Guinea Pig Flower of Flesh and Blood/Making of Guinea Pig Double Feature

Rating:
Summary: yawn.................
Review: after the scene where the 1st hand is cut off she'd have been dead in 10 minutes. however...........she's still breathing until the evisceration. don't think so. secondly, why would someone sedate a victim who he's OBVIOUSLY out to torture. for being based on something that really happened, this is weak suace. oh yeah......i've been living in japan for the past year and a half, none of my friends in tokyo have ever heard of these crimes.

Rating:
Summary: Not as intense as it is hyped...........
Review: I adore gore and horror pics, particularly the ones that are truely disturbing, so naturally I was drawn to this film because of it's notorious reputation: Charlie Sheen apparantly came into contact with a vhs copy of this film and believing it was a genuine snuff film alerted the FBI. After an investigation it was revealed that it was only a part of a series of experimental Japanese horror pics. (My own take on this though is that Charlie paid good cash for a snuff film and then went the step further to confirm its autheticity via the FBI to complete his fanatsy). Wow anything with a history like this has gotta be great I thought.

I am now glad though I picked up a bootleg version as I find it hard to believe anyone could mistake this for the real thing. For starters while the s/fx are top notch and miles ahead of anything else (a clenched severed hand was brilliant), the camera lingers enough for you to see the seems (the jello like flesh comes away from some clearly rubber skin several times) also the film has the campy samurai movie sound effects (think Baby Cart series) and the decapitation is purely cheesey. The camera angle also changes mid shot showing there to be more than one camera, thus distroying the sense of a single sicko accomplice filming the murder as the discrption brags.

With these flaws taking away any sense of realism and no story to speak, I think that watching this film is no more than grading a series of special effects. This is why even though the effects are generaly amazing, this is still an unfullfiling viewing experience. Of course if you are interested in this kind of film or the horror/gore genre you will want to see this and should at least once. With the price of the DVD I would suggest renting (if available) or getting a bootleg as I cannot see it justifying the purchase price.

The bottom line is that the special effects are awesome with only a few slip ups, but their is no sense of realism, the film is not as intense as others would have you believe and with a short running time and absence of any other redeeming features rewatch value is limited. There are more gorey movies out there Braindead (Dead/Alive in the USA, even unrated US version is cut by 8 min) for example and more chilling and intense horror films out there as well. Cannibal Holocaust acheives what this film set out to by successfully bluring the lines between reality and fiction and also has an equally interesting history (the director of Cannibal Holocaust was charged with obscenity, it was belived to be a snuff film as well on release and the mystery of missing pirahna scene). Flowers of Flesh and Blood is deffintely unique with outstanding effects but is in no way at all brilliant.

Rating:
Summary: what are you talking about?
Review: i dont understand why some people are saying that the effects in the guinea pig films,especially the two simulated snuff titles, flower of flesh and blood and devils experiment, look unrealistic because it just isnt true. these people obviously have no clue what their talking about. i have seen multiple mondo films and shockumentaries and one of the scenes that has always stuck with me was of an iragi man getting his hand cut off for stealing which in comparison to the woman in flower suffering the same type of mutilation to her hand isnt any more realistic or convincing but as most of you probably know the previously mentioned iragis fate was not staged and was not a gore effect it was for real. there are very few faults as far as the special effects go in both films. the only minor details that show either film to be staged are objects in the enviroment that just shouldnt be their such as the blanket that covers the woman throughout her mutilation (flower) or the actresses response to her torture (flower and devils exp.) all i want to clarify by writing this is that all these pretentious people that have seen either of the two films and call the effects bad should sit down and watch what its like to see a real persons body be mutilated its not a pretty sight and unless you have just shut the hell up and dont criticize the effects in either film because you have no idea how trully realistic they are. oh yeah make sure your kids dont get ahold of 'em because if they do they will certainly be scarred for the rest of their lives.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: I have the complete set of Guinea Pig films and trust me, 'Flower of Flesh and Blood' is by far the best. The special effects are incredible and extremely believable.

The plot is simple - a girl gets kidnapped by a stranger who ties her to a bed and whilst wearing a samurai suit, starts to disembowel her and hack her to bits.

It's super-strong stuff and not your average gore flick but I heartly recommend this one.

Well done to Amazon for making this so freely available and on such a good DVD.

Rating:
Summary: A Hallmark Movie of the Week this ain't
Review: I think nearly every horror movie fan is aware of the notorious "Guinea Pig" series by now. If you like horror films or gory curiosities and aren't aware of this explosive series of Japanese movies, you ought to rush out right now and see a few of them. Made throughout the 1980s and 1990s, "Guinea Pig" pushes envelopes few people in this country would ever conceive possible. After viewing one of these repugnant films, a natural impulse is one of extreme revulsion. Why would anyone create such soul shattering images? It's important to remember that Japanese audiences possess a different attitude about horror films. As far as I can tell, in Japanese cinema anything and everything is fair game. A typical jaunt through the wilderness of Asian horror cinema (in which Japan plays a significant role) typically reveals graphic scenes of dismemberment, torture, and other no-no nasty behavior that rarely, if ever, appears in American films. Some films containing such stomach churning themes do occasionally rear their heads on this side of the pond, but these films rarely play to a wide audience. In Japan, the "Guinea Pig" franchise was a spectacular hit.

