Reviews

The Guinea Pig films were a series of pictures that spanned across the mid 80s into the early 90s that gained infamous attention and notoriety for being some of the most graphic and extreme films to come out of the Japanese underground at the time. The series quickly gained a cult following, and with it came controversy, criminal investigation, and ultimately legal banishment. It is now illegal to produce films in Japan under the Guinea Pig title. This is where the American Guinea Pig series comes in.

Stephan Biro, the man responsible for giving the Guinea Pig films there first and only official home video release in the United States also gained the rights to the Guinea Pig name, and in 2014 started the American Guinea Pig series with his release of Bouquet of Guts and Gore. A pseudo snuff film that connects the original Guinea Pig series with its now American counterpart. The most infamous film from the original Guinea Pig series, Flower of Flesh and Blood, was said to be inspired by a genuine snuff film that director Hideshi Hino had received in the mail years before. Biro's Bouquet is supposed to be that very film that Hino received in the mail, making the American series a kind of prequel to the original Japanese films.

This connection and homage to the original series has been a running theme with nearly every American Guinea Pig release. As just mentioned, American Guinea Pig: Bouquet of Guts and Gore shares connections with Flower of Flesh and Blood. American Guinea Pig: Bloodshock nods its head to the original Guinea Pig classic, The Devil's Experiment. American Guinea Pig: Sacrifice shares uncanny similarities to the original Guinea Pig film, He Never Dies. The Song of Solomon on the other is the first film in the series to deviate from this attachment to the films of yesteryear. This is the first time in the American Guinea Pig series that a release came out that did not hold some kind of correlation with the original series. Nonetheless, this is one of the best films to come out of the series thus far.

As with much of the original Guinea Pig films, narrative comes secondary to the exhibition of graphic violence and gore. The first two films to come out of the original Japanese series held virtually no plot at all. The American series followed this model with the releases of Bouquet and Sacrifice. All of these pictures centered their focus on graphic presentations of violence, only holding enough plot to bring us to scenes of grotesque displays of the macabre. That does not mean that every film out of the Guinea Pig series were all void of plot. The original Guinea Pig film, Mermaid in a Manhole, is a prime example of superb story telling. The American Guinea Pig series' first attempt at a traditional narrative structure, with its release of Bloodshock, was a good endeavor, but ultimately a weak execution. Poor acting and debatable directorial choices resulted in a film that was often funny when it was trying to be serious, and ultimately did not pack the punch it was so desperately winding up for.

Fortunately, the same cannot be said for The Song of Solomon. Whatever was in the way during their first attempt is behind them now, and The Song of Solomon packs a strong enough punch to leave you eating the rest of your meals through a straw. The acting in this picture is significantly better. An though at times the dialog feels a little forced, the lead actors are clearly professionals and know how to make it work. There are some weaker performances in this film, most notably by the actress who plays the mother, along with whoever plays the doctor, but that is to be expected with any low budget indie project. Additionally, Solomon sets a tone and atmosphere that Bloodshock was so desperately trying to pull off, but couldn't. With these to factors, Solomon is able to dilute the few occasions bad acting or weak points in the film, making these flaws easily dismissible, and allowing the film's narrative to roll forward with little distraction. Resulting in an over all powerful and interesting picture.

In regards to the violence, and lets face it, that is why you are watching an American Guinea Pig film, Solomon delivers. This is likely to be the most gruesome and graphic exorcist film that you will ever see. That is to be expected considering Oddtopsy FX (Bouquet of Guts and Gore) and Toe Tag Pictures (August Underground trilogy) were behind the special effects for this picture.

All in all, you may feel like the exorcist genre is a tired and played out theme, and that very well may be true, but if you are ready to put that genre to rest I recommend going out with a bang with this one. If you are a fan of underground horror and extreme gore, this is one to set your eyes on.

