tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34993991.post8831040372524128835..comments2023-10-05T07:46:44.392-04:00Comments on And Now the Screaming Starts: Movies: In which we vivisect the torture porn issue for the last time.CRwMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07896615209770501945noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34993991.post-9391114183809718822009-07-17T17:20:09.380-04:002009-07-17T17:20:09.380-04:002. While turistas comes up again and again in disc...2. While turistas comes up again and again in discussions of torture porn, it is usually either mentioned in passing (by mainstream critics) or mentioned as a particularly bad film (on most horror boards) and I think both reactions have a lot to do with the marketing, the former group includes the film out of laziness, the latter illustrates the disconnect between the marketing campaign and the actual movie. Similar examples can be found in the cannibal or zombie subgenres, where you also find certain titles being included again and again despite not really having very much to do with the genre in question (except marketing). <br /><br />3. I didn't mean to suggest that the plot is that much better (I think it's slightly better, although of course just as silly as the rest if you think about it), but Turistas uses fears and urban legends that have been around for some time (organ theft in third world countries) as its basic starting point and I believe this could've created a much more direct and emotional impact than the scenarios Hostel and Saw are based on (although snuff films are admittedly also an urban legend).<br /><br />The rest is admittedly entirely personal preference, but I think the fact that I can enjoy a film that is supposed to be torture porn for its scenery also says a lot about how misleading the label is in this case.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34993991.post-37522336333302303142009-07-17T16:18:09.037-04:002009-07-17T16:18:09.037-04:00Anony,
Good points.
1. I'm personally stuck ...Anony,<br /><br />Good points.<br /><br />1. I'm personally stuck between in rock and hard place on this one. I suspect that more popular bloggers than I would say that I simply write in dragging style that isn't suited for the medium. I can't imagine what sort of strife Twitter would give me.<br /><br />2. I don't have any first hand knowledge of the marketing decisions on this thing - though some sort of disconnect between the filmmakers and the film's marketers like you describe would explain much. However, what it doesn't get is that the film comes up again and again in discussions of extreme horror and torture porn. Honestly, it seems like you'd have to have not seen the movie to compare it films like Hostel, but people do it regularly.<br /><br />3. The tropical setting and the underwater photography was very lovely, and the filmmakers should get credit for that. Though, honestly, I think the lush squalor of the Hostel flicks and the pop-surrealism of the Saw flicks are feats as well, so I can't really single Turista's out for that. As for "far-fetched story," while the mad doctor's motives are certainly more fleshed out than the average killer's motives in, say, Hostel, if had an even harder time believing that the doc as made an operation out of harvesting just those Euro/American tourists that happen to get stranded in what, at the beginning of the flick, we're told is a very isolated region of the country - even our protags only ended up there by accident. Plus, the operation clearly requires an insane amount of overhead - drugs, pay for kidnappers and henchmen, helicopter maintenance, and so on - but the whole thing is run pro bono for a charity hospital. Further, thought the doctor's motives seem more robust than, say, the head of the Elite Hunt Club, they don't really make much sense. His organization is meant to help the poor people of Brazil, but it requires are certainly level of desperation and poverty in the community around him to keep the operation running (his fairly most common incentive being he'll give you a couple bills and not kill you). He's also apparently quite racist, despite risking everything he has on a bizarro charity scheme for the impoverished, many of whom will be black or native Brazilians. All the baddies in <i>Hostel</i>, <i>Saw</i>, and so on all verge on James Bond villain status. I don't find any of them particularly realistic.<br /><br />4. The parallel you've drawn does a great job of capturing the real relationship between <i>Turista</i> and the more extreme horror fare it is often compared with. I'm hesitant to claim it is a issue of mainstream studio influence as <i>Turistas</i> was no more big studio as project as <i>Saw</i> or <i>Hostel</i>. All three were made by small production companies and then distributed by large distributors.CRwMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07896615209770501945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34993991.post-12710980294437022762009-07-17T14:40:20.995-04:002009-07-17T14:40:20.995-04:00Couple of random thoughts:
1. Interesting to hear...Couple of random thoughts:<br /><br />1. Interesting to hear about the "multiple posts don't work" experience, not sure, if a long post as faring that much better though.<br /><br />2. As far as I know, Turistas was originally supposed to be a standard adventure/thirller film and the producers insisted on the "torture" aspects being played up (more so in the advertising than in the actual film) and I guess that's why the film has been labelled as "torture porn" (maybe there's a point here about intention being crucial).<br /><br />3. Although no one else seems to like it much, I found a lot to like in Turistas, especially the final showdown was really well done and it's just a very nice film to look at, which is already one major advantage over Hostel. It also has a (relatively speaking) far less far-fetched story than most other entries in the "torture porn" genre, so potentially, it could have been the most unpleasant one, but instead it comes across as a movie that is almost apologising for its detours into torture terrain.<br /><br />4. Random theory: Might Turistas be to the "torture porn" genre what April Fool's Day was to the slasher (=a "politer" big studio version of what the producers thought audiences wanted to see)?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com