October is Horror Month

Well it is for me anyway. I've decided to pollute my brain with as many horror movies, books and shows as I possibly can. I love Halloween and all things horror so you'll likely be sick of seeing me post about it by the time November rolls around.

Last weekend the husband and I sat down to watch The Human Centipede. This little gem has fought hard to win the title of 'The Sickest Movie Ever', but it seems to fall a bit short of that. Don't get me wrong, it is a sick movie. There are certainly a few stomach churning moments. How can you not have those in a movie where three individuals get sewn together mouth to ass? In concept, it's original and extremely twisted. Despite not quite living up to the hype, the film does have it's moments and Dr. Heiter (Dieter Laser) is by far the best part of the movie. Creepy doesn't even begin to describe the insane, sadistic surgeon. Director Tom Six has flaunted over and over that the movie is one hundred percent medically accurate and that may very well be. But the movie has some incredibly stupid moments that just left me scratching my head. I won't go into spoilery detail. You'll just have to see this freak show for yourself. Oh and in case one human centipede isn't enough for you, there are two more in the works.

Now if you're thinking that it can't get any sicker or more disturbing than three humans creatively sewn together, you'd be wrong. Martyrs makes The Human Centipede look like child's play. Reading the synopsis at IMDb, you might think it looks like a revenge movie, toss in a little torture-porn and voila, you have the French horror phenom Martyrs. But oh you'd be so very, very wrong. I will not go into specifics because the power of this film lies in the clever way it seduces you into thinking it's something that it's not. Just when you think it's over and you're sure the credits will roll at any second, director Pascal Laugier pushes it further and still, further.

I watched Martyrs with a heightened level of anxiety that never let up. Not once. It was so incredibly uncomfortable to sit through this. But more than that, there is a depraved intelligence to it. It's a horror movie that not only gives you death and blood (buckets of it), viciously brutal torture (lots of that as well), moments of terror (yes, it's scary too!), but it makes you think. It took me a full day to digest what I witnessed in this movie. I can't say as though I'd want to watch it again, but what I can say is that I'm glad I saw it. It ranks up there as one of the best horror movies of all time for me and that is saying something.

On my list of movies to see by the end of the month are Irreversible, Let Me In, [REC] 2,
The Abandoned, Buried and many more. Later this week I'll be posting the book portion of this little fright-fest. Off Season by Jack Ketchum, The Association by Bently Little and Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill.