American Guinea Pig: The Song of Solomon

The Song of Solomon is a bit of a departure for the American Guinea Pig series: instead of virtually plot-free systematic torture, the film depicts the exorcism of a young woman, Mary (Jessica Cameron), by a series of Catholic priests, which, in true Unearthed Films style, results in lots of gory mayhem. In fact, director Stephen Biro piles on so much splatter that his film becomes comedic in its excess, which I don't believe was the intention.

For me, the gore that broke the camel's back was a scene clearly inspired by Fulci's Gates of Hell (AKA City of the Living Dead), wherein Mary yarfs up her insides. After a lot of reaching, up come her small intestines-but wait, there's more: a couple of organs are thrown up onto her bed in a bloody heap, followed by a large intestine. But Biro doesn't stop there... he has Mary pick up each glistening organ and stuff them back into her mouth one-by-one. This goes on for so long that it's hard to take seriously. Also giving me the giggles is the moment when the final priest gives up reading stuff from his Little Book of Exorcism and climbs on top of Mary to hump the demon out of her - it's supposed to be shocking (I think), but I couldn't keep a straight face.

The best moment comes towards the end of the film (just before the humping), when Mary's contorted limbs snap and split open (sterling work by make-up effects guys Jerami Cruise and Marcus Koch) - that part was as close to revolting as it gets - but the rest of the film is just a poor man's The Exorcist with much more blood and a silly 'twist' ending.

This one was so bad and an extreme let down. Nothing like the other american guinea pig movies. The whole vibe was off. And tbh I really have nothing good to say about it other than the ending was kind of funny. It's straight up a badly done dark comedy. Also.. the guinea pig and american guinea pig movies are known for the gore. The gore in this movie is so poorly done...its like they bought some cheap props from a Halloween shop and put slime on it. I dont think I could ever reccomend this movie to folks. If you want to see an extremely badly done movie..this one will be the movie for you no doubt about it.

There aren't enough words in the English language to describe just how awful this film is. Completely devoid of substance and lacking of any redeeming quality. Not to mention what an awful person the director is. Absolutely nothing worth anything here.

The Guinea Pig films were a series of pictures that spanned across the mid 80s into the early 90s that gained infamous attention and notoriety for being some of the most graphic and extreme films to come out of the Japanese underground at the time. The series quickly gained a cult following, and with it came controversy, criminal investigation, and ultimately legal banishment. It is now illegal to produce films in Japan under the Guinea Pig title. This is where the American Guinea Pig series comes in.

Stephan Biro, the man responsible for giving the Guinea Pig films there first and only official home video release in the United States also gained the rights to the Guinea Pig name, and in 2014 started the American Guinea Pig series with his release of Bouquet of Guts and Gore. A pseudo snuff film that connects the original Guinea Pig series with its now American counterpart. The most infamous film from the original Guinea Pig series, Flower of Flesh and Blood, was said to be inspired by a genuine snuff film that director Hideshi Hino had received in the mail years before. Biro's Bouquet is supposed to be that very film that Hino received in the mail, making the American series a kind of prequel to the original Japanese films.

This connection and homage to the original series has been a running theme with nearly every American Guinea Pig release. As just mentioned, American Guinea Pig: Bouquet of Guts and Gore shares connections with Flower of Flesh and Blood. American Guinea Pig: Bloodshock nods its head to the original Guinea Pig classic, The Devil's Experiment. American Guinea Pig: Sacrifice shares uncanny similarities to the original Guinea Pig film, He Never Dies. The Song of Solomon on the other is the first film in the series to deviate from this attachment to the films of yesteryear. This is the first time in the American Guinea Pig series that a release came out that did not hold some kind of correlation with the original series. Nonetheless, this is one of the best films to come out of the series thus far.

As with much of the original Guinea Pig films, narrative comes secondary to the exhibition of graphic violence and gore. The first two films to come out of the original Japanese series held virtually no plot at all. The American series followed this model with the releases of Bouquet and Sacrifice. All of these pictures centered their focus on graphic presentations of violence, only holding enough plot to bring us to scenes of grotesque displays of the macabre. That does not mean that every film out of the Guinea Pig series were all void of plot. The original Guinea Pig film, Mermaid in a Manhole, is a prime example of superb story telling. The American Guinea Pig series' first attempt at a traditional narrative structure, with its release of Bloodshock, was a good endeavor, but ultimately a weak execution. Poor acting and debatable directorial choices resulted in a film that was often funny when it was trying to be serious, and ultimately did not pack the punch it was so desperately winding up for.

Fortunately, the same cannot be said for The Song of Solomon. Whatever was in the way during their first attempt is behind them now, and The Song of Solomon packs a strong enough punch to leave you eating the rest of your meals through a straw. The acting in this picture is significantly better. An though at times the dialog feels a little forced, the lead actors are clearly professionals and know how to make it work. There are some weaker performances in this film, most notably by the actress who plays the mother, along with whoever plays the doctor, but that is to be expected with any low budget indie project. Additionally, Solomon sets a tone and atmosphere that Bloodshock was so desperately trying to pull off, but couldn't. With these to factors, Solomon is able to dilute the few occasions bad acting or weak points in the film, making these flaws easily dismissible, and allowing the film's narrative to roll forward with little distraction. Resulting in an over all powerful and interesting picture.

In regards to the violence, and lets face it, that is why you are watching an American Guinea Pig film, Solomon delivers. This is likely to be the most gruesome and graphic exorcist film that you will ever see. That is to be expected considering Oddtopsy FX (Bouquet of Guts and Gore) and Toe Tag Pictures (August Underground trilogy) were behind the special effects for this picture.

All in all, you may feel like the exorcist genre is a tired and played out theme, and that very well may be true, but if you are ready to put that genre to rest I recommend going out with a bang with this one. If you are a fan of underground horror and extreme gore, this is one to set your eyes on.

I'm a huge fan of Guinea Pig so i've decided to start watching American Guinea Pig as well. And... this one is... something... it has a nice idea to show creative gore scenes and possession but the acting and story kinda makes it fall flat for me. The actors and actresses just kinda feel stale and lifeless.

It did have some pretty horrific gore scenes though. But a few scenes were dragged out, for instance, the intestine vomiting scene lasts a good ~5 or so minutes. Really could've been cut shorter but they dragged it out so it didn't shock as well for me.

It's a nice love letter to Guinea Pig but don't expect anything amazing.