Kôji Shiraishi	...	(Director)
Kôji Shiraishi	...	(Writer)
Tsugumi Nagasawa	...	Aki
Hiroaki Kawatsure	...	Kazuo
Shigeo Ôsako	...
Kazuo Satô	...	Composer
Yôhei Fukuda	...	Cinematographer
Tsuyoshi Sone	...	Editor

Comments: I watched this and thought it was fine except for the special effects that appeared flown in from a third party. I don’t see what all the fuss is about. It’s about a guy with a pretty hardcore sexual fetish. There’s your motivation. It’s shot pretty well, except for the sfx, it’s nicely colored, and it’s acted pretty well. The creepy guy is wonderfully subdued and methodical and the JAV girl has a decent scene toward the end, up until her head flies off. All in all it seemed less pretentious than a lot of other torture porn I’ve seen and less offensive than some CAT III films I seen. It’s not real and it’s Japanese. No big whoop.

Summary: Whereas Hostel was for kids, Grotesque is for adults. This is billed as the "cruelest Japanese splatter movie ever" and it truly lives up to that billing. It is no small relief that the film lives up to its Movie title, a torture porn genre that has largely taken over the horror field. No CGI effects here, just sadistic violence that rarely flinches away, use of excellent makeup and prosthetics and shot very convincingly.

Needless to say, in the finest tradition of Japanese gore cinema, the plot is minimal, with a young couple played by AV actress Nagasawa Tsugumi and Kawatsure Hiroaki (recently in “OneChanbara”) being snatched off the street, only to wake up shackled in a grimy basement. Without even having the decency to explain why, a particularly sadistic madman (Osako Shigeo) proceeds to degrade, torture and mutilate them. This film is not for the faint of heart.