AMERICAN GUINEA PIG: BLOODSHOCK – Movie Review

AMERICAN GUINEA PIG: BLOODSHOCK

• RELEASE DATE: Available Now on Blu-ray/DVD (Click Here to Purchase a Copy)
• WRITTEN BY: Stephen Biro
• DIRECTED BY: Marcus Koch
• STARRING: Norm J. Castellano, Barron Christian, Dan Ellis

-Reviewed by Shane Migliavacca

 

Some time in the mid 1980’s those wacky Japanese came up with the GUINEA PIG series; films so gory, that international tiger blood enthusiast and all around dumb shit Charlie Sheen watched one and thought it was a snuff film so he rang up the FBI, who contacted Japanese authorities who themselves were already investigating the filmmakers. The filmmakers were eventually summoned to court to prove that the special effects were indeed fake.

Moving forward, the films were distributed in the U.S. by Unearthed Films, so it makes sense that the president of Unearthed Films, Stephen Biro would bring them back. He made his directorial debut with the first film in the new series, AMERICAN GUINEA PID: BOUQUET OF GUTS AND GORE. What we have here today is the second installment AMERICAN GUINEA PIG: BLOODSHOCK. Is it an all out gore masterpiece, or is it just a piece of shit (and will I need to hit a bottle of booze faster then Scotty on shore leave)?

The “story” involves a man (Dan Ellis) and a woman (Lillian McKinney) in separate padded cells that are randomly subjected to various tortures. The Doctor overseeing this routinely drains some of their blood during the torture and then shoots up with it. Why? Because. Eventually things kind of happen in the last few minutes and we get a revel of sorts during the end credits. And that’s it. This one ain’t much on story kids…or dialogue for that matter. The screenplay for this sucker was probably five pages long. The whole thing takes place on two sets. A padded cell and an office.

I’m probably not the audience for this. I mean I’m not afraid of a gory films; I found the supposed extreme gore of HOSTEL to be a bore. I’ve seen CANNIBAL FEROX and CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (And you shouldn’t because they kill animals and that’s really in poor taste). Anyway, what were we talking about? Oh shit, yeah BLOODSHOCK. Truth be told director Marcus Koch’s art-house take on a gore film really didn’t work in the film’s advantage. The black and white film actually took away from the shock. The only scene that was somewhat effective was a scene involving dental hijinks. With next to no dialogue and no back story we’re given nothing to care about regarding these characters, and for me that would have made the torture mean something. As it is, they could have replaced the actors with a side of beef and it would have been the same. I had to force myself to stay interested.

As much as I didn’t care for the film, I can’t say Unearthed Films skimped on the extras. Those guys went all out for this. You get the film both on Blu and DVD as well as a CD of the soundtrack,a nice booklet, two commentaries, behind the scenes footage, interviews, featurettes, and a Q&A session.

I think perhaps slapping the Guinea Pig title on BLOODSHOCK does both a disservice; It’s not gory enough to be mind blowing, and the story, or lack of, will have you drifting off. I really can’t recommenced it as a gore film or as an art house horror film. The only people who might enjoy it are die hard Guinea Pig fans. Oh, and has Charlie Sheen seen this?