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Released by: Sub Rosa Studios
Released on: 6/1/2003
Director: Andrew Copp
Cast: Jim Van Bebber, Terek Puckett, Kristy Bowersock, Jollie Scott, Robbie Crellin
Year: 1998
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The Movie:
Presumably set sometime in the future, Terek Pucket (who had a role in Jim Van Bebber's My Sweet Satan) plays Ivan, a young man also known as The Mutilation Man because of his habit of touring the wasteland that the Earth has become and putting on self mutilation performances to the scattered groups of miscreants and freaks have come to that adorn the country.
We learn through various flashbacks, many of which are quite hallucinogenic and surrealist, that he's trying to make sense of and come to terms with a horrific pattern of child abuse that he had inflicted upon him by his father (played by Jim Van Bebber of Deadbeat At Dawn). We later learn that his father not only abused him, but also murdered his mother while he was still quite young. The more Ivan learns, the more pain he must inflict on himself as he tries to cope with his past and his present.
This film is pure surrealist nihilism. It's pretty difficult to sit through and thoroughly and utterly disturbing. It's also very effective and thought provoking. Copp deals with the obvious themes of abuse and self-loathing in a much more mature manner than you might think a low budget horror film could handle. There is also an interesting psuedo-sexual subplot involving a leather clad demoness that may or may not be occurring in Ivan's head that sheds interesting light on his past and his present.
Also of interest is the way that different visual formats are used to complete the final product. The 'present day' scenes were shot on 16mm and are pretty clear, while the scenes that deal with Ivan's past were shot on 8mm and on video. It's the later scenes that are more likely to get under your skin than the others. Real death footage, genital mutilation, and some harder porn scenes are mixed into the already messy mix to give it an even nastier quality.
The interesting thing about the film though is that it rarely feels like it's gore for the sake of gore - this isn't an Andreas Schnass film, it's closer to Jodorowsky (to whom the cover compares the director to, and with relatively good reason).
Video/Audio/Extras:
This transfer is all over the place. Parts of the film were shot on 8mm, parts on 16mm, and parts on Hi8 video. There is also quite a bit of stock footage inserted from other films and from newsreels that varies in quality. Overall, the video here does not look good, but that's not the fault of the transfer or the director, it's simply the nature of how the film was made and a lot of the distortion and noise on screen is more than likely intentional and in that respect this transfer totally works. Parts of it were also shot off of a TV monitor to give it an even stranger look, so these flaws are inherent in the master.
The Dolby Digital soundtrack on this release sounds just fine. There's plenty of distortion and screeching going on throughout the film and it suits the atmosphere that the director was striving to create quite nicely. While most of the film is free of dialogue, the soundscape created tells the story quite effectively and the DVD reproduces this very nicely. A true surround sound mix would have probably been amazing for this release and really added to the atmosphere, but what's supplied works well.
Sub Rosa has done quite a respectable job on the extras for this release. First up is an informative commentary with director Andy Copp, in which he explains in pretty good detail a lot of the trials and tribulations of getting his film completed and the working conditions under which it all happened. He clarifies a lot of the strangeness that permeates the films and the commentary goes quite a long way into explaining a lot of the onscreen characters and their actions. He also pays quite a bit of attention to the soundtrack, which makes sense seeing as it plays a very important part in establishing the atmosphere. Interesting that for one key scene he wanted to use In A Quiet Place by Nine Inch Nails, but never heard back to any of his requests to use the music, which is too bad, because that piece would have worked really well in the film.
While the commentary is the most enjoyable extra on the release, there are also quite a few other surprises including two trailers, a music video for one of the songs that was used in the film, footage from the one and only theatrical showing of the film back in 1998 when it was completed, a pretty extensive stills gallery, an odd experimental short film that's better seen than described here, as well as The Kristie Bowersock Gallery in which some light is shed on the actress who plays the sultry demoness in the film and details her participation in it.
The Final Word:
While The Mutilation Man isn't a perfect film, nor is it an easy film to watch, it is well worth seeking out, particularly if you are a fan of surrealistic horror and extreme gore. It's well made despite some dated aspects of the presentation and it's nice to see Sub Rosa give an obscure film like this a quality release.