Wound

When a film opens by mercilessly depicting a penis being gruesomely castrated with a pair of scissors, you know that, if nothing else, you're in for something interesting. And Wound is just that, unrelenting for its entire 77 minute runtime.

A mere five minutes following the genital mutilation, a nude, submissive housewife is tortured by her "master" in front of a camera. The nightmarish imagery does not end there. Other eccentric scenes include an animalistic rape by a man in a pig mask, incestuous teat suckling and a nasty birthing scene featuring a deformed, blood-spewing vagina.

As a result of the questionable content, Wound stirred up a bit of controversy in its home country of New Zealand. While people unfamiliar with the genre might make a fuss about it, the graphic content doesn't hold a candle to the likes of A Serbian Film or even The Human Centipede. Nothing but overblown claims to drum up press.

Between the bizarre sequences lies the perplexing story of a mother uniting with her daughter. The plot is not easy to follow, but there are two sides to the story. On one hand, an orphan, Tanya (Te Kaea Beri), searches for the mother that she has never met. Meanwhile, the mother, Susan (Kate O'Rourke), believes that her unborn daughter is taking over her life.

Susan struggles with metal illness, which accounts for the film's nonlinear structure. Acclaimed filmmaker Ken Russell (The Who's Tommy) hailed the movie as a "masterpiece." While I wouldn't go that far, Wound does share the unsettling, dreamlike atmosphere with Russell's Altered States.

Writer/director David Blyth has been in the industry for some 35 years, but Wound feels more like an independent filmmaker's early attempt at experimentation with controversial issues. Blyth, whose most notable effort is helming a handful of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers episodes, recently took off the better part of a decade to focus on documentary work. Wound marks his return to features and, perhaps, a rebirth as a director as well.

This movie is about issues of rape and incest (I guess). It is not mainstream movie-making. It looked to me like some independent experimental thing. It didn't follow the regular rules of film making (not the ones of movies I usually watch, anyway). Hell, it didn't follow the regular rules of time and space. I couldn't follow it. The scenes appeared surreal and random and I didn't know what any of it meant. What was symbolism? What was reality? After a while I didn't care anymore. To make matters worse, there are no babes in this movie; not one attractive sympathetic face. Since I didn't understand anything that was going on it would have been a consolation to have some nice-looking woman or women to look at. What if Olive Oyl were blond, middle-aged, and less attractive? --You'd have the lead in this movie. There was a scene where she was instructed to remove her blouse. I found myself saying, "Please..don't."

Possibly, this movie might have appeal for people who like and understand abstract art; you know, the type of picture, sculpture, or work most of the uninitiated (myself included) look at and ask, "What the hell is that?!!" In the case of this movie: "What the hell's going on?!!" I was wondering if a few joints before I viewed this thing would have helped (pot doesn't care about the usual order of things either). If you're brighter or dumber than I am you may like this movie. I don't know which scenario applies. I humbly accede to your better judgment. Love, Boloxxxi.

OMG!!! What did I just watch? And how can I put this experience in words. I will say this, there are some things in this film, that I will not forget for a long while. One involving the two main characters Susan and her daughter Tanya, in masks also involving a guy in a mask and plastic wrap. The most mind messed up manipulating scenes I ever witnessed in any film. And a castration scene, that would not be happy until it made you really think you saw a real one. It was the most realistic you could make it, without it really happening and please David tell me that scene is not real. I am worried. The movie deals with Susan, who may or may not be suffering from mental illness. And it tackles a lot of subjects. Rape, Incest, Revenge, Death, Mind Control and just plain what is going to happen next. Tanya, the daughter was quite possibly the hottest female I have seen this year in any film. There is a scene in the beginning with a counselor and her that you know by the tone and words being exchanged if this truly is a movie for you. Susan, starts the movie normal enough, but within minutes you are thrown right into her world. She is a servant to Master John, and those scenes are so cruel. You feel for her. Or do you. You find out as the movie goes on she is no angel, and her past she is ridden with a lot of guilt from things she has done and decisions she made, and thru the beauty of this film David lets you live them all out with her. This film is no horror film in the terms of a Jigsaw, or Freddy Kruger, its a horror film in the feeling of a they wont do this scene, OK they did it, he wont take it further. Oh man he did. This film is shocking, controversial, sick, depressing, and cruel. I loved it all. I don't know who is worst. David Blyth for creating this film, or for me loving it so much. This is no art film, or a statement movie. This is pure nightmare. Its a manipulative, sad and very challenging movie to make you feel, react and trust me by the end you will either be loving it or hating it. This is the film all those people who think they have seen it all, well here it is. And trust me, this film is just as controversial if not a little more than a Serbian Film.

This psycho-sexual horror isn't for all the horror buffs walking around because it doesn't contain straight horror but it tricks your mind into a depraved ride between humiliation and incest.

Made by David Blythe who gave us Death Warmed Up (1984) before we ever heard of Peter Jackson was a well known kiwi exploitation director. And it shows because this is to be honest another exploitation flick. It do has nudity but one of that kind that isn't attractive and surely isn't for the easily offended. It contains some red stuff here and there and even that can shock people, just see the shower scene once the daughter discovers the blood of her mother. David didn't add gore in it but at the final we do have a slashing that is ultra gory. But many will have turned it off because it's such a weird flick, in the line of Eraserhead (1977°. I like those kind of flicks were they go into the mind of sick people like for example The Dead Girl (2006). I found the acting sublime by all.

A supernatural sickie that takes you back to the old school exploitations. Full of weird shots and offending sexuality. A classic.

Gore 1/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 1/5 Story 3,5/5 Comedy 0/5

This movie was absolutely positively terrible. I would have rather watched the Human Centipede ten times in a row than have watched this movie for even five minutes (and that is saying something because the Human Centipede was a pretty terrible movie also). There was no gore in whatever awful version I downloaded and I could not follow it at all. Some people said you need to be artsy or whatever to watch this, no you just have to be really high or as crazy as the bitch in the movie. If you ever decide you want to watch this, do yourself a favor, and go find a gun make sure that it is loaded put it up to your head and please pull the trigger that would be more fun than sitting through that horrific thing that is unfortunately called a movie. :)