears with my hands and asking the screen 'Is it over?'

There are still plenty more disturbing films out there to watch, and I'm looking forwards – perhaps a little strangely – to maybe finding the film that can break me...

You can read the full set of Film Gutter reviews so far athttp://www.gingernutsofhorror.com/film-gutter.html. And, if you fancied something a bit gentler, you can check out my novel The Last War at http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00YQICMHQ