The appeal of Torture-Porn and Popcorn?

[TheMasterOfOrion]

Why do people watch this filth?

I mean people get totally bent of out shape if you say something about medicare, or politics, or about religion.....but Torture-Porn that's ok, it greats, its shocking, it is the latest "cool" thing in cinema.

When I talk about Torture-Porn I don't mean the Hitchcock's movies or the Slashers like Scream.

I'm talking about the likes of the Saw movies, people getting mutilated, burnt, tortured sawed in half....in a typical James Wan flick.

I'm talking about Takeshi Miike's Koroshiya-I, a film with torture and rape scenes, a film so dark, perverted and weird you would expect the director might even be at home right now jerking off to some footage of the Invasion of Nanking

I'm talking about Eli Roth people getting mutilated, burnt, tortured sawed in half....another pre packaged gore fest.

and to a lesser extent Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust...since he hasn't done anything like his old horrors in years

what is the appeal in watching this stuff?

 

[TheMasterOfOrion]

"Hostel" that's the franchise I was trying to think of

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Because it's fun to be scared and/or disgusted. That's why gross out comedies exist too.
Hostel is rubbish, but that doesn't mean all "torture porn" movies are. Most have stories to them, the Saw movies in general kept good continuity and stories twists going, at least till 5, that was a bit rubbish.

 

[T'Baio]

Your argument is a little flawed, seeing as the people who get bent out of shape about medicare, politics and religion probably are the people who are disgusted by torture porn.

Secondly, torture porn is a misnomer originated by the very people who were disgusted by it in the first place.

Thirdly, you seem to know a lot about it for someone who hates it so much.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Wouldn't call it filth, disgusting, etc.

Would call it boring. Generally it's not so much scary as a showcase for effects.

 

[Roger Wilco]

If the story is good, it can serve to emphasise the plot, or even be funny.

But I also passionately hate Saw, because not only is the film disgusting (which, as I said, I'm not necessarily opposed too), I'm much more disgusted with the message of the film, the stupidity of the story and the terrible acting.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Wouldn't call it filth, disgusting, etc.

Would call it boring. Generally it's not so much scary as a showcase for effects.

I find very, very few horror movies scare me anyway, so that's something I can say about most horror films.

 

[Shazam!]

I mean people get totally bent of out shape if you say something about medicare, or politics, or about religion.....but Torture-Porn that's ok

Because torture-porn is a genre of fiction whereas politics and religion are very real issues in today's current climate?

 

[TheMasterOfOrion]

Your argument is a little flawed, seeing as the people who get bent out of shape about medicare, politics and religion probably are the people who are disgusted by torture porn.

Secondly, torture porn is a misnomer originated by the very people who were disgusted by it in the first place.

Thirdly, you seem to know a lot about it for someone who hates it so much.

Just because I hate certain movies doesn't mean I should never watch movies,
I mean it would be pretty close minded of me to dismiss a novelist without ever reading their book
It would be narrow minded of me to bash certain rockers or rap stars as crap if I never ever listened to their music. Film just happens to be something I've either done as a hobby or watched over the years
I don't see how torture-porn is a "misnomer" take Takeshi Miike's Koroshiya
a girl getting brutally abused/raped - CHECK
a film with no plot, no meaning just blood everywhere CHECK
weird guy jerking off on someone's balcony - CHECK
lots of murder, degradation, mutilation, torture - CHECK
Takeshi Miike jerking off to WW2 footage of Nanking - NOT SURE

I find very, very few horror movies scare me anyway, so that's something I can say about most horror films.

I watched the Japanese Ringu a while back and that movie freaked me out, no rapes, no torture, no blood, no gore....just a damn good creppy movie

Then you got the Hitchcock films, a work of art....what ever happened to good movie making?

Because it's fun to be scared and/or disgusted. That's why gross out comedies exist too.
Hostel is rubbish, but that doesn't mean all "torture porn" movies are. Most have stories to them, the Saw movies in general kept good continuity and stories twists going, at least till 5, that was a bit rubbish.

