True Gore

You cannot review a shockumentary as you would any other movie; the 'successor' to the defunct mondo genre, the shockumentary is the high school failure and family outcast that few members like to talk about at dinner. Usually nothing more than patchwork collections of executions, fatal accidents and other gross mishaps, still form or in motion, the shockumentary preceded the Internet in terms of pulling images out of context and grossly sensationalising them with snide commentary and presentation. The genre is as extreme as it is immature, often under flawed artistic pretense and its audience is within the absolute minority of the already tightly-knit niche of obscure, VHS-only, B-to-Z-grade movies; it's this family of freaks that accepts the shockumentary fan.

 
True Gore sticks out marginally for what it is; domestically rarer than most titles of its ilk, True Gore was curiously released in Japan dubbed (under the name "Super Junk", to cash-in on the Japanese release of the Faces of Death series, which were not inappropriately retitled Junk over there) and prominently features the overbearing creative consultation of Industrial pioneer and obscene exhibitionist Monte Cazazza, who is partly notable for pouring cement over a staircase in his college as part of an art project and setting alight a dead cat in front of his friends. Information on Cazazza is scarce and he reportedly witnessed necrophilia in action as a child, take of this what you will. Divided into sections in an amateurish charade of importance, this pleasant 85-minute collection features gruelling images of rotting cadavers, live animal vivisections, staged suicide scenes, extreme BDSM footage, robots made from meat that completely fail to appear functioning, indecipherable audio collages of Jim Jones, early Industrial music, a cartoon music video about how atoms work and stock footage of the Nazis. As a boiling pot of all things disturbing, this is somewhat cool. A narrator hidden behind sunglasses and a solarizing effect punctuates this fiendishly-edited, trash bag of seizure-inducing, irritatingly-orchestrated fake scenes and genuine footage of varying qualities, it's all nasty, nasty stuff and the frankly terrible music you hear throughout does a phenomenal job at making this a punishment to the senses, which in itself should be a real joy for some.

Credited to one M. Dixon Causey as director, the majority of what is on show has been compiled from Cazazza's own movies and the music featured is what he has worked on, True Gore is obviously something you don't need to see save for those curious about Cazazza's work and are welcome to more extremities. True Gore however, might prove a worthwhile watch for those with access to some hardcore drugs for a truly ill-fitting trip, as a shockumentary it's one of the sicker names less known out there and has a bit more variation to its visual carnage. The people who will watch this will know who they are.

- James

Review source: Japanese VHS
Title information

• Production company: VU Film And Video
• Year of release: 1987

Alternative titles

• スーパージャンク／世界大終末 "Suupaa jyanku sekai dai shuumatsu" <Super Junk: The End of the World> (Japan)