Contorversial Kiwi horror flick 'Wound' bleeds like a mother...

[I didn't ask for this one to be added to the catch up pile (Mitch, I'm pointing at you) but on a whim I gave it a go and endured. More on this controversial supernatural horror film that screened at FanTasia after the synopsis off the official site]

David Blyth, word is that he is one of New Zealand's most controversial film directors, director of New Zealand's first ever splatter horror film Death Warmed Up in 1984 [Yes, pre Jackson's Bad Taste by three years], returns to feature film making after a six year foray into documentaries. Picking up where he left off his new film Wound certainly stirred up controversy in his homeland before ever going up on a silver screen. More on that later. Billed as a supernatural tale of incest, bondage, mental illness and graphic violence it certainly isn't for the faint of heart or weak disposition. Starting off with a gushing castration and ending with a double headed stillborn birth there is no shortage of graphic images that will leave an indelible mark on the psyche.

Clocking in at a lean, mean and bloody 75 minutes there is hardly a moment for rest as images of suffering, bondage and violence follow one after the other, repeatedly testing the fortitude of the viewer. High of style and low on budget Blyth makes the most of his nightmarish vision where drawing comparisons to David Lynch is the easiest thing the viewer can do. Other than that? You're on your own. Credit is due to Kate O'Rourke who plays Susan. Not only did she have to undergo a physical transformation of herself, think Christian Bale and The Machinist, but to subject herself to such hardship and abuse for the sake of art is something else. The role of Susan had to be a physically and psychologically demanding one.

As far as Blyth is concerned? As the film faced a potential banning in New Zealand the director spoke out against those deeming his film unsuitable for viewing. "It's about sexual abuse in this country, no one else is talking about this. All my films have had a female theme and they all deal with the disenfranchised. I think it's important to find a place for movies of all kinds, and not just what the Film Commission approves. [source]" Further to that, "I like to
think that my film is about the horror of the everyday I see around me, an increasingly uncaring society and it's all put down to 'oh we don't have the money to spend but we have to  spend the money on our vulnerable women and children' [source]" The verdict? They didn't, "But the film censor's office says the impact of some of the more shocking content of the movie is limited by it's low budget and unrealistic special effects. [source]" Take that super sensitive ninnies! You don't win because of the film's low budget effects! Which is true.