Blu-ray Review: THE BUNNY GAME (2010)

THE BUNNY GAME (2010)
Blu-ray + DVD Combo 

Label: Autonomy Pictures
Region: 0 NTSC, ABC
Duration: 76 Minutes
Rating: Unrated
Video: 16x9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Cast:  Rodleem Getsic, Jeff F. Renfro, Drettie Page, Gregg Gilmore
Director: Adam Rehmeier

Synopsis: Banned in the UK and partially inspired by a real-life experience of star Rodleen Getsic, The Bunny Game (2010) is an unflinching descent into torment and madness. Junkie hooker Sylvia Grey turns the wrong trick in demented trucker JR (Jeff Renfro). After knocking her out cold and taking her to a desolate place where no one can hear her cries, JR subjects Sylvia to a series of increasingly twisted, sadistic “games”. But will she survive the ultimate test when she wakes up with her head sealed in a white leather bunny mask?

Film: Some days you just wanna destroy something, tear shit up and vent your  frustration and sometimes you just wanna watch a film that destroys you and Adam Rehmeir's The Bunny Game (2010) pretty much destroyed me from frame one, it's an impossibly depressing watch that left me in a there's no hope for the human race sorta funk for awhile afterwards. I first heard about Rehmeier's controversial film when it was refused certification outright by the British Board of Film Classification for "unremitting sexual and physical abuse of a helpless woman, as well as the sadistic and sexual pleasure the man derives from this. The emphasis on the woman’s nudity tends to eroticise what is shown, while aspects of the work such as the lack of explanation of the events depicted, and the stylistic treatment, may encourage some viewers to enjoy and share in the man’s callousness and the pleasure he takes in the woman’s pain and humiliation".

Once again a small moral minority dictates draconian morality over an entire nation of adults, ugh. Admittedly the film is a bit more eye-brow raising and disturbing than your typical torture-porn flick at the cineplex but how anyone could watch this film and say that anything in this film eroticises the events in anyway at all is just freaking ludicrous to me, let alone encourage others to be incited to follow suite, Christ-o-mighty. 

This brutal film begins with a sloppy and suffocating blowjob performed by Bunny (Rodleen Gestic), a street walkin' prostitute with a coke addiction. The next few minutes we are subjected to a gloomy montage of Bunny's sad life, a vicious cycle of violent sex with anonymous johns, blowjobs in the alleyway, a trick stuffing her payment insultingly in her mouth, pissing in the street, drug withdrawal, crying in the shower while washing the filth away, walking the streets, snorting cocaine, rinse and repeat - it's just depressing stuff that left me wanting a shower, felt dirty like watching one of the old hardcore Richard Kern (Submit to Me)  or Harmony Korine's devastating Gummo (1997) only worse and with a similar minded black metal soundtrack. It's not a glamorous depiction of a whore's life by any means, it's grim and gritty and fraught with danger, like passing out while a low-life trick fucks your unconscious body, steals your money and drugs before taking off . When the destitute Bunny awakens she breaks down, the life she's chosen has bested her yet again. With no cash and no drug of choice she back at zero and she hits the streets once again when along comes an 18-wheeler driven by JR (Jeff Renfro), a middle-aged trucker with some blow and just maybe a little money for a blowjob if she's lucky, which she most certainly is not.

What JR has got it mind is torture, misogyny and sadism for days on end. After a snort of of nose-candy Bunny is incapacitated with cloth doused with some sorta knock-out drops and the trucker drives her out to the desert far away from prying eyes. She's taken to the back  of his semi-trailer and chains her up and this is where the film gets really fucked-up as she endures untold suffering at the hands of the demented trucker for five straight days. As extreme horror goes this was squirm inducing stuff. Stripped nude, her head shaved she's subjected to sexual violence, sadism, and forced to wear a leather bunny mask while the trucker where's a leather hog mask and chases her through the desert in a weird "bunny game". The trucker loves his toys, too, ball-gagging her, branding her with a hot branding iron (for real!), wiring her mouth open with some fucked-up dental device and forces liquor down her throat right up until the films somewhat outta-steam finale, I just didn't feel like the ending matched the intensity of the rest of the film, it seemed like it was meant to be chilling but it just came off as deflated to in my eyes.