I haven't seen all of the films in this series, but out of the two installments I have watched, "The Flower of Flesh and Blood" easily wins the prize for outright sleaze and nastiness. It's difficult to imagine any film approaching (or descending to) the levels seen in this mind blasting forty-minute movie. Even Pier Paolo Pasolini's sickening homage to the evils of fascism, "Salo," fails to invoke the visceral sensations that "The Flower of Flesh and Blood" wallows in. This movie is a sledgehammer blow to the head and stomach with its unrelenting scenes of carnage and depravity. They ought to sell copies of this wrapped in a barf bag.

Manga artist Hideshi Hino directed this nightmarish look into the activities of a sadistic serial killer. That we know this guy is a serial killer and that he likes to stalk his prey before committing a brutal murder constitutes the plot in its entirety. There simply isn't much more here than a short stalking scene at the beginning of the story followed by a thirty-minute dismemberment filmed in nauseatingly sadistic detail. That's right, folks: "The Flower of Flesh and Blood" exists to show the viewer what it might be like to watch a snuff film.

Forget about character development. Two characters exist in this movie: the poor young woman picked up by the killer, and the killer himself. At least they made the murderer look like a complete psycho, as the guy wears a samurai helmet, a full body leather apron, and some sort of black caps on several of his teeth. This gentleman does not fit the bill of a role model in any way, shape, or form. He's a degenerate who likes to wax philosophic between removing arms and legs, blurting out weird lines about how his next activity will imitate blooming flowers and the like. At the end of the movie, he sings a melancholy song about sending people to the underworld. He also shines a different colored light on his victim at various times, although why he does this makes little sense. The majority of the film takes place in some seedy basement splashed with blood and filled with numerous tools of pain. Then you watch this guy commit his atrocities and that's it. There is nothing more to "The Flower of Flesh and Blood" than close up shots of bloody mayhem.

The DVD contains many interesting extras. There are several trailers from the other installments in the "Guinea Pig" series, one for the zombie film "Junk," several text interviews with director Hideshi Hino, an overview of the controversy involving Charlie Sheen (who supposedly saw this film and believed it was a real snuff film), a behind the scenes look at the special effects involved in the series, and a reproduction of a manga comic book with loose ties to the film written and illustrated by Hino. The documentary on the special effects provides some comfort after watching the gruesome movie, showing that it is all nothing more than a well made horror film. Still, I'm uncomfortable with the knowledge that "The Flower of Flesh and Blood" made such a big splash with Japanese audiences. Remember, this is the same country that committed the atrocities in Manchuria during the late 1930s, and there are still people living in Japan today who were intimately involved in mass murder and mass torture throughout Asia during World War II.

I think this entry in the "Guinea Pig" series ultimately fails to deliver the goods. As a gorehound, I appreciated the awesome special effects displayed in the movie, but the movie never rises to the occasion in terms of character development and plot. I watched the other Hino directed entry in the series, "Mermaid in a Manhole," a few years ago and I thought it well developed and interesting. In that film, which contained numerous graphic scenes, Hino developed a plot heavy on human suffering that showed emotional pain as a real tragedy. In "The Flower of Flesh and Blood," he indulges in sadism for the mere sake of sensationalism. If you really want to see this movie, just steel yourself for the depths of degradation. If you have kids in the house, don't even think about buying this film if there is any chance your children might find it. This is not acceptable viewing for youngsters, and it probably isn't acceptable viewing for most people. Beware, oh beware! "The Flower of Flesh and Blood" is upon you!

Rating:
Summary: Boring!!!
Review: If you can't spot the flaws in the special effects of this film, then you need thicker glasses!

The gore in Cannibal Holocaust is more realistic because its's filmed from a distance where you can't see latex skin and cat food filling like in this film, Men Behind the Sun has an absolutely real cadaver disected on camera, their plenty of graphic mondo docos and shows on tv with real surgery on display. If you have seen any of these then nothing about Flowers will shock or disturb you.

While the make up crew came up with the goods the problem is the way the film is shot and scored. The director should commit hari kari for ruining any realism with lingering closeups and silly sound effects. This is easlily one of the most over-rated films out there. Everyone raves about "wild anything goes Japanese cinema" when in reality they cannot even display genitals in Japanese films without them being optically blurred!?

In all reality I had high hopes for this film and if it was a genuine looking snuff film then it would have being well worth the time. However it's boring, dragging out every single scene in order to fill out the running time and when the payoff comes the special effects are filmed ineptly enough that any seasoned viewer will see right through them. No plot, no depth. All this film has is special effects and they are not as great as several sheltered viewers would have you believe.

Rating:
Summary: Gore spectacular!
Review: Let me tell you that this film was hard to sit through. You can imagine with all the other Guinea Pig movies I was somewhat prepared to what i was about to see. First off beautiful looking DVD, the menus were creepy enough without seeing the film yet, then i pusued into the movie. This is sick and what i was looking forward to, the part where the hand curls up after he takes if off was tactfully pulled off, i can see a little bit why Chucky Sheen went ape after seeing the movie. I won't go into more but i was rest assured by watching the Making of GP to see what a blast these people had making the movies that have grossed out many. The manga was a nice touch with the added english translation. I'd have to say this the best DVD out of the GP series that has come out and can't wait to finish my collection!