Torture porn. Two words that strike terror into my heart, but perhaps not for the reason you might think. It’s a subdivision of horror that came to prominence with the Hostel and Saw franchises, the common denominator being films that feature individuals in extremis at the hands of some assailant and characterised by an emphasis on graphic depictions of the physical harm the victims experience.
As a direct result, the majority of torture porn movies are bereft of all the things that I consider are essential for a film to be truly horrific. There’s no subtlety, ambiguity or atmosphere here, just a game of chicken between what a viewer can take (in terms of gruesomeness) and what the filmmakers are prepares to dish out. And here lies the issue at the heart of the torture porn debate – most examples of the genre don’t really get the job done.
POV cameras capture the action from the victim's eyes, putting the viewer in the hotseat with them. It's pretty effective, and creates lots of opportunities for inferred, off-screen unpleasantness.
That’s not to say that I enjoy watching people being tortured on screen but rather if the goal of the genre is to make you experience some vicarious suffering in sympathy with the victims, the majority of torture porn is too safe, sanitised and gleeful to achieve that goal.
Not so The Butcher. Kim Jin Won’s film is so shocking and extreme that it’s banned in his native Korea and hasn’t received a BBFC certificate in this country (As a result your best hope of seeing it is via a region 1 import of an unrated US cut). His ethos with the film seems to be “If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly” and boy oh boy has he done things properly here.
The plot is pretty straightforward. A snuff film maker working from some remote farm buildings kidnaps his leading men and ladies, straps cameras to them and then tortures them to death for the benefit of his clients.
This couple form the centre of the plot. Don't expect any dashing heroics from the boyfriend. He's more of a self preservation kind of guy.
Sounds horrible? Well, it is. This is endurance cinema at its most challenging. As if the P.O.V. cameras forcing you to experience the horrors the director has in store for his victims weren’t enough, it’s a film that revels in the bleaker aspects of mankind. There are no heroes here, the closest thing to one being a would be escapee whose only impulse is self preservation at the cost of anything else.
It would all be disgustingly gratuitous if it didn’t have something to say. It’s message is pretty clear, echoed in the rants of the director character, that the torture porn genre is devoid of originality and, well, balls. I can’t help but get the feeling Kim Jin Won is challenging the very essence of the genre with his film, questioning why it exists at all. Certainly the horrors of The Butcher go far beyond anything American studios would get away with, even if much of it is inferred (although to be honest these off-screen moments are the most excruciating) rather than explicitly shown. It certainly shows up the usual torture porn fodder as being surprisingly safe and sanitised, rather than the gruelling exercises in horror they usually claim to be.
The Pig does most of the donkey work for the snuff films. Can you guess how he got his nickname?
Gruelling is certainly a word that applies here though. It clocks in at just under eighty minutes but it seems like a lifetime when you are experiencing the unpleasantness on show. Why would you want to experience it? To be honest, I’m not sure you do but if nothing else, at least The Butcher serves a purpose – it highlights the fraudulent nature of the torture porn genre by contrasting the lightweight laughs of Hostel with its own genuinely horrible, visceral self.
Let’s face it, if you’re going to make a film about someone being tortured it seems only fair it should be a little tortuous itself.
Highland Fidelity 