Movies.ie looks at the essential films to watch before viewing
Who doesn’t love a bit of gore? It’s in our own human nature to scare ourselves – we’re instinctively afraid of the dark, that fear is written into our genetic makeup, ever since the dawn of the caveman fearing what predators might lurk in the darkness.
Fear is just a part of what makes us human so why on earth would we force ourselves to watch gruesome horror movies.
Even the name ‘The Human Centipede’ sends shivers down our spine and makes us want to run for the comfort of our blankets. The Dutch film is brought to us by Tom Six and it follows the work of a German surgeon who is famous for his work on separating conjoined twins but now the doctor has a new passion, creating new creatures by surgically attaching them to each other – his first creation, a human centipede and his victims are three unsuspecting tourists.
Like any great horror films the actual blood and painful imagery are never actually show but are rather implied leaving it up to us the audience to imagine the scenes in our heads – something is a lot more effective and terrifying.
We bring you some of the best gore flicks around, whether it was for the insane amount of blood and wounds used or the sheer horror it left impacted on us. These are the essential films to watch before viewing ‘The Human Centipede’ that is if you can stomach it…
Planet Terror
One of two parts in the ‘Grindhouse’ film set, ‘Planet Terror’ is the work of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, starring an army of stars including Bruce Willis, Josh Brolin, Rose McGowan and Tarantino himself. When a black market deal turns sour and some toxic gas leaks into the air, the townspeople nearby all begin to turn into zombie like monsters, feeling no pain, covered head to toe in sores, seeping wounds and lacerations. Rose plays Cherry, a go go dancer now with a missing leg after she and her mysterious exboyfriend El Wray were attacked. Together they must fend off the hordes of mutated monsters if they and the ragtag bunch of survivors are to get out alive. With enough blood and gory deaths to keep you satiated, there is one scene in particular with Tarantino and McGowan that will definitely have you reaching for the sick bucket!
Cannibal Holocaust
One of the most notorious films of the 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust was banned in several countries around the world. After its release in Italy the film was banned, the director Ruggero Deodato was arrested on ‘obscenity charges’, all on account of a rumour that the film was actually a snuff movie and several of the actors had been killed on set.
The plot follows an anthropologist, Harold Monroe’ as heads a rescue mission to find four friends and documentarians who were filming in the Amazon. His rescue mission brings him upon the team’s footage and after watching the film Monroe has his answer – the filmmakers had fallen prey to the savage cannibal tribe of the forest.
Everything from the impalement scene, the hard hitting violence and even the cruelty of real life animals, still makes Cannibal Holocaust one of the most controversial movies of all time.
Martyrs
One of the newest films on our list, Martyrs comes to us from France and is directed by Pascal Laugier. It is the only French genre film to be marked with an 18+ rating due to the sheer violence and themes of the movie.
Debuting at Cannes in 2008, it is the story of a young girl named Lucie who after escaping her captors and torturers finds herself in an orphanage and befriended by a girl called Anna.
Anna uncovers the mystery behind Lucie, who is the victim or believes herself to be the victim of a nightmarish monster.
Years later Lucie finds her way to a family home and kills everyone inside believing it will appease the creature that harms her. Anna arrives to help her dispose of the bodies but when Lucie realises that the creature will never leave she understands she can never live a normal life. Anna is left alone to pick up the pieces but soon uncovers the truth behind the family but will she escape or is she the next victim in a mysterious organisations plan?
Marytrs is brutal, numbing and frightening – the torment inflicted upon on the women is actually unbearable at times so we won’t blame you for flinching or looking away.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original)
If Cannibal Holocaust is one of the most notorious films of all time then ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ is one of the greatest movies of all time. Released in 1974 on a budget of 140,000 dollars, the film, directed by Tobe Hooper, was banned in several countries for it’s use of excessive violence and it’s bloody content.
Five friends are travelling the back roads of Texas to visit a family cemetery, on route they pick up a stranded hitchhiker who after displaying some bizarre behaviour attacks them before being pushed from the van. Finding their way to the old house of their grandparents, two of the friends go in search of a swimming hole only to be the first two victims to fall prey to the hulking figure that is Leatherface. In search of their missing friends, brother and sister, Franklin and Sally are stalked by the chainsaw wielding cannibal.
The beauty of ‘TTCM’ is that most of the violence in the movie is never shown and the director leaves it up to us to fill in the blanks. We never see Pam being impaled on a meat hook but we are left to imagine in it, nor do we see Kirk being struck with the sledgehammer.
Tobe Hooper could certainly teach the directors of today’s horror movies a thing or two about creating a real sense of fear.