The Nasty Torture Horror Movie That the UK Branded Too Depraved for Release (original) (raw)
The Exploitation Horror Movie That Was Too ‘Grotesque’ For the British Age Classification Board
Image by Zanda Rice
Published Jun 15, 2024, 9:09 PM EDT
Sebastian is a pop culture writer with a passion for research, especially when it comes to movies, anime, and games. He holds a Bachelor's degree in History and has written features, movie reviews, and video game reviews for Popzara and Anime News Network, and has appeared in Popzara's yearly Best, Worst, and Everything Else podcast episode for anime films, as well as other gaming related episodes. While he loves anime - his favorites being Tiger & Bunny, Berserk, Durarara!!, and Silver Spoon - he's a huge fan of anything horror. He loves the works of Junji Ito, films like Trick 'r Treat, Ravenous, Train to Busan, and The Lullaby, and digging around to find horror movies from all over the world to gain a better understanding of the genre.If he had to choose a highlight of his writing career so far, it would be seeing someone on Tumblr agree with his article about the portrayal of bullying in My Hero Academia. Sometimes, it's the little victories.
He also may or may not be a stack of tarantulas disguised as a human man...but that's classified information.
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Summary
- Grotesque's extreme violence led to its UK ban, deemed too graphic and lacking a justifiable narrative by the BBFC.
- The film centers on a sick game of torment by a deranged doctor who tests a couple's love through heinous acts.
- While Grotesque's gore is intense, it's no worse than other splatter films like Saw or Hostel, sparking debates on censorship.
Most horror fans are well acquainted with the “torture porn” — or splatter — genre. It’s the nasty side of horror where the story takes a backseat to gratuitous violence, extreme gore, and the total degradation of the human body through torture and mutilation. In the United States, the genre has become synonymous with films like Sawand Hostel that deal in blood, guts, and increasingly creative and disgusting kills, but these are far from the only way to get a dose of the extreme. Though, sometimes, these films are considered too extreme, and such is the case with 2009’s Grotesque, a film so depraved that the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) deemed it unfit for classification, barring it from being legally distributed in the United Kingdom.
The film has never been re-reviewed for release in the almost 15 years it has been banned, despite it not seeing the same reaction from other parts of the world. So, what about Grotesque is so grotesque? Why did the UK toss into banishment? And did it deserve its fate?
An unnamed doctor has always had everything he's ever wanted, but that has only made him develop more extreme and depraved needs. He kidnaps a young couple in the prime of their life together and forces them into a game of torment that slowly extinguishes their hopes for survival.
What Is 'Grotesque' About?
Grotesque is the brainchild of director Koji Shiraishi, a horror director best known for films like 2005’s Noroi: The Curse, 2007’s Carved: The Slit-Mouth Woman, and 2009’s Teketeke. Many of his films lean towards the supernatural, so a film like Grotesque was somewhat out of his wheelhouse. Though, perhaps after working with an artist like Hideshi Hino (the director of the infamous Guinea Pig 2: Flower of Flesh and Blood), it shouldn’t be all that surprising that Shiraishi wanted to try his hand at some extreme splatter.
Grotesque is the story of a young couple Aki (Tsugumi Nagasawa) and Kazuo (Hiroaki Kawatsure), who are captured by a doctor (Shigeo Osako) during their first date. They wake up in a dingy basement, bound and gagged, and the doctor wastes no time getting down to business. The doctor is putting the couple through a test of love, wanting to see how far they will go for his own sick gratification. He stabs Kazuo with a screwdriver and sexually assaults both Aki and Kazuo after they admit to being virgins. He uses a chainsaw to cut off their fingers (and to cut off Aki’s arm), castrate Kazuo, and remove Aki’s nipples, making necklaces for his victims with the parts.
Then, the doctor apparently achieves his goal. He is satisfied with Aki and Kazuo’s devotion and will to live, putting them in a clean, hospital-like room to recover. Aki and Kazuo share a heartfelt moment where they decide to stay together after everything they’ve been through, and right after, the doctor comes in and tells them he’ll be letting them go. They’ve given him the excitement he was looking for and now, he’s going to turn himself in and give the couple his fortune (upwards of 700 million yen, or about $4.5 million USD) so they can live comfortably upon their release. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? The villain rots in prison for life and while our young couple may be absolutely traumatized and missing some body parts, that hefty payout can pay for good therapists and artificial limbs.
