The Rope Maiden
Release Date - 2013
Directed by Guy Pearce
Starring - Guy Pearce, Tomo Ishii, Katsuhiro Chigira, and Sayako Takashima
Since it's inception, the world of extreme cinema has captivated many a person, and brought them into a secret world that holds treasures of greatness. These may be very violent, sexual, and all around nasty treasures, but to us sick fucks, it's some damn good treasure. I myself am one of the sick fucks that has fallen down the rabbit hole of extreme cinema, and so has Guy Pearce.
Many of you may know Guy from his Youtube account Sculpting Fragments, as well as his blog Sick Twisted Fuck. Guy like myself and many others is a lover of extreme cinema, and has recently written, directed, and starred in his own film in the genre. The film is called The Rope Maiden, and was released last month after a couple months of delay due to reediting. With the film now released, many of his fans have been buying it up. And obviously, since I'm talking about it, it means I got my copy as well (in fact this review was written literally a day after my copy arrived). I honestly didn't plan on this being a Hell-O-Ween review, but since I got the film pretty quickly, I decided to include it, bumping the total reviews up to six.
Now I do apologize for the shortness of this review, as the film is only 15 minutes long, accompanied by a 10 minute behind the scenes feature. Obviously, with it being a short film, there won't be a whole lot to discuss, so this won't be as detailed as my other film reviews. But don't let that turn you away, because I do have quite a bit to say. Also, this should be obvious, but I am not reviewing the behind the scenes part. Mostly because, it would be me talking about clips showing off a few bloopers, and setting up scenes. But enough rambling (even though that is the blog's name), let's get to The Rope Maiden.
So our film begins immediately (seriously there's no menu or anything, the minute you put it in, the movie starts) with a bit of static. After a moment of this, we cut to a POV shot of somebody looking out through what I assume are bushes, and into a coffee shop (I think). Why would somebody do this? Well, to watch a girl of course. The girl leaves the shop, and we follow our camera man as he follows her around. She ends up going into an ongoing construction zone, which seems like the worst thing in the world to do, especially at night. As you could guess, she ends up getting kidnapped. She puts up, some of a fight, but is easily subdued. Guy then comes along, picks up the camera, and the scene ends right there.
When we return, Guy is standing in a dingy looking building, with the girl in body bag behind him. He introduces himself, and explains that what he's filming is one of his home videos. This is one in a series in which he teaches the viewer how to kill people in different ways. Today's lesson is obviously, how to make a rope maiden. The girl screams through the body bag, which results in Guy hitting her with what I think is either a pipe or a stick, I can't really make it out. After a bit more explaining, he says it's time to get to the lesson.
Before we carry on though, I'd like to talk about the commercials. Yes, there are commercials in the movie. Since I don't speak Japanese fluently, I can't really tell what the guy is saying, but it has something to do with a rope maiden, since in every commercial, he's hitting or choking a girl with a rope. These scenes are just hilarious, and captures how crazy Japanese commercials can be, right down to the girl in them always smiling, as well as the music playing. These are definitely my favorite scenes in the flick. Anyways, back to the film.
So now that the introduction is done, Guy has gone ahead and tied the girl up, and explains which type of rope one should use, and how it varies girl to girl. It then cuts to a little later where Guy who is now blindfolded is spinning around. He then stops, and hits her with a stick. The scene then cuts again, and now he's drinking tea and eating some biscuits. He even pushes one into the girl's mouth (isn't he a good host? Feeding his guest before killing her?) Guy then talks about what tools you should use, and how it can greatly affect how the process goes. He picks out his favorite (an exacto knife). Our host then says it's time to suit up, and puts on a pair of gloves, a surgical/painter's mask, goggles, and a rain poncho, explaining the good old credo of "safety first."
