Many reviews suggest there's nothing like this. It is unique, but I'd say far from wholly disconnected from the rest of film canon. I personally thought of Nekromantik, Spider Baby, and Salo as predecessors.
This is another film I was exposed to in high school, but never actually watched all the way through. I'm not positive, but I think I appreciate this more now than I would have back then, simply because it is "artistic." Less austere than, say, Begotten but more intentional with formal manipulation and technique. The layered, fourth-wall-breaking, oscillating narration splices the narrative threads in a disjointed but poetically unifying way.
Contrasted with the aforementioned Salo, this, however, doesn't exclusively reside on the side of revulsion. It elevates/devolves itself into a cacophony of perversions which are not exclusively "evil." That's the other obvious thing for any viewer, to some degree; you're better for, at least, tolerating the obscenities. The film crosses into sexual transgression but through an obfuscated prism of amorality.
By its end, I don't think this reaches any realm of "transcendence." It's a fun movie for freaks. It's me; I'm a freak.
Many reviews suggest there's nothing like this. It is unique, but I'd say far from wholly disconnected from the rest of film canon. I personally thought of Nekromantik, Spider Baby, and Salo as predecessors.
This is another film I was exposed to in high school, but never actually watched all the way through. I'm not positive, but I think I appreciate this more now than I would have back then, simply because it is "artistic." Less austere than, say, Begotten but more intentional with formal manipulation and technique. The layered, fourth-wall-breaking, oscillating narration splices the narrative threads in a disjointed but poetically unifying way.
Contrasted with the aforementioned Salo, this, however, doesn't exclusively reside on the side of revulsion. It elevates/devolves itself into a cacophony of perversions which are not exclusively "evil." That's the other obvious thing for any viewer, to some degree; you're better for, at least, tolerating the obscenities. The film crosses into sexual transgression but through an obfuscated prism of amorality.
By its end, I don't think this reaches any realm of "transcendence." It's a fun movie for freaks. It's me; I'm a freak.