Celebrating SIX Years Of Fear: Six Films That Wowed Me With Violence

Well, Fascination with Fear is six years old this week!  So in lieu of writing a post thanking everyone that ever lived (because I've done that before and those people know who they are), I've decided to do some lists.  This will come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis (yes, all seven of you!), because lists are one of my favorite things to do!

Over the course of the next few weeks, I'll bring you some favorites in categories ranging from "violence in film" to "movies that made me stop and think"
Six will be the magic number here.  It will be difficult to keep any list of mine down to six items, but I'm going to give it a whirl.

First up, I wanted to get down and dirty.  Here's six films that wowed me with violence. I've seen a lot of violent horror films.  A lot of gore.  A lot of ferocious brutality.  And that's all well and good.  But what I am talking about here is a violent film that had a plot.  Something that made me think and not just sit on my couch like a lump while someone's head was removed.  Here's my six picks for favorite violent flicks. (Hey, that rhymed!)

BATTLE ROYALE (2000)

This is one of my favorite films anyway, but it fits here so nicely.  Like The Hunger Games after it, Battle Royale pits children against each other in a battle to the death.  Also a book first (same title, by Koushun Takami), it depicts a society gone awry, with the Japanese government each year forcing a class of students to fight to the death on a deserted island.  Its focus remains on a couple that want to stay together and find a way to escape their fate.  I prefer this film to THG for a few reasons. It is less flashy and decadent, it is raw and brutal, and I saw this movie first, so it holds a special place in my cold little heart.

I SAW THE DEVIL (2010)

 Words can't describe the first time I saw this film.  Well, I guess they can...here's my review.  ISTD is such a great revenge flick, and some may say there isn't much plot.  But I beg to differ.  There is a ton of raw emotion here, with Lee Byung-hun capturing my heart during his heartbreaking performance of a man on a mission to find, torture, and kill the maniacal serial killer that brutally killed his fiance.  And Choi Min-sik could possibly be my favorite villain in all of horror.  Astounding.

THE SEASONING HOUSE (2012)

 A film I just saw and reviewed, The Seasoning House gets under your skin even though you cannot imagine how it accomplished it.  A young girl torn from her mother's arms is forced into a horrific life at a house of horrors where women are held captive as sex slaves for the use of soldiers on break.  At once a gripping, gut-wrenching tale, it boasts heaps of violence in the form of brutal assaults and rapes and living conditions the likes of which you'll never see.  But the heart of the tale lies with Angel and her quest for freedom from such tortures. Surprisingly effective. Surprisingly affecting.

MARTYRS (2008)

The French are well known for their violence, and I could have added any number of films from there onto this list (Inside, Frontiers, High Tension), but for a movie that reached down into my gut for a visceral reaction, Martyrs takes the prize.  Full of brutality and bloodshed, it tells the tale of Anna and Lucie, two girls that suffer in such unimaginable ways it's hard to wrap your head around it.  Controversial as hell, it compels the viewer to keep watching, as the somewhat complex plot (at least for a horror film) delves deep into the heart of darkness.  And it's very hard to dig your way out. Not for the weak of heart (or gut!).

STRAW DOGS (1971)

Sam Peckinpah was known for controversial films, but maybe none as much as this particular 1971 thriller. Dustin Hoffman and Susan George star as David and Amy Sumner, a couple who move to her native England to escape the violence in America.  Instead, they get in over their heads with a group of locals from the small village where they make their home.  Part of the controversy was a scene in which Amy was gang raped and appeared to enjoy it.  Other dubious violence occurs in the final scenes, in which David gets his revenge, shooting up the villagers like it was free.  But no one will argue when I say it is a truly excellent film.

TENEBRAE (1982)

I couldn't leave my main man Dario Argento off this list.  While Argento is often lauded for his "beautiful death" scenes, there can be no doubt they are violent.  And though many of his films would qualify for this small list, I'm going with my favorite (and most likely the one with the most cohesive plot). An American writer on a book tour in Europe finds himself embroiled in a murder mystery that seemingly echoes the plot of his latest novel.  Boasting copious amounts of the red stuff, Tenebrae is actually what I would consider to be a near-perfect example of a giallo film.  A fine example of a film, period.

