Following a series of murders, a police inspector in Quezon City ramps up the intensity in a quest to stop a vicious killer who's interested in killing and raping as many women as he can in retribution for how he was treated as a child and finds himself in a deadly struggle to stop the bloodsoaked rampage.
On the whole, the film is a pretty challenging watch. As is to be expected in this kind of film, there's a jarring and discordant visual aesthetic that needs to be taken into account. The black-and-white cinematography and gritty series of locations present, ranging from filth-covered apartments to blood-splattered sacrificial spaces and dark, dank basements, this one creates a sense of otherworldliness that becomes almost hypnotic at times. In conjunction with the ornate Gothic-styled Hammond organ scoring these sections of the film, a sense of the macabre is added to the torturing that's unique and unexpected. It all adds together to form the avant-garde, experimental nature of the film. As well, there's also the wholly troubling storyline to get through. Since there's almost no dialogue at all in the film beyond the scenes of the detective referencing what's going on in shots talking directly to the camera, it's nearly impossible to tell what's happening here as the entirety of the film is presented as random scenes of brutal tortures otherwise. Given that there are no real day-to-day lives of the characters shown or even a real idea of what he's doing in the torture scenes, everything here is a complete mystery at the expense of the misogynistic undercurrent of these scenes. Specifically targeting only women for his rampage and dismembering their corpses in revenge for what his mother did to him is a tired, lazy and unmotivated storyline that serves to make the killer's targets seem plausible as women. These all manage to hold the film down. That being said, where this one works is in the brutal and somewhat vile torture scenes. Letting the black-and-white visuals take centerstage here manages to bring about the gruesomeness and graphic carnage doled out to each of the victims is a fantastic move in that it becomes that much harder to sit through. Watching victims being forced to eat unimaginable filth, having their face covered in bodily-secreted liquids and having crucifixes rammed into private areas are all tough to get through, much like the scenes of the victim being gutted where a series of intestines are cut out and played with in graphic fashion. The rape scenes as well are also hard to get through on both males and females which just adds to the brutal and uncomfortable atmosphere present throughout here.
Rated Unrated/NC-17: Extreme Graphic Language, Extreme Graphic Violence, Full Male Nudity, hardcore sex scenes and Rape.
On the whole, the film is a pretty challenging watch. As is to be expected in this kind of film, there's a jarring and discordant visual aesthetic that needs to be taken into account. The black-and-white cinematography and gritty series of locations present, ranging from filth-covered apartments to blood-splattered sacrificial spaces and dark, dank basements, this one creates a sense of otherworldliness that becomes almost hypnotic at times. In conjunction with the ornate Gothic-styled Hammond organ scoring these sections of the film, a sense of the macabre is added to the torturing that's unique and unexpected. It all adds together to form the avant-garde, experimental nature of the film. As well, there's also the wholly troubling storyline to get through. Since there's almost no dialogue at all in the film beyond the scenes of the detective referencing what's going on in shots talking directly to the camera, it's nearly impossible to tell what's happening here as the entirety of the film is presented as random scenes of brutal tortures otherwise. Given that there are no real day-to-day lives of the characters shown or even a real idea of what he's doing in the torture scenes, everything here is a complete mystery at the expense of the misogynistic undercurrent of these scenes. Specifically targeting only women for his rampage and dismembering their corpses in revenge for what his mother did to him is a tired, lazy and unmotivated storyline that serves to make the killer's targets seem plausible as women. These all manage to hold the film down. That being said, where this one works is in the brutal and somewhat vile torture scenes. Letting the black-and-white visuals take centerstage here manages to bring about the gruesomeness and graphic carnage doled out to each of the victims is a fantastic move in that it becomes that much harder to sit through. Watching victims being forced to eat unimaginable filth, having their face covered in bodily-secreted liquids and having crucifixes rammed into private areas are all tough to get through, much like the scenes of the victim being gutted where a series of intestines are cut out and played with in graphic fashion. The rape scenes as well are also hard to get through on both males and females which just adds to the brutal and uncomfortable atmosphere present throughout here.
Rated Unrated/NC-17: Extreme Graphic Language, Extreme Graphic Violence, Full Male Nudity, hardcore sex scenes and Rape.
