Customer Reviews

Senseless

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Absolutely brilliant. This is a film just screaming for the world's attention. The basic premise of this bold and provocative story rests on some shocking displays of gruesome torture. But make no mistake, these acts of horrific violence are by no means senseless.

Eliott is a U.S. government official who is in charge of several international business negotiations. He often uses his quick wit and charisma to help sign the deal, and never even briefly considers any consequences. It's all just part of the job.

Well, a certain group of people took strong offense to his dealings. He gets kidnapped and subjected to extended bouts of the most heinous torture imaginable. To top it off, these brutal acts are streamed online for the world to see.

It's like a Hostel/Truman Show, broadcast live for some sick entertainment. Ratings soar and donations start piling in as the world watches the extreme madness. The questions also start surmounting. First and foremost--WHY? Are these simply the acts of deranged terrorists with no purpose but striking fear into the hearts of the world? Or is this possibly a rebellious stand against U.S. acts of aggression?

The acting performances here seem vey authentic. The characters pull you into a despicable place and constantly keep you off balance. One word of warning---this film contains several harsh acts of graphic violence. Your senses will get jolted, much like the American victim here. It is very unnerving, but these torturous acts are also symbolic. The utter contempt and frustration geared toward the United States might raise a few eyebrows.

This is a must-see film. Senseless deftly examines the human fascination with violence, plus our tendencies to act in self-interest. It boldly declares a much darker side of truth than you'll ever see exposed on the 5 o'clock news. It challenges you to think beyond certain slanted views. To realize much of the information we receive has been filtered. There are indeed two sides to every story.

Consider the bigger picture.


2008
United Kingdom
Directed by Simon Hynd

I took an upper-division horror film seminar in the spring of 1986 at the University of Colorado. Since then I have always considered myself a bit of an aficionado of horror. But I am not a fanatic. I passed on most all of the torture porn films of the past decade, dismissing them as not having the potential to advance the genre in any of it multitudinous facets.

The other night I stumbled on Senseless (2008). It is terribly brutal, really goes too far. However, it is so well written, acted, paced, plotted and themed, that I believe it must be the best torture porn film made. It is certainly one of the most intense horror films of any kind.

The premise is simple, and I kind of dismissed it as trite at first. But because of that brilliant level of writing where throw-away lines resonate the deepest and the longest, the tension mounts painfully. It moves seamlessly from brutal physical torture to mind bogglingly hurtful psychological torture, not torment. There are only five acts of violence in the film, but what happens between those acts makes the film difficult to endure. The writing is excellent, but the primary actor's non-verbal scenes really make the film. The end masterfully ties up the experience. It is utterly satisfying while being completely unfulfilling. The viewer becomes so desperate for respite that the one instance of mercy, which is part and parcel of the film's most horrific moment of cruelty, makes for a vaguely happy ending.

Quite honestly, I have never been scared by a movie. Too much suspense bores me. Senseless, on the other hand, horrified me and haunts me still six days later.

I am starting a grass-roots campaign to get these film makers the recognition they deserve. Like most landmark horror films, Senseless takes the genre to the next level using the contemporary themes of big studio horror. I'd hate for this film to be lost to posterity.

Walter Morris
walteralbertmorris@yahoo.com

It takes a strong stomach to watch this movie, but Jason Behr's performance is brilliant. The scariest things are always what can really happen, and Jason makes you believe it with every sense you possess.

Let me first say, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and it's a damn shame that more people haven't discovered it. There are some movies I've watched that left me feeling as though there was a deeper message that I just didn't get (like Pulp Fiction), whereas this movie left me feeling as though I was taking away a deeper (and more personal) message than was intended.

Though I do agree that it focused on the "human fascination with violence", it struck me much differently than a movie like Hostel (which focused on a total disregard for human life - killing for entertainment)....this movie tapped into the "human fascination with violence against people who have it coming". Someone like Bernie Madoff comes to mind....if he were kidnapped and tortured for the world to see, how many of his cheated investors would gladly become paid subscribers to that website?? It's all too easy to view someone like that - or in the case of this movie (from the point of view of his captors and supporters), the main character Eliott Gast - as being less than human/more evil and thereby deserving of retribution for acting in their own self interest when it shows such a complete disregard for the suffering of others. This raises another question...is acting in your own best interest - or "just doing your job" - a bad thing when it negatively impacts another. Is the loan officer who gave a mortgage loan to a family who clearly could not afford it and who will ultimately foreclose and be out on the street evil for having given the loan in the first place or are they "innocent"? And even if they are innocent, does their innocence in any way lesson the burden of the family now without a home? And does that innocence in any way protect them again retribution, if someone chose to seek it? Now think about this on a global scale through the eyes of a radical extremist...

Unlike Hostel where I could in no way identify with the desire/fascination to torture for sport, the fact that I could understand where Elliot's captors where coming from - no matter how brutal, misguided or extreme - was absolutely horrifying to me. It made the events of the movie seems entirely too real.

In some ways I would compare this movie to the Saw series. I think that like Jigsaw's character, Elliot's captors (both Blackbeard and Nim) started out with similar intentions - to teach Elliot, and the world, a lesson. As the movie went on however, Blackbeard motivation changed (like Amanda's in the later Saw movies), where Nim's did not...and this is where I believe her preserved "compassion" came from. In the end, she was true to her original mission and from her point of view she did "help" Elliot (helped him learn the lesson she had set out to teach). And in letting him live, and keep one eye, he would leave a changed man able to "benefit" from the lesson she taught.

Jason Behr's performance was absolutely awesome! He is such an expressive actor and he really brought the character to life. The torture scenes were brutal to watch!

I highly recommend this movie to any horror fan...but even if you're not, if you can stomach the horror scenes there so much more too it!