American Guinea Pig: The Song of Solomon

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.

My spoiler free review for The Bloody Asylum that can be found at WordPress, Mr Geeky blog:

The American Guinea Pig series of films, produced by Unearthed Films, are an homage to the hugely controversial Japanese Guinea Pig films of the 1980s and 1990s, a series of extreme horror films that pushed boundaries with their graphic depictions of brutality, violence, blood, and gore, leading them to being banned in many countries to this day. Unearthed Films distributed the films in the US in the early 2000s, then when the use of the Guinea Pig name was made illegal in Japan they purchased the rights to the name. The first film produced in the American Guinea Pig series was "Bouquet of Blood and Gore" this was followed up by "Bloodshock". The third film in the series "The Song of Solomon" is produced, written, and directed by Stephen Biro, co-founder and CEO of Unearthed Films. The first of the series to have far more of a story and narrative structure. An exorcism/possession film as only Unearthed films could produce.

Stephen Biro's solid writing and directing is complimented by film-makers who so obviously have a passion for extreme horror as he does, all wanting to do something different with the exorcism/possession genre. They certainly have with The Song of Solomon, a low budget film that is far more accomplished than many mainstream studio horror films of recent years. Even more impressive is that it was produced on a very small fraction of the budgets of those films. The film-makers understand how to combine sound, music, visuals, and editing to good effect to create an effective atmosphere, not falling back on cheap jump scares as many horror films tend to do nowadays. For the most part there is an unnerving feeling of mounting dread and tension throughout the entire film, interspersed with shocking scenes of extreme blood and gore. These effects are all achieved through hugely impressive practical effects by Marcus Koch of Oddtopsy FX (We Are Still Here) and Jerami Cruise of TOETAG EFX (Tales of Halloween, Murder Set Pieces) that never overwhelm the other aspects of the film, although for those who are familiar with Unearthed Films, and are watching for those blood and gore scenes they will definitely not be disappointed.

By making The Song of Solomon a part of the American Guinea Pig series it somewhat hinders expectations because the resulting film is far more than just a blood and gore film. However, the series is exactly as the Japanese originals were, becoming far more story and character based with the latter films. Regardless of how accurate the actual exorcism ritual scenes are, a great amount of research was undertaken to ensure those scenes were in fact as realistic as they could be. In the context of the film they are extremely effective, with a lot of the credit going to JESSICA CAMERON as Mary the victim of possession, the standout performance of the entire film. Her portrayal is committed, fearless, and most of all disturbing. Moving effortlessly from innocent to being genuinely unnerving, and very convincing. Almost at times making it feel as if there is a demon inside her. Taking into account that she has gone on record as saying she feels she is not the best of actors. Here she without a doubt proved herself wrong. However, more of an introduction in the initial set up of the film to Mary and her family rather than the film picking up the story after she has been possessed would have added more of an emotional impact to her performance and so accentuated the horrors that unfold as the film progressed, especially the opening scenes, but Jessica Cameron did enough in the few early scenes to invest enough depth into her character to give the film an emotional edge.

There are some unexpected twists and turns with the story and characters, especially in the depictions of the priests, particularly Gene Palubicki in his first major film role, who also composed some of the superb music for the film. David E. McMahon is very impressive, having maybe one of the most controversial scenes in the film. Jim Van Bebber is also very effective when the extreme scenes of the exorcism kick in.

The film has some faults, a far grittier look and feel with stronger acting at times would have heightened the impact of the film. Although it is extremely impressive what was achieved on a very low budget, with the skill of the film-makers and particularly Jessica Cameron's performance balancing out the weaker elements of the film.

The Song of Solomon for the most part is an assured film and pretty much did what a horror film should do. Creepy, unsettling, and disturbing, added to that is of course the gut wrenching blood and gore that is to be expected from an American Guinea Pig film.

Fans of the series, exorcism/possession films, low budget independent horror films, and of course blood and gore films will not be disappointed.

Could a film be much worse?... Ummm NO. I won't reiterate what's already been rightfully said about, the acting, stealing of scenes from other films ect. It's all true. And almost impossible to sit through. I'd give it a negative number except for the trooper performance by the actress trying to make something out of leftovers. I'm sure you'll have to see it now, but do yourself a favor. Find the boots or, as many have had their fill quickly, used copes for a couple bucks. Move along nothing to see here

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 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.