Beginning with a truly disturbing scene that depicts God (Brian Salzberg) slicing himself open with a straight razor, Begotten tells the story of Genesis through a series of strange, methodical scenes involving various, unnamed characters in a barren landscape. While God lies dead, his blood sprayed across the walls and pooled on the floor, Mother Earth (Donna Dempsey) is born through his semen and sets off into the wilderness, where the Son of Earth (Stephen Charles Barry) is created. His body writhes pathetically in the dirt, and is found and captured by a group of hooded nomads. They drag him through the wilderness, collecting objects that the Son of Earth vomits, and when they cross paths with Mother Earth, they proceed to rape and destroy her.
Begotten is one of those rare films that manages to frustrate you as much as it will fascinate. The imagery, which took ten hours per second to render, is truly unnerving. It's like watching a lost silent film only to realise it contains some of the most fucked-up imagery ever committed to film. Often the film is so scratched and the blacks and whites so grainy, it's difficult to make out exactly what is happening. But maybe that's the point, perhaps the violent acts committed by the hooded beings are best seen through squinted eyes or merely glimpsed. Not much happens - most of the film spends watching the Son of Earth being dragged and abused, and the only soundtrack consists of crickets and birds, that become so repetitive it actually adds to the psychological torment of the film. But Begotten wasn't meant to be enjoyed, but simply experienced, and if you can look past its art-house pretensions, this is one of the most original horror films of the last 25 years.
Directed by: E. Elias Merhige
Country: USA
Rating: ****
Tom Gillespie
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