Billed as the film that could make even the most extreme splatter horror fan vomit, Koji Shiraishi‘s aptly-titled new film, Grotesque, is nothing if not straight-forward in its intent. Shiraishi is probably best known for the 2007 horror film, Kuchisake-onna (Tartan called it “Carved”), and before that he wrote and directed several low-budget, critically panned horror flicks like Ju-rei and Noroi the Curse. Yohei Fukuda reclaims his normal title as director of photography after debuting as a director with the scantily-clad splatter-fest Chanbara Beauty early last year.

The film begins as a beautiful young girl named Aki (AV actress Tsugumi Nagasawa) waits for someone at a coffee shop. However, she doesn't notice that a stranger is closely observing her every move. Soon, Kazuo (Hiroaki Kawatsure) arrives and sits down with her. They share a few laughs before leaving the shop and begin walking down the street together. The person that had been staring at Aki follows them, and his footsteps gradually get closer.

Kazuo and Aki later wake up in a dimly lit room, tied up and gagged, with absolutely no idea what happened to them or how they got there. A man named Tachikawa (Shigeo Osako) appears in front of them, and given his vast array of power tools and scary-looking instruments he definitely has some rather disturbing plans in store for the two of them.

To Aki's horror, Tachikawa proceeds to stab Kazuo in the stomach with an ice pick, but he doesn't kill him just yet. Instead, he carefully tends to the wound and disinfects the area before continuing the torture. Tachikawa hacks away at his captives, slicing off and mutilating various parts of their bodies in the most obscene ways imaginable. And if by chance they happen to pass out from the pain, he simply wakes them up with smelling salts so they don't miss anything.

The explanation given for why this film was made is pretty freaking grandiose for a simple torture flick, invoking everything from the moral decay of modern society to the light 7-year sentence given to the Fukuoka drunk driver who caused the drowning deaths of three young children in August of 2006. What any of that has to do with taking a chainsaw to an AV actress we'll probably never know, but it's certainly an interesting angle to take for promotional purposes.

And yes, this entire project is obviously a blatant rip-off of Eli Roth's "Hostel", from the poster art style to the color treatment of the film itself, but I don't think anyone would accuse Shiraishi of being afraid to borrow other people's ideas from time to time (to time, to time...).

Trailer (obviously not work safe):

Stills:

"Grotesque" will open at Theater N in Shibuya on January 17, 2009 (Sat.) and will be screened until the 23rd (Fri.).

Sources:

Official website
Cinematopics
AllCinema

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Tags: gore, grotesque, hiroaki kawatsure, koji shiraishi, shigeo osako, torture, tsugumi nagasawa, yohei fukuda