Dienstag, 17. September 2013

REVIEW: THE ROPE MAIDEN (Guy Pearce, 2013)





"The Rope Maiden" starts off with the beginning from "Guinea Pig - Flowers of Flesh and Blood": a young woman is walking down the street minding her own business, when suddenly a masked man attacks and kidnaps her. The kidnapper drops his camera and Guy picks it up. Guy turns out to be a demented psychopath and starts to shoot tutorials on how to kill women in a cellar. There is no doubt that his rope maiden will not survive the shoot….





”The Rope Maiden” is a short-film made by Guy Pearce, who could be known to fans of extreme underground gore films and Japanese fetish porn under his pseudonym “SculptingFragments”. In an extensive process (which was documented on Facebook), the charming young Brit created a short which combines two of his favorite genres: fake snuff and black comedy. The result is really something





After the obligatory kidnapping sequence (which is very similar to the one in the second Guinea Pig film), the course commences. Guy introduces us to the do’s and don’t’s of making snuff films. Which victims are the best? What kind of rope should one choose? Which weight should the victim have? Guy answers all these questions, before getting rough with his helpless victim.





“The Rope Maiden” has turned out to be a merry and well-made fake snuff movie, which contributes some fresh ideas to the genre without forgetting its role models. Guy is great in the role of murderer and narrator. The whole tutorial thing was executed very well and, to my surprise, the humourous tone created by Guy works perfectly. Especially the Japanese commercials in the vein of “Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl” are a complete success!





Despite the humour, “The Rope Maiden” is, basically, a pretty violent film, featuring some quite nasty scenes. The butchering of the attractive,young Japanese girl (yes, Guy actually found a real, live Japanese girl) is the main part of the story and very entertaining. Many  things remind the viewer of the Japanese fake snuff classic “Niku Daruma”, which most certainly is not a coincidence. Skin gets cut open, entrails are ripped out and so on and so forth. The final gag, which will not be spoiled here, of course, is also pretty astonishing and a worthy end. The effects are also quite nifty and can be compared to some of the Japanese genre classics, the film is influenced by. Same goes for the catchy Death Metal track played in the background.



Conclusion: “The Rope Maiden” is a well-made fake snuff short, which is incredibly funny but still pretty sick. The effects are well-crafted, the actors do a good job and fans of hard fake snuff films (preferably the ones from Japan) should be just as delighted as appreciators of black humour. All you underground freaks should really keep your eyes open for this one!





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