The Loved Ones (2009) and What the Hell is “Torture Porn”?!!!

“Torture porn” is a lazy journalistic media label for the resurgence of splatter films in the mid-00s due to the phenomenal commercial success of the hit and miss Saw franchise (2004 - 2010) and Eli Roth’s solid duology of ‘Hostel’ (2005) and ‘Hostel Part II’ (2007). A whole load of imitators followed milking the cash from the cow that were often third-rate efforts such as the God-awful ‘Captivity’ (2007) but also included more decent fare like ‘Turistas’ (2006) that exploited this type of horror entailing prolonged violent sequences taken to the extreme. Explicitly depicted in these scenes are sadistic torturous mutilation supplemented by a fair amount of female nudity thrown in over the duration of the movies’ running times.

Madison County (2011)

Every so often a modern slasher will come along that promises to hark back to the early 80s heyday of the sub-genre and deliver the gruesome goods while not pretending to be anything more that it sets out to be. Independent production ‘Madison County’ is one such effort that does not strive to be anything different other than trying to introduce a new horror icon to the genre and simply tries in homage to replicate this era. An era of cinematic terror that’s main goal was to shock its viewers with its exploitation showcasing of gorily horrific and creative murder set-pieces along with generous doses of naked female flesh injected into the sure fire box office winning formula. These films were largely and purely geek shows for an audience that lapped it all up with much glee as they watched young attractive people getting cut up for their own pleasure.

The Wicker Tree (2011)

Robin Hardy’s ‘The Wicker Tree’ a spiritual companion piece to the director’s own occult horror ‘The Wicker Man’ (1973) has been severely maligned since its festivals debut last year. To be fair to Hardy I do not think he ever attempted to try to top his much-celebrated previous work as I think he knew he could never achieve such a feat especially after a stonking near forty years gap. It is a far less dark, edgy and gritty affair being an updated black comedy version of the themes presented in the original film that borders on parody wrapped up in a very similar narrative.

Evil Dead Trap (1988)

I first came across ‘Evil Dead Trap’ back in 2010 while I was researching Sam Raimi’s soon to be remade seminal classic ‘The Evil Dead’. This was in preparation for the writing of The Evil Dead (1981): Video Nasties, Misspent Youth and the Ultimate Experience in Grueling Horror. Some of you who have yet to see this Japanese production may have crossed paths with it too when conducting searches for the celebrated American franchise as it comes up on nearly all of them on IMDB. Digging in deeper, I became quite intrigued with this Asian homage to the Western horror sub-genre of the slasher done in the Italian giallo style, as this was not something I had seen before in Japan cinema and being the nostalgic sucker I am for all things hack n’ slash I knew I had to check it out. That first viewing two years ago was a disappointing let down and watching it again just very recently only reaffirms my opinion.

Assassins (2011) - A Short Film by Michael Bonomo

Since the official launch of Cinematic Shocks last February, you regular readers would have noticed the page Help Raise Money for Michael Bonomo’s Feature Film Debut - Assassins. The soon to be produced independent movie started life as Bonomo’s eighth short film and is his sixth to be released. Just put up online for public viewing very recently on the 22^nd April, ‘Assassins’ has been met with critical acclaim since doing the rounds on the festival circuit last year.

Mother’s Day (2010)

Lloyd Kaufman’s 1980 Troma production of his brother Charles’ original ‘Mother’s Day’ was not scary in the slightest. This rape and revenge film was a hilariously crazy over the top cheesfest with wacky characterization and in your face social sub-text that has garnered a strong cult following within the horror/exploitation community for those very reasons. Finally getting a US Blu-ray/DVD release this year on the 8^th May after several delays Brett Ratner’s 2010 production of Darren Lynn Bousman’s pseudo-remake takes basic elements from its source material for nodding references in homage minus the rape. It is a complete reimagining with entirely different plot and characters turning the premise into a brutally intense home invasion thriller.