The American Guinea Pig franchise is the American take on Japan's now infamous and banned series of films that all fell under the series name "Guinea Pig". The Guinea Pig series were a collection of notorious cult films that emerged out of the Japanese underground in the mid to late 80s to early 90s. The first film in this series, The Devil's Experiment, centered on a kidnapped woman who is held captive in a warehouse where she is exposed to a series of tortures inflicted by her captives who are exploring the human body's threshold for pain. This film's narrative holds distinct similarities to the plot of Bloodshock; and this is intentional.

The American Guinea Pig series pays clear homage to its original Japanese predecessor, and this is seen in the plot similarities between the films within the two series. The first film of the American Guinea Pig series, Bouquet of Guts and Gore, actually contains plot components that connects itself to the original Japanese Guinea Pig film, Flower of Flesh and Blood. Similarly, the third film in the American Guinea Pig series, Sacrifice, shares clear plot similarities with the original Guinea Pig film, He Never Dies. This model is no different when it comes to Bloodshock.

Bloodshock also centers its focus on a captive person, being held against their will, and forced to endure torturous experiments by the hands of the individuals holding them captive. Unique to The Devil's Experiment, rather than examining the human body's threshold for pain, Bloodshock's experimenters are harvesting the blood of their captive. The reason for this is interesting. During the infliction of pain and stress, the body releases chemicals called endorphins. These endorphins interact with the receptors in the brain that reduce your perception of pain. Endorphins also trigger a positive feeling in the body, similar to that of morphine. These experimenters are using their victim's blood as a new kind of recreational drug. The film's victim is being used as crop to harvest.

This approach is intriguing and allows the film to exhibit similar graphic scenes of torture and violence, as in The Devil's Experiment, while having a story that is more complex and allows the film to explore untouched areas that the original Guinea Pig series was never able to reach. Additionally, the practical effects in this film are quite impressive and are a definite step up in terms of realism and graphic imagery from the original series.

That said, this film does not come without its flaws. For one, some of the acting in this film is quite awful. This is to be expected with any low budget indie endeavor, and often can be dismissed or forgiven. Unfortunately, when it comes this film, it extends into damaging the picture. Most prominent, there is a scene where the film's protagonist is held in a chair where a large man is punching him in the face. He is then hit in the knee caps with a large hammer. These blows are clearly fake, to a point where it is nearly comical. This poor acting in contrast to the film's magnificent practical visual effects creates an uneven, sloppy, and at times silly juxtaposition.

Furthermore, the filmmakers attempted to take the series in a more artistic direction, presenting the film almost entirely in black and white, and giving the film an ambient and eerie score. Many have argued that the black and white decision hurt the film. I personally do not hold this perspective. I found the black and white to be vital in regard to the film's climax, which I will not spoil. I do however find issue with the film's sloppy audio editing. The film's score is powerful, yes, but I felt that he filmmakers relied too heavily on it for the picture's tone and atmosphere. Going so far as compromising necessary sound effects that would have enhanced practical imagery in exchange for creepy sounds of ambiance.

The film's climax does save the picture to a degree, where a gruesome finally of passion, self-destruction, beauty, lust and gore all flood the screen in vivid detail. Unfortunately, this is short lived once the credits start to role. The film's credits are interspersed with scenes that attempt to add to the film's plot, but ultimately just feel like unnecessary filler, and actually hurt the picture. Out of the four American Guinea Pig films that have been released thus far, I would consider Bloodshock to be the weakest of the bunch. That does not mean that the film does not have some redeeming qualities. It is still a brutal and visceral picture but compared to the other films in the series Bloodshock just doesn't pack the same punch.

From the late 1980s into the early 1990s Japan was at the forefront of extreme cinema with its now infamous Guinea Pig films. A series of projects all branching under one title "Guinea Pig", intended to push the limits of depravity depicted on screen. Though the series is best known for its first two titles, The Devil's Experiment, and Flower of Flesh and Blood, both of which were pseudo snuff endeavors depicting graphic violence of impressive realism, the series also carries other notable titles such as Mermaid in a Manhole, and He Never Dies. After much controversy over the series content, an FBI investigation, and the discovery of a copy of one of the films in the home of child murderer Tsutomu Miyazaki, it eventually came to be illegal in Japan to produce any other films under the Guinea Pig name, essentially killing the series.

