Director: Satoru Ogura
STORY
A group of men kidnap a young women and submit her to increasing brutal torture until she dies, as a way to investigate human tolerance for pain.
OPINION
The Guinea Pig series are a series of short films (less than an hour each), each essentially an experiment with shooting on video. They have gained a certain level of notoriety in the West due to their graphic, realistic content – so realistic, in fact, that when a friend showed a copy of the second film (Flower Of Flesh & Blood) to Charlie Sheen, his first reaction was to call the cops because he thought it was an actual snuff movie.
That sounds quite silly, but it’s not too hard to see why he’d make that mistake. The films are mostly plotless, focussing on torture and mutilation in an uncomfortable realistic and explicit manner. In this first episode of the series, we see the video footage being shot as the men first beat, then burn, then gouge the eyes out of the woman before finally killing her. That’s basically it.
Of course, this was originally made for the Japanese market, a territory that has always had a bizarre relationship with extremes of both sex and violence. Just as the infamous Faces Of Death series was intended exclusively for this market, so the Guinea Pig movies
Overall, watching this first Guinea Pig entry is an experience. It’s certainly not for the faint-hearted, and it’s not intended to be enjoyed. Given that, it’s a well-made experimental film shot on video with a “found footage” feel similar to more recent movies such as REC and The Blair Witch Project. It doesn’t have any redeeming features in the normal sense, but it’s an interesting experience in testing limits for tolerance and endurance.
Rating: 
CENSORSHIP
To my knowledge, none of the Guinea Pig movies have ever been submitted to the BBFC, nor to the MPAA. It would almost certainly be a complete waste of time, as the movies all revolve around horrific acts of violence. There would be little left of the movies if the violence were to be removed, and there’s really not much else to them.