The film definitely has an art school pretentiousness to it, it's easy to imagine Rehmeier as a snotty art school student with a 'let's make the most fucked-up movie ever!' demeanor and I am okay with that, actually - if he set out to show me something psychologically damaging let me just say he succeeded. Like Salo or 120 Days of Sodom (1976),  I Spit on Your Grave (1978) and Cannibal Holocaust (1980) this is a slice of shock cinema that won't get a ton of watches at my house until some poor unsuspecting fucker comes along and says "what have you got that will fuck my shit up?" and that's when this gets pulled, played and put away for awhile longer.

Blu-ray: The Bunny Game is presented in 1080p anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and looks good in stark black and white. The whites are crisp and the blacks are nice and deep. Despite the stomach-churning events depicted onscreen the grainy cinematography is quite artful and when taken one frame at a time allows you to enjoy the artfulness separate from the horrific events, it's a pretty artsy film at it's heart visually, very striking. Audio options include an English language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track with optional English SDH subtitles and the commentary. The stereo track is crisp aside from some muffled dialogue and the caustic electronic score sounds quite good sonically as does the grinding black metal songs performed by L.A.-based band Harrassor - really harsh stuff which perfectly compliments the grim film. 

Special features include a commentary with director Adam  Rehmeier and actress Gestic who joins Reheimer via Skype - it's an interesting listen for sure that adds another level of disturbing to an already disturbing film, Gestic's dedication to the film borders on the fanatical, pretty amazing. There's also a making of featurette “Caretaking the Monster” (16:30) featuring interview with Rehmeier, Gestic, Renfro and Gregg Gilmore who was originally cast as demented-trucker JR but backed out for fear that he might actually killing someone after considering the unsettling script and Gestic's willingness to "do anything", dangerous cinema indeed. Gestic endured quite a transformation bringing "Bunny" to the screen, in actuality she's quite a cutey with some mighty fine acting chops. Filling out the disc are two trailer and a poster and stills gallery with a selection of posters, artwork, behind-the-scene pics and still. The stills are quite captivating, Rehmeier's has a great eye and these stills separate from the horrific events they portray are striking and artful. The Blu-ray + DVD combo also includes a standard definition version of the film with mirrored special features so you can enjoy the fucked-uppedness on either format.

Special Features:

- Audio commentary by director Adam Rehmeier and actress Rodleen Getsic

- “Caretaking the Monster” making-of featurette (16:30) 16x9

- Trailer (1:36) 16x9 
- Alternate Trailer (1:15) 16x9

Verdict: The Bunny Game is a disturbing slice of shock cinema that's unrelenting from frame one to the end credits. Not sure what Rehmeier set out to make here, there's not a message that I can decipher unless it's turning tricks will only end in ultimate sadness but I am quite sure he just wanted to make one of the most fucked-up films ever made and to that end it's quite successful, this was a difficult watch but a difficult watch does not always have a lot of rewatch value for me. That said, this is pretty fucked-up and worth a one-er particularly if you love shock cinema or if only to satisfy your morbid curiosity, it's quite unsettling. 3.5 Outta 5 

TLA Cult Awards 2013 Winners Announced

Congratulations to all the winners, some great titles and Horror Society is a great site!

TLA Cult Awards 2013 Winners Announced

The Bunny Game, Father’s Day and Where the Dead Go to Die Win in Multiple Categories

Friends, fans, customers and seriously twisted minds voted and the winners were just announced for the self-described MOST IMPORTANT MOVIE AWARDS OF ALL TIME, hosted onTLACult.com (tlacult.com) TLACult is the cult, horror and exploitation arm of legendary Philadelphia based online home entertainment retailer TLAvideo.com (tlavideo.com), celebrating the best cult, horror, underground and arthouse DVD releases of 2012 in the legendary DVD-peddler’s trademark twisted, irreverent style.

