Oh Snap! WTF Clip of the New Year: Penance
by Marc Patterson
Okay – BIG DISCLAIMER – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I’m not a huge fan of sharing clips from films. I just think it gives far too much away. However… I’m not a man of steadfast rules either. It goes back to some Buddhist baloney about never sticking to a single thought, or some crap like that. AND I’m this post-punk anarcho kid anyway – so chaos and rule breaking happen to BE the rule.
That said – I will go on the record to declare this to be one of the toughest scenes in horror film that I’ve managed to sit through. Roughly two-thirds of the way in I almost had to turn if off and limp away. But I stayed with it because I’m a masochist. If you’ve got the balls… enjoy. Oh – and don’t forget to check out Annie’s review of the film that we just posted earlier!
Now – since you were all good kids and made it through that clip – find your nuts again while you enjoy this quick pic of Mariah Delfino and Eve Mauro from Penance…
I warned you!
What does it mean when you start laughing at the clip because of the ridiculousness of it all? I’m not a fan of snuff films, I mean lots of blood and violence is always good and fun but the way it’s done in snuff films is just too… retarded? Is that the right word to describe it all? The goofs who come up with this stuff seem to be unimaginative and highly illiterate, trying to fill an hour and thirty minutes with toes, fingers, nails and sexual organs being removed instead of putting an effort into actually writing something good, with some decent dialogue. I’m not saying I can’t easily sit through an hour and thirty minutes of snuff films, stuffing my face with food as intestines are being strung up like Christmas ornaments (where I saw that I’m not sure, but I’m pretty sure I saw it once), I’m just saying that it’s more entertaining if the audience is forced to think about what’s going on and what they are watching.
@Zakk , i think there is a needed suspension of disbelief to really get into this types of films… if they are any good. That clip certainly got to me as my kids heard a loud S*** and F*** from across the house! Thanks guys! I find the actor incredible, the sound design incredible, the soundtrack incredible… I am assuming that in the movie, the “appendage” is not blurred out?
I remember when i first saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre, i really really got into it, hard core. My friends i was watching the film with however were laughing their way through the entire film, pointing at the mistakes, or bad acting, or the death scenes. I “played the game” when i watched it, and i think this is why i loved it so much and it remains to this day a movie that gets to me each time i watch it. I think people who laugh and heckle at horror movies, especially the tougher ones, do so as a protective measure to not get involved emotionally too much.
Anyways, i put this movie in my Netflix queue… Thanks guys, with Deadgirl which i discovered a month ago thanks to you, now this. I hope it’s good.
Just watched it tonight. It didn’t work for me. The film is actually pretty well done, decently acted and has a few genuine creepy moments. But other than that, it’s basic torture porn that felt recycled. I wish they had spent more time on the Dr. character, but the handheld structure of the film prevented that.
All though the movie, i felt there was potential, but the handheld camera trick was the worst thing they could have done with the story as it is simply too unbelievable and constraining. What victim runs around for her life holding a camera in her hand, and looking through the viewfinder???? No amount of suspension of disbelief can fix that. The lighting and art direction looked pretty cool, so imagine also the look this film could have had if they hadn’t gone Doc. I think they had something and wasted it. Just my 2 bits.
BTW, the toughest “horror” scene to me remains the rape scene in Irreversible on my second and subsequent viewings. You don’t quite get the scope of it on the first viewing.
I’d agree with you on the 20 minute long rape sequence in Irreversible as being the toughest scene of horror put to screen. However I wouldn’t go so far as to say you don’t get the scope of it on the first viewing. I certainly felt I got the scope of the shot. A seperate comment to boot being Irreversible is a film most folks won’t watch more than once.
I watched Irreversible three times. It’s one of my favorite movies because it’s incredibly made and powerful **AND** the fact that i haven’t been able to bring myself to watch it a fourth time since. It may sound strange, but i think it’s the only film i honestly love but don’t want to see again.
BTW, the rape scene is 9mn long, but it does feel like it lasts painfully forever.
To clarify, i think that you cannot get the full scope of the scene in the first viewing because you really don’t know her, her friends, boyfriend, and her “state”. The scene is harrowing as it is, but once you layer on the emotional connection to a character you know better, it disturbed me more on the second viewing. The structure of the film creates a clinical and artificial distance because of the backward-in-time style. It makes that scene anonymous and raw, and it’s so powerful because it manages to get to you anyway. But on the second viewing, the distance disappears as you have the full picture now, and at least to me, the second viewing was even more powerful as a result. It elicited a completely different emotional response from me.
That’s an interesting observation regarding. I’ve seen it twice. Like you, I haven’t able to bring myself to watch it again. Certainly on the second time through there is a closer level of intimacy the viewer has to the characters and this does lend itself to the comments you make. If it weren’t for the fact that I started my Editor’s Choice feature with another Gaspar Noe film (I Stand Alone) I’d be tempted to make this my second pick.
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