The Guinea Pig films gathered a cult following and were heavily bootlegged within the underground extreme horror community. In 2005 the founder and president, Stephen Biro, of Unearthed Films bought the rights to the series, and released the films for the first time in the United States. This is where the American Guinea Pig series begins. Guinea Pig films could no longer be produced in Japan, but that did not mean that the spirit of these films could not continue elsewhere. An so in 2014 the American Guinea Pig series was born. American Guinea Pig is the American adaptation of Japan's infamous legacy.

American Guinea Pig clearly pays homage to its predecessor, but also shares a significant connection to the original films that many may be unaware of. Hideshi Hino, the director of the original Guinea Pig film, Flower of Flesh and Blood, stated that he got inspiration for the film after receiving a genuine snuff film in the mail. The film that begins the American Guinea Pig series, Stephen Biro's Bouquet of Guts and Gore, presents the narrative that it is the very snuff film that Hino watched. This homage to the original films can also be seen in American Guinea Pig's second release, Bloodshock, which shares uncanny similarities with the Guinea Pig original, The Devil's Experiment.

Understanding this background, we should expect no different when it comes to American Guinea Pig's latest release, Sacrifice. American Guinea Pig: Sacrifice tells the story of a young man named Daniel. Struggling with hardships with his family, as well as clear psychological issues, Daniel decides to lock himself in his bathroom and ritualistically commit suicide. Sacrificing himself to the Goddess Ishtar.

This theme clearly shares similarity with the original Guinea Pig release, He Never Dies; where a man down on his luck decides to take his own life, only to discover that no matter how hard he tries, he cannot die. Both films spend the duration of there run-time depicting men graphically mutilating their own bodies. The difference here is that Sacrifice is a dark and grueling exhibition of self harm and suicide, whereas He Never Dies holds elements of dark humor.

Interestingly, though Sacrifice is being distributed under the American Guinea Pig name, it is not technically an American film. In fact it originally was not intended to be a part of the series to begin with. Originally a different film was planned to be the third entry in the American Guinea Pig series, but something went wrong and the production for the film was terminated. So Biro began production on American Guinea Pig: Song of Solomon, wich was intended to be closing film for the series. While in post production for Solomon, Biro came across Sacrifice as a finished film. After viewing the film he realized it would be a perfect addition to the American Guinea Pig series, and so it was added.

Indeed, this was a good call. Sacrifice falls right in line with the rest of the American Guinea Pig efforts. It is graphic, gripping, and ruthless. The practical effects are impressive and visceral. This film contains segments that push the bar, even for some of the other films in this series. Showing graphic and realistic depictions of self mutilation and ritual. The film is also cinematically beautiful at times, especially when we are taken into Daniel's mind as he sacrifices himself to his Goddess. An intentionally or not, fans of the original series will see this film as paying homage to the original Guinea Pig films that came before it.

In 1985 a film was produced that depicted the graphic torture and murder of a young women by a group of men in a warehouse. Their intent? To study the human body's threshold for pain. Originally titled Unabridged Agony, but better known as The Devil's Experiment, this film was the first in a series of what would later become the most controversial films to come out of all of Japan; the Guinea Pig films.

It wasn't until the release of the series second film, Flower of Flesh and Blood, that these films started to gain notoriety. Directed by Hideshi Hino, Flower of Flesh and Blood begins with a message from the director detailing that his inspiration to make the film came from a genuine snuff film he received in the mail. Expressing that what we are about to see is a reimagining of the true horrors that he witnessed on screen. The film then proceeds into a world of debauchery as a man dressed as a samurai systematically begins to dismantle a drugged woman tied to a table, limb by limb. The film's depictions of graphic violence were so realistic that many thought the film to be real snuff. Probably most infamously, in 1991 actor Charlie Sheen watched a segment of the film, and convinced that what he just watched was the filming of an actual homicide, decided to contact the FBI. The Bureau implemented an investigation but dropped it after Hino was able to demonstrate that what was shown was all done through special effects.

