Begotten

Like something ripped from a nightmare and aborted onto the screen, Begotten is a film which, once watched, will never be forgotten. The basic premis of this film is that God disembowels himself, leaving Mother Earth to impregnate herself with his seed, post mortem. We then bear witness to the Son of Earth - Flesh on Bone, writhing in agony in a barren wasteland as cannibals set upon both him and Mother Earth, beating, cutting and slicing them both.

The film is, as you can see from the trailer above, filmed in grainy black and white, and, as is always the way with experimental cinema, is often so difficult to watch because of the wild zooms, lingering close-ups on nothingness and over-exposed shots. There is also no speech in this film, just a background noise which tries its best to explain what is going on through the sound of birds singing, rushing water etc.

For a B&W film, this is surprisingly gory in places (although why this is a surprise I do not know, the film was made in the 1990s, not the 1920s) and also has some graphic sexual images.

Certainly not one for the mainstream horror fan, but those with an interest in independent, experimental cinema and film students alike may want to check this one out, it's certainly not your run-of-the-mill Hollywood film by any means.

I don't normally do this, but whilst reading up about this film before watching it, I stumbled upon the following review on IMDB and it made me laugh so much, I thought I'd reproduce it here for your enjoyment:

"Stand up and cheer! Begotten is the warm and fuzzy tale for the whole family that Disney has been attempting for years. The film, about the birth of a messiah who has seizures in the woods and is dragged around by lepers has the whole country laughing uncontrollably. The plot appeals on multiple levels to children and adults (funny guys in robes for the kids, caesarean childbirth for the older folk) and is one of the cleverest scripts to come along since Thomas Edison's classic The Sneeze. A film that pays homage to the Keystone Kops, Tennessee Williams, Jean-Luc Godard and those lovable muppets the muppets, Begotten is one of two films you won't want to miss. The other is Don't Look Back."