The Seasoning House (2012) : A Brutal Yet Compelling Debut

For at least ten days, THE SEASONING HOUSE sat on my coffee table, waiting to be watched.  For some reason, I kept putting off watching it, thinking I just wasn't in the mood for a film I had heard was intensely violent and difficult to watch.  But after a particularly bad day at work, I thought a little brutality might just be the ticket.

Directed (and co-written) by former special effects wiz Paul Hyett, THE SEASONING HOUSE wastes no time getting right to it.  A young girl is brought to a house of horrors in which teenage girls are forced into prostitution to service soldiers on break from war in the Balkans.

Viktor (Kevin Howarth) is their pimp, the owner of the brutal brothel, and he takes a special interest in the girl he names Angel.  Angel (Rosie Day) is a deaf mute, and has an unsightly port-wine birthmark on her face, making her seemingly too unattractive to present to the militia.  Instead, he forces her to be his personal sex slave, though he does seem to genuinely care about her in his own warped way.

In flashbacks, we come to realize Angel has been ripped from her home, having watched her mother be shot and killed right in front of her by soldiers who then round up all the young women in town and bring them to Viktor.

Angel has the unenviable task of doping up the restrained women, making them less likely to fight during their assaults. She paints their faces with makeup beforehand, and afterward she cleans them up and empties their waste buckets. 

One day one of the captives, Vanya (Dominique Provost-Chalkley), realizes Angel is deaf and makes a connection to Angel by using sign language.  Angel is shocked to see someone who knows how to sign, and the two are able to strike up a friendship.    Angel spends time with her friend but doesn't allow anyone at the house to know they are close.

Angel has a habit of sneaking around the house by exploring between the walls, and knows its secrets inside and out.  She's able to sneak in to see Vanya without anyone being the wiser, but with this friendship comes the capacity to love, and Angel ends up an unwilling witness to the violent rape and brutal beatings that her friend has to go through, at one point her pelvis is broken during the sex act. Viktor explains this ferocity away by announcing that the men pay more to use the girls more "extensively".

As if things couldn't possibly get any worse, the band of soldiers responsible for her mother's death come calling.  They are there for a rollicking good time and won't be deterred by Viktor, who seems uneasy at their arrival.  The leader of the pack, Goran, is played by none other than Sean Pertwee, whom I love in anything and everything.  He plays a convincing ogre in this film, a baddie from the word go - but he's extraordinarily fun to watch, even as an evil tyrant.  Once Angel recognizes that this is the man who is directly responsible for her mother's death and for giving her and the other girls the horrific life they are living, a plan begins to form in her mind.  A plan made even clearer once a beastly hulk of a soldier set to have an unrelenting and brutal interlude with her friend goes too far.

I didn't want to like this movie.  I wanted to hate it on principle.  I shouldn't like a film that brutalizes and perpetuates violence against women.  Something that shows in inhumanity of people should not be a fun time. But hot damn, this is a decent film.  Rosie Day as Angel is the center point and everything revolves around how it affects her.  The depth of emotion with which she plays her forlorn and bereft character is astounding, she's that good.  I had no choice but to become completely immersed in her world and her desperate situation.  I felt it in my gut when things were at their worst, and reveled in her triumphs as she attempted revenge.

Hyett doesn't hold back here.  He's telling a story that in some parts of the world is all too true, and the gritty sets and design tell a bleak tale all on their own. It's both appalling and riveting.  It made me sick to my stomach, yet compelled me to watch onward.  It was like an exquisite train wreck...you can't take your eyes off it.

 THE SEASONING HOUSE shouldn't be disregarded as yet another "torture porn" or exploitation-type of film, as it has a bigger, more harrowing tale to tell.  You'll be thinking about it long after it's over.  I know I still am.