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Just kidding! The doctor returns them to the basement for one final test. He attaches the end of Kazuo’s intestines to a hook and gives him a pair of scissors, telling him if he can walk across the room — disemboweling himself in the process — and cut the ropes binding Aki, she’ll be free to go. However, it’s a trap. Kazuo’s injuries are too great, and the ropes around Aki’s wrist are reinforced with wire that a weakened Kazuo can’t cut. Both Aki and Kazuo die, but they manage to fight back a little first, with Kazuo stabbing the doctor in the foot with the scissors and Aki spitting on him and telling him he stinks like a skunk. It ends with the couple being buried by the doctor before he goes out to find his next victim.
The BBFC Deemed ‘Grotesque’ Too Gory to Release
From that brief retelling, you might be wondering why this was a line in the sand for the BBFC. After all, films like Saw and Hostel were considered fine, released with an 18 rating without cuts**.** There’s actually a simple(ish) answer to this, provided by the BBFC’s entry for Grotesque. The BBFC stated that Saw and Hostel, unlike Grotesque, “contain a more developed narrative,” which “provides contextual justification for even the strongest scenes.” So, basically, Grotesque is just the thinnest story necessary to explain why the torture of two people is happening, while the other films mentioned have more complex narratives that give their torture meaning. Because torture, mutilation, and killing are fine if there’s a reason! Duh!
However, the lack of plot wasn’t the only reason the film was banned. The brutality of the film and the emphasis on the humiliation and degradation of the victims also played a part in the BBFC's decision. Sometimes, the BBFC will allow a film to pass with an 18 rating once cuts have been made that take out excessively offensive material. However, in the case of Grotesque, too much of the film fell into the offensive category for compulsory cuts to be made. The BBFC noted that some scenes might encourage similar behavior in viewers by desensitizing them to violence or exciting them through the humiliation, pain, and degradation of people, which is against the BBFC guidelines. Since the whole film is an exercise in depravity without real reason, it’s no surprise it found itself in hot water with censors. Though, it’s definitely debatable whether it portrayed the demon doctor in a “positive” or “sympathetic” light. Aki straight-up calls him a loser that stinks.
Lastly, Grotesque was never slated to be shown in theaters. It was instead circulated on DVD, which comes with its own set of rules and guidelines. Films that are straight to DVD or Video On Demand (VOD) are more likely to be seen by children accidentally, and thus often come under more rigorous examination and harsher ratings. With Grotesque being firmly rooted in harsh themes, gore, and assault, it would be hard to believe that it would have made it through to a DVD release.
‘Grotesque’ Is No Worse Than the Likes of 'Saw' and 'Hostel'
Image via Media Blasters
I have to start with this: Grotesque is really no worse than your average gorefest. The idea that the gore in the film is too much is simply ridiculous. Saw and Hostel were made earlier with better effects and more graphic dismemberment, but maybe in 2009, Grotesque felt more nasty. Rewatching it in my efforts to write this article, though, the gore is even a little silly at times. There’s a scene where the doctor is cutting the fingers off of his victims with a chainsaw, and when the blade hits skin and bone, the sound effect used is akin to a squeaking, expanding balloon. Sure, if you’re especially sensitive to blood and guts, Grotesque might make your stomach churn. But Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) sawed off his own damn foot in Saw! The gore may be “uncontextualized,” but it’s no worse than Jigsaw spouting off his rhetoric as someone dies in his traps. Some people even sympathize with Jigsaw, but Saw was never banned for the potential danger it could unleash on the public.
The really uncomfortable and disgusting part is toward the beginning of the film, and it’s when the doctor is sexually assaulting Aki and Kazuo. It’s hard to watch, there is no denying that, and the BBFC guidelines regarding sexual violence in film note that it is one of the most concerning aspects of classification to viewers. However, many other films contain similar material that have made it through the BBFC with an 18 rating, such as 2010’s A Serbian Film, albeit with extensive cuts for some of the worst scenes. However, the film contained similar depravity even with the edits. It’s harder to believe that a film like 2002’s Irréversible, which features an extremely graphic depiction of rape, can receive an 18 rating completely uncut.
Grotesque isn’t a good movie and some will find it reprehensible. Many people generally find splatter films like Saw, Hostel, or Grotesque immoral and depraved, and that’s okay. They aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. However, it doesn’t mean those films shouldn’t exist or that they should be banned. It’s every person’s responsibility to curate the content they want to see, but they should be allowed to curate it for themselves. Who knows, maybe in a few years, we’ll see Grotesque be reconsidered for classification, like Human Centipede 2 was, and people can finally decide for themselves if it was truly worth a ban in the first place.
Grotesque is available to stream on Tubi.