is a 1985 Japanese

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

written and directed by Satoru Ogura, and the first film in the ''Guinea Pig'' film series. The film depicts a group of three men who graphically abuse a woman in a number of ways. It is presented in a found-footage style, with on-screen text claiming that the film features real footage of torture—supposedly intended as an experiment on the human body's tolerance to pain—that was purportedly sent to Ogura. However, the scenes of violence featured in the film are not authentic, extensively utilising

practical effects A practical effect is a special effect produced physically, without computer-generated imagery or other post-production techniques. In some contexts, "special effect" is used as a synonym of "practical effect", in contrast to "visual effects" ...

. ''Guinea Pig: Devil's Experiment'' has been called a "faux snuff film", and has been noted for its depiction of violence.

Synopsis

The film is presented under the guise of being a video sent to director Satoru Ogura, with opening text claiming the following:

Several years ago, I obtained a private video under the title ''Guinea Pig''. Its commentary said that 'this is a report of an experiment on the breaking point of bearable pain and the corrosion of people's senses'... but it was, in fact, an exhibition of devilish cruelty as three perpetrators severely abused a woman. Note: 'Guinea Pig' is defined as any experimental material.

A woman is seen hanging motionless outdoors in a net. Throughout the film, she is tortured by three men in a variety of ways. The film is divided into ten segments, each depicting a different method of torture. The first segment, titled "hit" (殴), shows the men taking turns striking the woman in her face numerous times. The next segment, "kick" (蹴), depicts the woman, blindfolded with her hands behind her back, being repeatedly kicked and berated by the three men. In the third segment, "claw" (抓), the woman's right hand and forearm are pinched with pliers. The fourth segment, "spin" (回), shows the men spinning the woman in a chair over 100 times. The fifth segment, "sound" (音), depicts the woman being forced to endure hours of sound torture, wherein headphones playing loud

white noise In signal processing, white noise is a random signal having equal intensity at different frequencies, giving it a constant power spectral density. The term is used, with this or similar meanings, in many scientific and technical disciplines, ...

are secured to her head. In the sixth segment, "skin" (剥), one of the woman's fingernails is ripped off, and she is shown hanging outside in a net once again. The seventh segment, "burn" (焼), depicts the woman laid out on a table, and scalding oil of varying degrees is poured on her skin, burning her. The eighth segment, "worm" (虫), shows

maggot A maggot is the larva of a fly (order Diptera); it is applied in particular to the larvae of Brachycera flies, such as houseflies, cheese flies, and blowflies, rather than larvae of the Nematocera, such as mosquitoes and crane flies. ...

s being dumped on her. In the ninth segment, "guts" (臓), the men throw organs and entrails on the woman. An incision is made along the back of one of her hands with a blade, and the hand is then smashed with a hammer. In the tenth and final segment, "needle" (針), the men insert a needle into the woman's temple, poking it through her left eye. She is then shown hanging outdoors in the net once again, unmoving. The film ends with text reading:

The details of this experiment were missing when I received this video but the name, age and other information of the woman and the three men in this video are under investigation.

Critical reception and analysis

In 1984, Satoru Ogura set out to portray a series of highly grotesque films. The first draft of ''Devil's Experiment'' was passed to manga artist and writer Hideshi Hino and was met with positive feedback. Hino began simultaneously working on the script for the second installment. Thinking that it would be highly difficult to find actors for this series, Ogura ran advertisements requesting volunteers. Much to his surprise, he received a plethora of responses. Both ''Devil's Experiment'' and ''Flower of Flesh and Blood'' were shot consecutively in 1985 and was released publicly in 1986. Upon release, ''Devil's Experiment'' impacted the Japanese rental market. Family friendly shops that were opposed of the idea of carrying the title later gave in to keep up with the number of requests from their customer base. Writing about the presentation of ''Devil's Experiment'' as being a genuine snuff film, J. Doyle Wallis of DVD Talk wrote that "it didn't strike me as the slightest bit true", but noted that, "despite spotting the stumbles that betray its reality, it is quite disturbing". He called it "hard to watch" and "bold but also utterly deplorable", and asserted that its "perversity is there merely to exploit a part of the human psyche that is totally without merit." In his book ''Eros in Hell: Sex, Blood and Madness in Japanese Cinema'', Jack Hunter wrote that the filming and editing techniques implemented in the film lend to it being "an effective and surprisingly low-key meditation on the cumulative

dehumanization Dehumanization is the denial of full humanness in others and the cruelty and suffering that accompanies it. A practical definition refers to it as the viewing and treatment of other persons as though they lack the mental capacities that are c ...

that violence causes in both aggressor and victim alike." In ''Nightmare Japan: Contemporary Japanese Horror Cinema'', author Jay McRoy similarly notes such techniques, writing that while the film "

lurs Lurs () are an Iranian people living in the mountains of western Iran. The four Luri branches are the Bakhtiari, Mamasani, Kohgiluyeh and Lur proper, who are principally linked by the Luri language. Lorestan Province is named after the Lu ...

audience distinctions between fact and fiction, thus heightening the visceral impact generated by the 'experiment's' verisimilitude", its "technical sophistication and artistry" exposes its fictional nature.

Home media

''Guinea Pig: Devil's Experiment'' was released on VHS by Midnight 25 Video. In the early 2000s, distributor Unearthed Films released the film on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

as a

double feature The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown. Opera use Opera ho ...

with another entry in the ''Guinea Pig'' series, '' Android of Notre Dame''.

References

Bibliography

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External links