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March 6, 2019

A Binge too Far #3: A duo of new American Guinea Pigs

Mary (Jessica Cameron) in American Guinea Pig: The Song of Solomon (2017)
Based loosely on the notorious video sensations Guinea Pig (1985 – 1989) Stephen Biro’s Unearthed Films (the original’s U.S. distributors) has created the American Guinea Pig series of films (2014 – present), and here we present you the two new installments.

American Guinea Pig: Sacrifice (2017) R1 BD.
American Guinea Pig: Sacrifice (2017)

Suffering from a variety of psychological traumas (the most important being the death of his beloved father), Daniel (Roberto Scorza, in his debut) goes on a self-destructing binge, during which he will torture himself in a variety of ways that will supposedly enhance his enlightening (one of them involves a symbolic drill to his head) and will all make sense (in some sort of way) in the film’s finale, which I won’t spoil.

Shot on video, which is quite problematic, especially during close-ups and daytime shots, but is also totally understandable due to the film’s nonexistent budget, this is an exercise in violence for violence’s sake, as all we get to see is torture for a brief 63 minutes.

You are obviously here for the practical gore effects though, and you should be assured that those are top-notch. Also, Samuel Marolla’s debut screenplay is offering some attempts at poetry, that surprisingly do work most of the time. An interesting rant about Trump building walls, Britain’s Brexit, and the suffering of refugees is so much to the point as it is uncomfortable. And speaking of uncomfortable, the set-pieces involving the protagonist’s nails and penis are a bit too hard to stomach.

Essentially, director Poison Rouge’s [A Taste of Phobia (2018)] film is about the journey of a paranoid man, and as such, it works in spades.

American Guinea Pig: The Song of Solomon (2017).
American Guinea Pig: The Song of Solomon (2017)

Upon his suicide, a middle-aged man is transferring the demon that was possessing him to his daughter Mary [Jessica Cameron from Camel Spiders (2011)]. After science (i.e. family counselor, psychiatrist, and the like) is deemed incapable of doing anything about the young girl, help is asked by the Catholic Church, who in turn see that this case has much more on its plate than a simple demonic possession.

Stephen Biro wrote the screenplay, which is predictably too similar to The Exorcist (1973), as you know, all scripts about demonic possession must be, and what really sets this apart from this classic and its myriad copies is the extreme gore special effects by Marcus Koch (again, an expected standard from an Unearthed Films production). But aside of all that Chris Hilleke’s cinematography is so slick that what we have here is probably producer/director Stephen Biro’s most mainstream-looking film ever. This may help it go places (it played a few festivals already), but unfortunately takes a lot away from the Guinea Pig experience, which is about more raw aesthetics. However, although this is never a positive experience (there are several splatter scenes on display that are difficult to stomach), it is a very entertaining film that gore-hounds should not miss.

Afterword


Unearthed Films just added those two worthy releases to its long catalogue of violent relics, and accompanied both BD releases with impressive packages that include tons of extras, so gore-hounds should give away their cash immediately!

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