Review of Begotten (1991) by Johnny B — 01 Mar 2009

Begotten is a nightmarish masterpiece. Many will not dare look beyond the cover or the trailer, yet it is worth while doing so. Merhige's determination succeeds in creating a piece of cinema that lingers in th mind and inspires the sordid within.

By no means your typical film in any sense. It, in some ways brings horror to a new level of disturbance and is an omen to what can be done with cinema, to instill the most primal of instincts in audiences.

Begotten's 78minutes are ones that feel alot longer than they are, purely due to the fact that the material on screen is not easy to visually digest. It is graphic, sordid and violent, but in ways that are more like an inescapable nightmare, than a film.

However the director's artistic statement seems to overshadow the potential of what could have been done with the film. Upon hearing of it and seeing trailers I hoped for a new generation of horror film, yet was left with a genuinely disturbing piece of cinema that in my mind begged to be so much more.

I believe it is the first step in horror cinema, that gets awat from formula and goes toward pure fear on screen.