Yeah I think Hostel qualifies as the torture porn category, you get a bit of ass, some naked girls with boobs, then followed by a brutal murder scene and more torture. The writing is terrible, the directing amateurish but the gore looks good thanks to the studios big production budgets.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I find very, very few horror movies scare me anyway, so that's something I can say about most horror films.

I watched the Japanese Ringu a while back and that movie freaked me out, no rapes, no torture, no blood, no gore....just a damn good creppy movie

Then you got the Hitchcock films, a work of art....what ever happened to good movie making?

Because it's fun to be scared and/or disgusted. That's why gross out comedies exist too.
Hostel is rubbish, but that doesn't mean all "torture porn" movies are. Most have stories to them, the Saw movies in general kept good continuity and stories twists going, at least till 5, that was a bit rubbish.

Yeah I think Hostel qualifies as the torture porn category, you get a bit of ass, some naked girls with boobs, then followed by a brutal murder scene and more torture. The writing is terrible, the directing amateurish but the gore looks good thanks to the studios big production budgets.

Actually the reason they're so popular with studios is because they cost nothing by big studio standards and are shot quickly. I think the most expensive Saw was $12m and grossed over 10 times that.

 

[SeerSGB]

Wouldn't call it filth, disgusting, etc.

Would call it boring. Generally it's not so much scary as a showcase for effects.

I find very, very few horror movies scare me anyway, so that's something I can say about most horror films.

I used to love to watch horror/slasher movies in my teens. But ever since I had a kid, I can't stand them anymore.

 

[Starbreaker]

People are always trying to find new ways to be grossed out or scared. There's nothing wrong with enjoying it as long as you are not going around killing people.

 

[Level 2 Diagnostic]

I'm not into the genre. I've seen Hostel I & II, and there's absolutely nothing in those two movies that I haven't already seen in a dozen grindhouse/exploitation horror movies from the '70s. I'ma let Eli Roth finish, but Herschell Gordon Lewis was making torture porn when Roth was still in diapers, y'all.

Based on those two films, I'm gonna guess most movies in the so-called "torture porn" genre aren't really any sicker or gorier than B movies of the '70s and '80s.

I haven't seen the one movie you mentioned, Takeshi Miike's Koroshiya-I, but that's not a movie that's popular or well-known or "the latest cool thing" by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[Michael]

To lump a master like Takeshi Miike in with the ridiculous Saw and Hostel movies is a crime against good taste, if you ask me.

 

[Kirkman1987]

I'm more into zombies

 

[Data Holmes]

I mean people get totally bent of out shape if you say something about medicare, or politics, or about religion.....but Torture-Porn that's ok

Because torture-porn is a genre of fiction whereas politics and religion are very real issues in today's current climate?

Indeed. This is a case where the recommendation is to sit and say, "Fantasy... Reality" over and over again till the idiots get it.

 

[Lonemagpie]

I used to love to watch horror/slasher movies in my teens. But ever since I had a kid, I can't stand them anymore.

Similar here, but without the having a kid part - I just realised they're all the same movie and got totally bored with them

 

[Mr. B]

I don't get the appeal of this genre either. I can't fathom how one would enjoy watching a movie where they know going in that (nearly the) whole cast will be brutally murdered only for the sake of graphically depicting said killings on the screen. If you get off on watching that sort of thing or find it funny, there's probably something wrong with your head.

 

[auntiehill]

^Couldn't have said it better myself. I don't get the glee the audience seems to display at seeing that sort of brutality.

 

[Kegg]

To lump a master like Takeshi Miike in with the ridiculous Saw and Hostel movies is a crime against good taste, if you ask me.

Absolutely, so I'm going to go one further and bring in Lars von Trier.

I've never really watched a torture porn movie, but there are those who call Antichrist a torture porn movie for arthouse audiences. Which may be fair, as it has some elements of horrifically graphic and sexual violence and is alleged misogyny (even if the film is not, it does deal with the idea).

It is a deeply, deeply screwed up film in ways far beyond the disgust factor (though that's very, very potent) that is downright uncomfortable to watch and thus made an instant impression. If I was going to say what I got out of that experience, I'd simply say I was very disturbed.

And I guess torture porn fans are people who go to films desiring to be disturbed by them.