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I have to say, CJ knows my taste in movies very well. We were hanging out at his apartment last night, thinking about movies to put on, and he said, “I should show you Battle Royale. I think you’d really like it.”

It’s about a group of Japanese schoolkids abducted by the government and put on a desolate island by themselves. They are all wearing time bombs on their necks that will explode in 3 days. In those three days, they must kill off all of their peers on the island, so that there is only one person left alive to go home. 

This movie is extremely gory. It’s not stab, fall, run away gory; it’s slice-open-your-neck-and-watch-you-die-slowly gory. The gore is campy and psychotic at the same time. It’s obviously fake, but it’s so horrific in the way it’s done that you can’t really laugh at it. 

Now, why do I like this? I actually love how ruthless the movie is. There are so many characters, that you don’t really get too attached to any of them, and it makes no difference to you whether they survive til the end or not. The theme of manhunting has been done numerous times (ie. Lord of the Flies, The Most Dangerous Game) but every time it’s done, its always exciting. The thing about campy gory movies is that once you get over your initial shock of the first victim’s head being blown off, you are desensitized and can watch the rest of the movie, anticipating the next killing. I read somewhere that gore is like porn, it’s fun to look at because it leaves nothing to the imagination. (I must note, this film is not in the “horror” genre as much as it is “action”. I don’t watch horror films. The last horror movie I saw was in 2004, and I’m ok with that.)

Movies like this one, along with Sin City and Kill Bill, do gore expertly. When its done right, it turns a B-List slasher flick into great cinema. 

If you are intrigued, here’s the trailer.