Guinea Pig: Ginî piggu - Akuma no jikken

I felt compelled to write this review because I read so many negative things about the film before I saw it. I wondered if the film was really that bad or if people were just so disgusted by what they saw they felt the need to trash it. That's why I decided to provide an honest look at Guinea Pig.

The first important thing to know about Guinea Pig is that it is quite obviously fake. I won't go into details as to why, but the reasons are many and widespread throughout the entire film. From the first frame of video alone, text that explains where the film came from...are we to believe that this was actually released? A much more effective start would have been to just dive right into the video. That way we might have some sense that perhaps we are viewing something illegal that somehow slipped through the cracks.

The question is, why is it so important that Guinea Pig is obviously fake? Unlike other films, Guinea Pig doesn't have any character development. Without empathy for the film's characters, the only thing that we have to rely on for fear is the thought that maybe, just maybe, what we are seeing is real. Contrast that with Texas Chainsaw Massacre. We know that's just a film, but it is much more effective because we care what happens to the characters. Also, TCM is able to show some scenes of violence from the victim's point of view allowing the viewer to put himself in the victim's shoes. Guinea Pig can't do those things, so the only thing it has to frighten us with is realism.

Guinea Pig fails in the realism department, so does that mean the film is a total failure? Not exactly. I think Guinea Pig succeeds on two levels.

Human beings have a natural instinct towards self-preservation. It's that very instinct that causes the thought of true snuff to illicit such horror as well as curiosity. When viewing questionable material, this instinct also causes us to search for explanations as to why what we are watching is not real. In one scene, the victim has hot oil poured on her arm. This is obviously not really happening as she makes no reasonable attempt to move her arm out of the path of the spilling oil. But hold on....how do I know that? The film made me consider it. The mere fact that viewing Guinea Pig made me have to think about how a person might react to hot oil being spilled on them means that it has succeeded on some level. Whether this success of the film is something that the viewer actually wants is another question entirely.

Secondly, I think Guinea Pig succeeds in forcing us to think about what we are willing to see. Though quite fake, the famous climactic needle scene is indescribably difficult to watch. This forces the viewer to consider how much more he is willing to see. Many people seek shocking video, but then wish they could unsee what they have seen. Perhaps Guinea Pig can provide some answers as to what we are willing to see. If nothing else, maybe after seeing Guinea Pig we will really think about viewing something before wishing we could unsee it.

In summation, I can't recommend Guinea Pig because of its shortcomings. I expect its recent domestic release on DVD will create wide interest in the film, but I would certainly wait until it's in the $10 bin before considering it. I even found Jeepers Creepers to be a scarier experience because at least the story was told well. With the lack of any story and the lack of realism, what does Guinea Pig really have to offer? Not much.

Ah, the infamous "Guinea Pig" series...I honestly have to say that I've been disappointed as a whole by this entire series ("He Never Dies","Mermaid in a Manhole", and "Flower of Flesh and Blood" being the exceptions...and even those aren't great by any means...), but "Devil's Experiment" just plain blows. There is nothing realistic-looking going on here, other than the climactic (or perhaps anti-climactic, depending on how you view it) eyeball piercing scene. The victim appears to not really care what is going on and barely whines or whimpers while being subjected to "hideous" (more often sometimes "hilarious") tortures. "Flower of Flesh and Blood" is a more violent and gory depiction of fake "snuff" material, but that film also falls flat on the realism level. I applaud the Japanese for pushing the boundaries, and they've really come a long way over the past 2 decades to wear the crown in "extreme" film-making, but "Devil's Experiment" just doesn't hold up. Worth a look if you are a die-hard, if for no other reason than to see what the fuss is about, but I can only give this film an extremely generous 3/10 and that's only for the needle-through-the-eye scene...

Before slipping this film into my DVD player, I must admit I had a few reservations. Having heard about the "Guinea Pig" movies many years ago, I had been warned that they were "strong stuff" and best viewed on fast-forward due to the over-the-top graphic violence (or pornographic gore, as I believe Chas Balun referred to it in one of his articles). As my finger paused on the "Play" button, I had to wonder, "Would the films be just too much to view or another case of over-hyped horror product?" The first "Guinea Pig" production was "Devil's Experiment" (1985), otherwise known as "Unabridged Agony". This 1986 straight-to-video release in Japan is a deliberately low budget production, resembling a snuff movie with just a touch of Japanese artistic content to make the viewing experience more bearable. Interestingly, the original Japanese video release had no credits and so bore more resemblance to an under the counter, real snuff flick! My own feelings are that this original version, presented on a VHS tape, would have really appeared seedier and more, ahem, authentic.

The "plot" as such is that a gang of men systematically abuse and torture a young woman, climaxing in her final demise. Their various methods of pain affliction involve the use of white noise, constant rotation, forced to drink alcohol, being burnt, cut, etc. One of the most bizarre moments of the ordeal is when the unconscious victim is being pelted with animal guts. Although it could be argued that there isn't really a storyline as such, the film does succeed in a slightly sordid, voyeuristic and uncomfortable manner in making the viewer an unwilling viewer of the unfolding events.

The film definitely isn't easy going but the episodic nature of the production allows you to draw breath before being plunged into the next atrocity. In terms of raw energy, this production does pack a punch.

I thought I had seen it all, CANNIBAL HOLOCOUST, SALO, MEN BEHIEND THE SUN. Then I foolishly watched this. Why anyone could possably find this entertaining is beyond me. a girl is torchered and killed, end of story. you can clearly make a case for most of the special fx. except the one where she is killed, a large pointed ojbect is stuck trough the girls head and comes out through her eye. If anyone knows how this was done PLEASE let me know, by e-mailing me and put my mind at rest. it has disturbd me since I watched it. I am praying I have not realy watched a snuff movie.

Yours Faithfully DISTURBED.

This is the first Guinea Pig film from Japan and this is the sickest, in my opinion. A bunch of guys torture a girl for several days before finally killing her. And at this point, I will say that these films are NOT real! They are faked horror films which try to be as realistic as possible.

The scenes are sickening but also unrealistic in many cases. For example, when they kick the girl in the floor, we can clearly see how they kick and stump the floor near the girl! And how stupid this looks! The sound effects are also unrealistic and don't make sense. Other scenes include animal intestines thrown on the girl, the girl exposed to loud noises for many hours, the ripping off of fingernails, worms placed on the wounds in the girl's body, the eye pierced and mutilated in horrific detail and stuff like that. Very sick and mean spirited film and has absolutely nothing valuable or cinematically significant. This first entry is the sickest and most amateurish Guinea Pig, although it is not as bloody as the next part, Flowers of Flesh and Blood, which tries to be as shocking as possible.

Guinea Pig: Devil's Experiment is perhaps the sickest thing I've seen and the closest thing to snuff there is. This is still (of course) faked s(n/t)uff, the only difference to genuine "snuff film" is that no one dies or hurts for real in this film. I cannot recommend this to anyone since thi s is so s****y and repulsive. They who consider this is a great horror film understand nothing about cinema and the real meaning of it. I watched this as a curiosity (as the other parts in the series) and now I know how insignificant trash these are. They work only in shock level and that's not too valuable cinematic achievement. Devil's Experiment is perhaps the sickest film I've seen and Mermaid in a Manhole (Guinea Pig 4) is perhaps the most disgusting film I've seen. So these are pretty extreme in my book, but that's all they are.