Full details on all the winners can be found here: http://www.tlavideo.com/cult-awards/a-7

Nominees were selected by members of TLA’s editorial and purchasing staff and were limited to DVD and Blu-ray releases from 2012. TLA also has a category, Best Website/Blog/Podcast/Whatever, that honors bloggers and other web personalities who help celebrate underground cinema and help keep cult movies alive.

“It was another great year in our weird little corner of the movie universe. But now the fans have spoken and chosen their favorites. It all comes down to get out the vote efforts on the parts of the nominees and clearly Where the Dead Go to Die, Father’s Day and The Bunny Game have some seriously devoted fans. We just hope these awards inspire the nominees and their fans to keep making and writing about ballsy, boundary-breaking cult, horror and grindhouse movies.” said Dan Reed, Managing Editor of TLACult.com.

The complete list of 2013 TLA Cult Awards winners are:

The TLA Cult Super Awesome Culty Ward – Best Overall: Where the Dead Go to Die

Best Grindhouse/Exploitation DVD: Big Tits Zombie

Best Horror DVD: Father’s Day

Best Box Set/Combo Pack: Midnight Movies Vol 1: Horror Triple Feature

Best Sexy Arthouse Flick: Melancholia

Best Mainstream Genre Flick: The Cabin in the Woods

Best Movie Where People Do Sex Stuff for Real: The Bunny Game

Best Grindhouse/Throwback: Father’s Day

Best Mindfuck: Where the Dead Go to Die

Sickest Flick: The Bunny Game

Best “Thank God It’s Back In-Print”: Re-Animator

Best Website/Blog/Podcast/Whatever:  Horror Society

IT'S NOTHING MAMA, JUST A GAME (1974) (Mondo Macabro Blu-ray Review)

IT'S NOTHING MAMA, JUST A GAME  (1974)

AK.A. BEYOND EROTICA

A.K.A. LOLA 

Label: Mondo Macabro

Region Code: Region Free

Rating: Unrated 

Duration: 89 Minutes

Audio: Spanish and English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)

Director: José María Forqué

Cast: David Hemmings, Alida Valli, Francisco Rabal, Andrea Rau, Nuria Gimeno

This little seen Spanish gem from 1974 stars David Hemmings (Deep Red) as Juan, a plantation-owner who with help from his enabling mother Louise (Alida Valli, Suspiria) and doting housekeeper Maria (Lucila Herrera) is able to indulge his wildest cruelties; denigrating the hired help, assaulting them, dressing them in rabbit-fur bikinis and bunny ears and hunting them on horseback with a pack of vicious dogs like wild beasts. 

The flick opens with one of these hunts, with Juan pursuing a young woman named Lucia (Nuria Gimeno, Bell from Hell) through the jungle, who unfortunately gets her foot stuck in a bear-trap before being savaged to death by Juan's dogs. The local villagers seem to know something is not quite right at the plantation, but as it's the only source of income in area they let it slide; preferring to believe the story that Lucia was killed by a mother dog who was mad at the young woman for stealing away her puppies. 

With Luca dead Juan's mother quickly hires a new housemaid named Isabel (Rudy Hernández), but she is not to Juan's liking, throwing herself into his arms to easily, and he instead sets his eyes set on the alluring Lola (Andrea Rau, Daughters of Darkness), the daughter of one of the estate security officer. His mother tries to dissuade him from pursuing her but his mind is made up. At the dinner table when Lola is serving soup Juan feels her up, and she dumps a bowl of chicken noodle soup over his head, and continues to rebuff his advances, even fighting off an attempted rape, but her fighting spirit proves irresistible and Juan sets out to break her spirit. 

Eventually he tires of spying on her from his hammock outside her window and imprisons her in an abandoned horse training facility where he sets about breaking her spirit by starving her, preparing her to be the latest bunny-fur clad prey for a new hunt, but Lola proves to be a bit more stubborn and determined that Juan is prepared for. . 