With this, it's time to start making your maiden. He then unbuttons the woman's shirt, revealing her bra and belly. Next, Guy ties some rope around her neck before another staticy cut happens. He then, with knife in hand cuts into the girl's stomach, with her screaming all the way. He rubs her stomach and thighs some, spreading the blood around. He then starts to pull out her guts, causing the victim to spit some blood out at him. Guy turns to the camera, and says that this is why you utilize safety. She starts bleeding very badly, causing Guy to have to try and fix it if he wants to continue. He throws some electrical tape onto the cut.
The Rope Maiden is a fantastic film. While the film is obviously in the genre of a pseudo snuff film, it's also a comedy as well. It's a black comedy, but it still works. In fact, the dark and morbid humor actually combines very well with the gore. There were quite a few times when I would be sitting feeling disgusted (albeit a little), and would be laughing a lot a minute later. So the film should be applauded for being able to mix two genres into one great package.
The acting in the film is consisted of two people, Guy, and the woman played by Tomo Ishii. Guy does a great job in his role as our mad psychotic host. He's not over the top like some of the other home video hosts we see in other fake snuff movies, he's more like the Hannibal Lecter of the genre as far as delivery goes. He's both funny, and serious. He's not as menacing as some of the other killers in these type of films are, but that doesn't hurt the overall performance. So as a whole, he does a very good job. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Tomo. She doesn't do a lot, but for some of her non standing there scenes, she isn't all that great in my opinion. When she talks and screams, it just sounds, weird to me. It's not bad, but just comes off as sounding hoarse. The only other weird thing about her performance, is when Guy is examining her at one point (after he first cuts her open), instead of looking like she's in pain, she looks like she's laughing. I'm not really complaining about this, I just find it odd, and slightly humorous. All in all, she's, alright. Overall, the acting is pretty good.
The film in itself is shot very nicely. The environment is great, and helps build a menacing atmosphere. Then again, it's easy to be menacing when there's a girl tied up in a pretty run down and shitty looking room. The cinematography is great as well. There isn't a whole lot of different looking shots, but for what is different, it's great. The movie of course does have a made at home feel, which is great. But this also is a major con for me. While the film has great shooting, the quality is nothing but great. It's alright, but there times when it's just really bad looking. This comes through a lot in the night scenes, and anytime we see something up close. In some cases, it works like when Tomo is being worked on, but in other cases, it works as much as Magikarp's splash attack. So while the movie has great cinematography, it's quality falls pretty short. It helps give the film it's made at home/home movie feel, but at the same time, it also brings it down quite a bit.
The last thing I'll discuss is the effects. There isn't a whole lot, mostly just Tomo being cut open, and the subsequent gut removal scenes. However, the effects as a whole are good. There are times when it's obvious that it's fake (that chest piece isn't fooling anybody as far as I'm concerned), but the rest of the time it looks pretty darn authentic. I'm still curious as to what the guts were made of, something that the behind the scenes don't really show too well. So as far as the effects are concerned, they're good.
In the end, Rope Maiden is an all around great film. It manages to mix black humor, gore, and Japanese culture into one great package. The acting varies between the two actors, with Guy being great and Tomo being alright. However, as the total package, the acting is really good. The effects, while easy to spot at, are great and are a feast to the gore hound's eyes and mind. The cinematography is good as well. It's quality could be better, but while it is bad in spots, it does help the overall film. The music is just plain awesome. The Death Metal song is amazing, and the inclusion of the Nutcracker theme is just hilarious awesome.
So all in all, this film is near perfect. I definitely can't wait to see what Guy does next. I can easily recommend this film to all of you. It's fairly cheap (costing about $18.00 for us US folk), so I suggest getting it if you can. You know it's funny, this is a pseudo snuff film that I didn't even originally plan on reviewing for Hell-O-Ween. Unlike another pseudo snuff film that I planned on reviewing since I decided to do this month. And that review, is next.
A -
To buy the film, follow the link below
https://www.facebook.com/theropemaiden
*Photos taken by myself via printscreening*
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