It is a performances centric movie

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Captivating movie !

Absolutely Brilliant!

I first saw this movie about a year ago. The version I had back then was slightly blurry and lacked subtitles so, in essence, a silent horror movie. I thought at the time that the movie was "just" okay. I didn't bother looking for the subtitles online because I figured, "Eh, what could they be talking about? I'm sure it's pretty standard based on what was on screen." Wrong!The dialog was essential to the movie. The doctor, with his stoic presentation, was an absolute mind f*ck to those two lovebirds. It gave the film much more layers than I'd thought.As a student of extreme human behavior I try to understand what motivates people to do the things they do - go to war, torture people, burn down villages, convince one group of people that another group is worthless and annihilate them, genocide is in their best interest, etc. On one level it sucks that the innocent lovers were randomly chosen to be experimented on like that. No one has the right to perpetrate such discomfort and malice upon another, but the fact of the matter is, it does exist and we can't turn a blind eye to it.The second level is mankind is forever searching and experimenting and trying to discover different ways to live, survive and improve his way of life. Experiments on man and animal, as gruesome as they have been over the years, have occurred often for our benefit, from testing shampoo and mascara products on monkeys to getting mice high so they can test anti-narcotic drugs on them. No, that's not fair, but it is what it is. It does exist. We can protest all month long on the streets of every living metropolis in the world but mankind will still push on, some of his ways will be to our liking and some won't.I thought the acting was well done in this film, from the doctor's matter-of-fact stoicism to the genuine fear in the victims' faces. The music was eerily apropos, too - classical music playing while the most gruesome activity imaginable is going on. That contrastive idea worked in 'A Clockwork Orange' and it's also effective here. As a psychological thriller 'Grotesque' is a success. As a gorefest it also surpassed the expected.On a personal note, the playing of 'Pomp and Circumstance' at the end made me angry. It reminded me of high school, a time when I was bullied, neglected, made fun of and, for the first time, considered suicide. It's interesting, and probably fitting, that 'Pomp' would show up in a film like this. Maybe the director knew that the people who would see this film would themselves have been the victim of bullying and may even have PTSD. It's been said that victims of abuse who expose themselves to new images of violence is a phenomenon that does occur but this "repetitive compulsion" hasn't been fully explored. http://www.cirp.org/library/psych/vanderkolk/Watch this film if you dare, not as entertainment, but as a cautionary tale. It explores the depths of man's depravity well, and you may as well see this version because Hollywood won't touch this subject matter with a ten foot pole.

I had to put a review out there for this movie. I read the reviews before I watched this and they are VERY MISLEADING. I had expected a pure torture/porn movie with no story, so I have to say I was PLEASANTLY SURPRISED WITH THIS MOVIE AND HOW GOOD THE STORY WAS. I almost didn't even watch it because I don't like boring torture movies, so I left this one for a while thinking it was pure gore. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is the most thought provoking gore movie you will ever see.Maybe people just didn't get this movie, as there are too many FALSE reviews on this movie, most likely from people who obviously did not watch the entire movie. This movie is not for the average person. You must have an open mind and be interested in Psychology to really enjoy this movie. This movie has a VERY GOOD STORY to it, and definitely has a plot as well. I don't want to spoil anything, but there is a lot more going on in this movie than just torture. This movie is a straight up psychological MASTERPIECE. The main character, is a very interesting one indeed. You will be drawn in from the start, and want to finish this one until the end to see what happens! The ending also has a shocking twist to it.This movie is NOT all about gore and violence, like other people so falsely claimed. Yes there is lots of it, far more than movies like "A Serbian Film" so if you cannot handle that, then go watch SESAME STREET or MY LITTLE PONY instead. Grotesque is a very interesting and thought provoking movie throughout. The gore scenes are also very well made. They don't look fake and there is some very mean stuff going on in this movie. This movie could be considered straight from the devil, and my warning is to those who scar easily should NOT watch this. The main character in this movie is among the most sick and evil characters I've ever had the pleasure of viewing in a film. The acting is very good as well. There is LOTS of Dialogue in this film believe it or not, even though at some points the characters are bound and gagged. I just can't believe the bad reviews this movie got, and then CRAP movies like AFTERMATH get all good reviews. Aftermath had absolutely NO story what so ever and was totally boring and could not even hope to compare to this one in terms of gore, which is supposedly what Aftermath's strength was. Grotesque delivers where all the others fail...If you like extreme, sick and evil psychological thrilling movies, then this is a MUST SEE.

A young couple are shown on their first date at a restaurant. They smile and exchange pleasantries, both are quite shy and when they walk together on the side walk, they are assaulted and abducted by a stranger. The couple find themselves securely restrained in a basement. A man begins the fun by sticking a screwdriver into the male victims stomach, then he cuts his tongue and rapes the girl. He cuts off her nipples and one arm. After further cutting of various body parts, he moves the suffering couple to what looks like a hospital room and cares to their wounds with medical like expertise. After some much needed recuperation, it's back to the dungeon for more mutilation. He cuts out the mans intestines and strings them to hook and thus begins a contest of endurance and loyalty to his date. If I haven't discouraged your curiosity yet, well watch the film to find out how it ends.

A Japanese entry into the torture porn genre is more graphic yet at the same time less powerful (not to mention entertaining) than similar Western movies, like Saw, Hostel or a Serbian Film. A psycho who dresses as a doctor (and strongly resembles a young Takeshi Kitano) kidnaps a young couple and subjects them to all sort of degrading tortures. There is at least one powerful erotic scene as the captor fondles the bound captive girl genitals during several minutes. And there is an outrageous ending that resembles the ending of some of Takashi Miike's films. But for most of the time, I found this film pretty dull.