Throughout the film there are flashbacks to Juan growing up with his father who was a sadistic tyrant who ruled the plantation with fear, regularly raping the women in his employee and brutalizing the hired help. Juan's is traumatized by his upbringing and his father's death, and has grown into a sadistic piece of shit, but we also see how impotent and weak is he as well. Also figuring into the bizarre psychosexual weirdness is his late father's brother Tio (Francisco Rabal, Sorcerer) who wants a larger stake in the finances of plantation, to that end hiring a psychologist, who's a dead ringer for Wes Craven) to have him declared mentally incompetent. 

It's a psychologically twisted and perverse bit of Franco-era Spanish exploitation, with a chilly and layered performance from Hemmings, who apparently didn't have the greatest time making the movie. Rau is also quite fantastic as the woman who proves to me stronger than Hemmings' psycho-sadistic character had bargained for, managing to turn the tables on him with a slightly ambiguous finale that leaves plenty to chew on when the credits start rolling. Interestingly the film has a load of exploitative elements but doesn't go for a bare it all aesthetic, while there is some eye-catching Rau nudity the rape scenes and violence are shot in a way that leaves a lot to the imagination. I wouldn't say it was an overly stylish production but it is handsomely  lensed with some interesting angles and editing. There's a lot of layers to appreciate it about it, with themes of white colonialism and the power and impunity the wealthy wild over lower class, plus more lurid wickedness, and some unsavory animal cruelty by way of Hemming's Juan who when not hunting beautiful women like beasts is shooting rabbits that have already caught in snares. It's a fascinating performance from Hemmings, unlike anything I've seen him in before, and well worth seeking out. 

This is not a film I had seen before, only having seen a murky clip of it under the title on Beyond Erotica on YouTube some years ago, and I was never able to track down a copy of it, so I am appreciative of Mondo Macabro for making it available widely with a fantastic looking looking Blu-ray. 

Audio/Video: It's Nothing Mama, Just A Game (1974) arrives on region free Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro in 1080 p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen. This is a new restoration sourced from a new 4K scan of the original 35mm negative and it looks great. Very filmic and non-digitized with a fine looking grain structure and precious few blemishes. are solid with a only a few scenes looks slightly washed out from age, but overall a filmic and fantastic presentation. 

Audio comes by way of English and Spanish DTS-HD MA 2.O with optional English subtitles. It seems that both are dubbed options but I think the English track has the edge, particularly since it has Hemmings dubbing his own voice. 

Onto the extras we get a brand new commentary from film critic/author Kat Ellinger who does a lovely job of talking about the career of director José María Forqué, filmmaking in Spain under the rule of Franco and the censorship, the colonialism and psychosexual themes and quite a bit more.

There's also an 18-minute video essay Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely by Chris O'Neill that explored Hemmings career, spanning fifty years, which made me realize I have only seen a handful of his titles and need to make a deep dive into his filmography. We also get 5-minutes of alternate title trailers (Beyond Erotica, Lola), a 7-minute alternate Spanish title sequence and a fourteen-minute Mondo Macabro trailer reel, which is an event unto itself! The single-disc releases arrives in a standard keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork. This was also previously available as a red case limited edition release from Mondo Macabro with a sleeve of reversible artwork, lobby card reproductions and a booklet. 

Special Features:

- NEW! Audio Commentary by Kat Ellinger

- NEW! Video Essay 'Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely'  on the career of David Hemmings by Chris O'Neill (18 min) 

- Alternate Title Trailers: Beyond Erotica (2 min), Lola (3 min) 

- Alternate Title Sequence (7 min) 

- Mondo Macabro Previews (14 min)

This unsettling flick definitely has a Most Dangerous Game vibe to it, but it's perverse and weird along the lines of something Seven Women for Satan (also on Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro). Those elements combined with magnetic turns from Hemmings and Rau makes for something quite special, a wicked euro-cult treat steeped in psycho-sexual sadism.   

Screenshots from the Mondo Macabro Blu-ray: 

Extras: