An Eyeful of Gore

The other night I watched a great little Japanese gorefest called Meatball Machine. The film plot is roughly summed up thus: aliens are overtaking people and turning them into gruesome cyborgs that fight their battles for them...obviously. The transformation scenes were really well effected (reminiscent at times of some of the stomach-churning scenes in John Carpenter's The Thing) and they climaxed with those crossed discs being forced into the host's eye sockets (see image).

I am not sure that there are any other on-screen mutilations that make me twitch, squirm, grit my teeth, and utter forced exclamations like "Erg!" more than eye damage. Its not that I can't watch effects involving the eyes, but in the massive backlog of decapitations, dismemberments, eviscerations, broken limbs, crushed craniums, pulled teeth, slices, dices, rips, tears, burns, scrapes and peels, it is the eye effects that really stand out and can be quickly recalled. I think this is probably true for most people. Whether it is our aversion to touching our own eyes, the fluid-filled consistency of these organs, or the subliminal horror instilled by the thought of the negative space in our skull an empty socket creates: who can say. The point is, eye mutilations create colorful conversations, so here are what I consider my top five in film:

5) The Terminator - While not the most visually graphic of effects, there is something about Schwarzenegger's unfeeling performance as he cuts out his own eye that reinforces how unstoppable he is supposed to be in this robotic role.

4) Meatball Machine - This is one of those situations where you know what is coming, and you can't help but wonder with morbid curiosity how much will be shown. Well...a lot is. It is the sheer carnage of this effect that I find unique. This effect goes above and beyond a poke or a pop...it is just plain destructive.

3) Zombi 2 - A split door jamb, a pair of zombie hands, and a woman's head are a recipe for disaster in this classic by gore godfather Lucio Fulchi. Like Meatball Machine, it is more about the length of time and inevitability of the outcome that makes this effect a winner.

2) Thriller: A Cruel Picture - The one-eyed heroine of this film, honored by Quentin Tarantino in the Kill Bill duology, does not don the patch from the beginning of the film. The scene where she loses her optical orb is rumored (and confirmed by the film's actress) to have been filmed using a real corpse at a medical institution. The act itself is very fast and tightly cut by the editor, but you inevitably end up watching it over and over trying to decide if it is real or not.

1) Un Chien Andalou - While originally I was going to put this at number four, I bumped it all the way to the top after rewatching it here for the first time in at least five years. Even seeing a lower res clip on the computer I still felt serious tension in my shoulders, I was cringing, and I made two exclamations despite myself. Another situation where reality is more effective than illusion, this surrealist film sliced a cow eyeball for the camera. It feels real...I guess it is real...and after almost eighty years, it hasn't been topped in my opinion.

So if you feel ready to stomach them, put on the Pixies' tune Debaser, hop on Netflix, Youtube or Google video, and start organizing a jaw-dropping/eye-popping film festival for you and your good friends.

Same to same,

Capt. Hendry