Presented by legendary Italian exploitation director Ruggero
Deodato (Cannibal Holocaust), Atroz is the newest release from
Unearthed Films and proclaims to be the most graphic and goriest film to have
been made in Mexico. It definitely lives up to that assertion, joining the dark
and gruesome likes of Cannibal Holocaust,
Martyrs, A Serbian Film, Wolf Creek,
Martyrs, and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. If you liked and were able to
stomach those, then you should enjoy this tale about a police investigation
that takes place in Mexico after a woman is killed from being struck by a car.
The chief detective discovers a video camera with footage from a brutal murder,
which eventually leads to the discovery of even more tapes detailing this
serial killer’s past crimes.
It essentially falls within the found footage subgenre of
horror, with some traditional camerawork peppered in for the story. It could
also be considered part of the torture porn subgenre, because of the large
amount of grotesque violence and imagery that really pushes the limits of man’s
depravity. This includes blood, gore, vomit, feces, mutilation and torture,
nudity, sex, necrophilia, rape, and incest. While the brutality and extreme
situations in this may only appear to be included so as to satiate fans of
torture porn, I would suggest that they were somewhat necessary for the plot. These
scenes were used to create a three dimensional characterization of the
sociopathic individual in this picture, and explain how physical and
psychological events from his teenage years shaped his desires lust for murder.
I believe that the director was also trying to make a statement regarding the
large amount of unsolved murders that occur in Mexico, as well as rampant
police corruption and their terrorist style questioning procedures. It was
noted at the beginning of the movie that almost 98% of murders in Mexico go
unsolved, a statistic that was reported in 2013 by Mexico’s central statistics
bureau (INEGI). Much like some of the previous movies listed, this one serves
as a telling alarm to the dangers for people within that country.
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| You need a nail trim. Let me fix it for you. |
It is a low budget feature, so the largest element is the
use of found footage. So there is a large amount of shaky camera movements that
are common within the subgenre. If you’re not a fan of these, then you should
probably stay away from this. The video footage was reminiscent of some of the
scenes from Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer,
and I liked how the sound and video would cut in and out at times to
replicate damage to the tapes. While similar in various ways to the motion
pictures that have already been listed, this one is not as well crafted and
acted as the others. This is mainly a symptom of the budgetary restraints,
which was estimated at around $7,000 on IMDB.
If you like anything that was described above and can avoid
vomiting, then you should check this out.
Score
Raul Vantassle