Vision of Suffering/Nails DVD review

No Revolution for Russian Horror Here

It’s hard to watch Andrey Iskanov’s Nails (Gvozdi, 2003) and Visions of Suffering (2006) without wondering what Unearthed Films were thinking when they released them domestically.

Apart from the widely seen Night Watch, (Nochnoy Dozor, 2004), contemporary Russian horror films have seemed to be an endangered species on this continent. If Nails and Visions of Suffering are any indication, we now know why. Try watching these shot-on-digital-video travesties without wondering if state controlled art is really such a bad thing after all. I might seem excessively harsh here, but the internet hype comparing director Andrey Iskanov to such cinematic masters as Lynch, Tsukamoto and Croenenberg borders on schizophrenic. Everybody check your meds.

Unearthed Films is a great company. This is the label that unleashed official releases of such Japanese shock essentials as the classic Guinea Pig Series, Pinocchio 964 and next season, the highly sought after Red Room by Daisuke Yamanouchi. These titles alone constitute some of the most genuinely fucked up pieces of cinematic extremism available on the commercial market today. While I think Unearthed truly believe in Iskanov, why they would bother bringing Nails and Visions of Suffering to North America as premium releases, presented with extensive extras and great box art is beyond me. Even Troma would think twice about picking up this junk.

Hopelessly, Nails tells the story of an assassin (Alexander Shevchenko ) who gets into trepanation. If you’re not familiar, trepanation is a surgical practice where holes are made in certain parts of a person’s skull, either by drilling or scraping, to supposedly relieve mental disorders. Don’t worry though, they drill slowly. In ancient South and Central American cultures (ie Mesoamerican), trepanation was also performed as a religious practice. Interestingly, trepanation was self-performed by Michael Ironside’s character Darryl Revok in Cronenberg’s Scanners (1981). While this sounds like a great concept for a psych-horror odyssey, the experience of Nails is ruined by weak acting and overall lameness which detracts from anything that could be described as interesting or engaging.

To sum up Nails’ 60 minute of running time: After an initial euphoric rush brought on by a nail in the skull, everything goes down the tubes for the assassin and we spend the movie watching him unravel as bad industrial music rages to cover a significant lack of background foley.

Visions of Suffering is an equally weak ‘dream film’ (according to Iskanov) about vampire-like entities that exist on another plane and occasionally into our realm in order to possess humans and drag them back to the netherworld. Essentially, if you didn’t get the plot of Night Watch the first time, you’ll have less luck figuring out the plot here. Psych! Visions of Suffering has no plot. This supremely independent feature’s videography is wasted by lame After Effects filters (I didn’t know they had an ‘Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible Pt 2’ plug-in.), ridiculous editing cheats and an incoherent plot that can never manage to get where it wants and needs to be: In the soul of the unconscious. The acting in Visions of Suffering deserves special citation for awfulness. The hilariously pompous dialogue will make you yearn for Bela Lugosi’s fireside speeches in Glen or Glenda.

Nails and Visions of Suffering are ambitious, but completely failed features that belong in a Brentwood discount package alongside The Bonesetter and The Murder Men. At full price, these titles are just not worth it, despite Nails’ enticing packaging.

I do not fault Andrey Iskanov for his efforts. The films are nothing if not ambitious and while there is nothing here to recommend, Iskanov is obviously dedicated to telling his stories. Regardless, Nails and VOS do not work. For some masochistic reason however, I am willing to give his Philosophy of a Knife a chance. I’m almost sort of looking forward to it. After all, it can only get better from here.

Hey Unearthed, next time try releasing Sato’s Lolita: Vibrator Torture or a decent Region 1 version of Deodato’s Washing Machine instead of trying to prop up this lame post-goth junk!

As a surrealist no less than Magritte said, “Pop artists are into Neon. I am into Truth.”

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