The series further gained infamous reputation when the sixth film in the series, Devil Doctor Woman, was found in the videotape collection of child murder Tsutomu Miyazaki. This prompted a wide debate on graphic violence in film and its perceived association with real life implications of violence. In the end, six films came out of the Guinea Pig series before going out of production over such significant controversy. Even with the series death, the films had garnered a cult following, and the series was bootlegged and shared throughout the world within the underground horror collecting community.

In 2005 Stephan Biro had bought the rights to the Guinea Pig series and launched his distribution company, Unearthed Films, with the first official U.S. release of the series. This is where the American Guinea Pig series begins. It was now illegal to make any films with the Guinea Pig name in Japan, ultimately leaving the series dead in the water. That did not mean the series could not continue in the United States, and so in 2014 Biro wrote and directed the first film in what would become America's adaptation and homage of Japan's controversial legacy.

Bouquet of Guts and Gore is the first film to come out of the American Guinea Pig franchise, and it is the film that bridges the Japanese and American series together. Where Flower and Flesh and Blood presents itself as the reimagining of a snuff film that Hino received in the mail, Bouquet of Guts and Gore presents itself to be the very film that Hino watched. Except instead of it being a lone depraved mad man dismembering a woman on a table for his own enjoyment, it is an underground production company that produces snuff films for the black market; where we observe two women in similar circumstances, except their deaths are much more drawn out, much more mean spirited, and much more viscerally depicted.

For those seeking plot, character development, and story, this film is not for you. In its truest sense, this film is an exhibition of how much depraved realism can be created with practical effects on screen. It is a love letter to extreme cinema. It is a test of endurance and moral character. It is devoid of plot because plot is not why this film is watched. There is no important narrative arch because this film is simply intended to show life end. This film has taken the primary elements of extreme horror and stripped it down to its most basic components: graphically displayed violence and gore. This film is a gorehounds wet dream.

That does not mean this film does not come with its set of drawbacks. For one, the film's opening sequence in which our two female victims are captured is nonsensical and does not help develop a sense of realism. This film is shot in a found-footage fashion, which is necessary in providing the feeling that what we are watching is a genuine snuff film. But what the film opens with is our two female characters walking to their car in a suburban neighborhood, observed from the vowaristic perspective of their soon to be abductors filming them. Yet many of the shots chosen in this sequence would place the camera man directly infront, or in eyes view, of the two women. Secondly, how the women are abducted is silly. The women pile into an impressive muscle car with the windows already rolled down. As they sit and begin to start the car a hidden figure in the back seat is seen wearing a gas mask, and ignites a noxious gas. This gas is seen billowing out of the car windows past the two women, yet both of them collapse in their seats into unconsciousness. Our gas masked figure then takes the role in the driver's seat and then speeds away. The whole segment feels forced, as if the whole scene was wrote so that they could use the car the car in the film.

That said, once the scene is set and our victims are captured, the film dramatically improves from there. In fact, though I found the first few moments of the film to be counterproductive to its intended tone and theme, I am quickly able to dismiss it, understanding that this is Biro's first film, ever, and how quickly the film recovers once the action begins.

Regarding what follows, I have no interest in providing any spoilers. I will say however, that the film's practical effects are top notch. Marcus Koch is the special fx artist on this project, and he did a phenomenal job. The violence looks real, and the violence looks vicious. When compared to Flower of Flesh and Blood, which has dated quite a bit since its initial release, Bouquet pics up the pieces and presents something that looks very much like the real thing. For fans of the original Japanese films, the American Guinea Pig series starts off with a promising first feature film. Bouquet of Guts and Gore is a must watch for any fan or collector of extreme cinema. It is grueling, raw, and does not seem to know or care if it has crossed the line. The film ends with a sequence that will shock and disturb likely even the most seasoned of extreme cinophiles.