Beyond Horror: The History and Sub-Culture of Red Films


REVIEWER RATING: 
9/10

DIRECTOR:

CAST:


Attention horror fans!

Finally, a documentary has been made that brings fans to the deep dark pit of ultimate depravity…Beyond Horror. Marcus Koch and Jessie Seitz have touched upon the most taboo of all sub-genres – extreme cinema.  Through the direct experience of some masters of “red films”, Beyond Horror is an inside glimpse at the fascination of vulgar imagery to the millionth degree.

Revisiting the days of gladiators, ferocious animals and even innocent civilians forced into battle within the Roman Coliseum, people have always gravitated towards violence in some manner. Even watching nightly news channels or reading other media sources, the bad outweighs the good. Has society become fascinated with doom over redemption? Hardship over success? Gruesome over wellness?

Beyond Horror dives straight into the abyss of taboo subject matters that attract a desensitized community of fans: Rape/Revenge, Scat, Emetophilia, Incest, Necrophilia, Snuff and more. Horror used to be based on slasher films, the zombie apocalypse, Hitchcockian-suspense thrillers and ghosts. Segue into traumatizing experiences being translated into film (check out the inspiring story from Jessie!), this documentary appeals to the deep dark web of visceral deformity…what can we stomach, how much can we endure and why.

Launching into some of the most brutal content is Fred Vogel of the August Underground series. As a fan of extreme cinema, Fred explains the fascination with the disturbing subject matter he is fully engrossed in. The key to a successful extreme film is to make it real – encapsulate the viewer into the world of complete degradation, but have an easy exit so they can choose to walk away guilt free.(aka – turn the film off or remind themselves…it’s only a movie.)

The more complex of repugnant films is brought into light by Lucifer Valentine of the Vomit Gore Trilogy. LV’s history within sickening bootlegged films featuring scat and emetophilia has transferred into his rendition of real life fetish put on screen for the truly degraded-film fan. He takes the sub-genre of Red Films over the line by no holds barre when it comes to the completely fucked up storyline showcasing every imaginable orifice on full display with all bodily fluids running like an angry river. Definitely not for the faint of heart unless well…you are sexually aroused by vomit? Another stereotype given to the loyal audience of all things limitless. Admit it – it’s hard to look away.

Marcus and Jessie have provided the horror community with a session of Degradation 101 and it’s fantastically fascinating. Admirers of this genre are not deplorable, or obscene. Translating the craziness of acceptable art into a functionality of horror vs. the distasteful need for pure shock value is touched upon in Beyond Horror. Alongside the notion that watchers must have underwent intense trauma in their own lives, it’s tough for straight laced moviegoers to accept that this population is just mesmerized by how far a filmmaker can and will go with brutality.

As in the case of Stephen Biro’s Unearthed Films, if you can successfully scare and weaken the stomachs of the viewers, you’ve done your job.

Beyond Horror has definitely done its job. Bravo!

OVERALL: 
I have often wondered what was wrong with me when I’d choose to watch A Clockwork Orange over Steel Magnolias. Or would count down the days until the release of The Bunny Game, A Serbian Film or Scrapbook. It was always the unknown that drew me in…how far will this go and what will I be exposed to in the next 90 min? Beyond Horror answered all these questions and more through the eyes and experiences of some masterful filmmakers within extreme cinema. It’s all fascination and testing the boundaries of taste. There are areas that even the strongest of stomachs cannot tolerate, but it’s still amazing to know the human mind is capable of producing such unsettling scenarios. I applaud Marcus Koch and Jessie Seitz for bringing the honesty to the table with a very telling and explanatory documentary.


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