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Begotten

Begotten

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $26.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: How about those Red Sox!
Review: Yeah, well gee. Uhmm, aaahh, ok. What about those Red Sox? As for this movie, well, aahh, gee, uhmmm, aaahh I watched as much as I could and tried to think of any saving grace to recommend it. I could only come up with one and that is I found out how the dream tape in The Ring was made. The rest of the movie, if you can stomach it, is a very disturbed student film. I tried to visualize the interpretations that the other reviewers got out of this movie and either it is too deep for me or it is like Picasso, who I've always felt was putting people on and making a living by it. If you do decide to watch it, and there are at least 10,000 movies I would recommend before you do, don't watch it while you are eating.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Five Stars For the Weirdness of the Whole Thing
Review: Is it compelling? Very. Is it arty? Often. Is it atmospheric? Indubitably. Is it entertaining? Rarely, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. "Begotten," a wildly inventive low budget film imagined and subsequently lensed by E. Elias Merhige will leave a lasting scar on anyone who watches his nightmarish vision. The celluloid equivalent of a bad dream best forgotten, Merhige's pet project continues to mark its viewers; I occasionally hear people discussing this movie even though it came out over ten years ago. No matter what you come away with after watching "Begotten," you will remember it for ages to come. Nothing approaches its visceral power, its unshakable commitment to weirdness, and its disgustingly haunting imagery. Yes, "Begotten" is all of these things to some and much less to many. I have seen it and still cannot define exactly what I saw or successfully integrate the various scenes into a coherent whole. Perhaps subsequent viewings will uncover a few more details, but I somehow rather doubt that it will. I hope it will be enough to cryptically smile and nod sagely in lieu of explaining the plot the next time someone I know mentions this film. If I ever have to explicate on Merhige's monster to save my life, I could be in a heap of trouble.

What is "Begotten"? It is roughly eighty minutes of a black and white movie showing scenes of mutilation, madness, and murder. The whole thing deals with a sort of primordial or futuristic creation/death ritual carried out between the gods and mankind, or at least I think it does from the few articles I have read about the movie. Probably the easiest scenes to discern are the opening ones, where the camera reveals a twitching creature with a substance disturbingly comparable to blood pouring out of its mouth. With some sort of razor, the being cuts open its own abdomen (in chunky detail) in order to give birth to a new life form. This new goddess and a weird creation coughing up what looks like a piece of meat go forth to encounter shambling primitives who eventually beat these creatures to death. The whole film moves at a snail's pace, with many of the later scenes nearly impenetrable to the eye even on a DVD transfer.

Far from being filmed in glaring color reminiscent of an episode of the Brady Bunch, "Begotten" uses a complicated technique to create a type of black and white picture rarely if ever seen by this viewer. The film employs deliberate scratches on the negative and some sort of treatment that makes the unearthly images contained within glow with a sickly light. There isn't a whit of discernable dialogue in the whole movie, with the only sounds being a discordant drone punctuated by occasional rattles, labored breathing, chimes, and the sounds of water. The sun rises and sets with alarming regularity, but this hint at the passage of time provides no respite for the viewer as the nightmare unfolds onscreen. I could so easily dismiss "Begotten" as utter garbage except for one niggling concern: I could rarely take my eyes off the television screen. What IS going on here? Who knows, but it carries an appeal similar to a car accident on the freeway.

Merhige should receive a compliment for at least trying to accomplish something different with this movie. I'm not surprised in the least to learn that Marilyn Manson retained his services to direct one of his music videos, either. In short, if "Begotten" isn't the strangest, eeriest thing you will ever watch, you have explored bleaker vistas than I. I should conclude with an apology for speaking about this film by using so many superlatives, but watch it and see why I did so.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ontological archtype!!
Review: Karl Jung, Wilhelm Reich, and G.W.F. Hegel obviously didn't tell us all that they knew. This film strips being down from the societal bigoted elaboration into collective subconscience. Anyone who says this film is boring or pretentious isn't in touch with the zeitgeist of the universal weltangschunng!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Either the best film ever, or the worst...
Review: I was not expecting what I saw on the screen when I popped this in the VCR (yes I actually rented a vhs copy from a great little local spacialty video rental place). I could barely make out what exactly the form was, but then realized it was this gruesome looking, twitching, convulsing being vomiting blood everywhere and then it began to cut itself open with a straight-razor. And then after dying, deficates on itself. This was the best part of the movie. Period. After this, a woman appears, spinning about, topless, with a Halloween masquerade mask on, and, um, arouses GOD and uses his, um, fluids to impregnate herself. The next oh, 40-60 (I'm guessing) minutes are pretty boring, although I could not take my eyes off the screen. It's really visually stunning, if you overlook the fact that half the time you have no idea what you are seeing. The seizuric man is a bit disturbing, and the fact that it takes the druidic beings half an hour to get him up a 7 foot hill was, well, irritating. I didn't really get the ending, and I suppose you need to interpret it for yourself, but some weird people with straw hats on a Indian reservation doesn't really make sense to alot of people. And, jeeze, did I had weird dreams after watching this.
I guess if you really love the avant-garde, this is a MUST SEE (must own a different story). However, if you are into the mainstream and must watch every new Jerry Bruckheimer film or if My Big Fat Greek Wedding was the greatest movie you've ever seen, this is definately not for you.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Do not judge before...
Review: My recomendation for this and some other films sort like this, is that you people should see first a few of them related with surrealism to try to understand and/or apreciate, then you can tell if you did understand first surrealism, you might be able to criticize stuff like this. Personally I think is one of the best surrealistic movies I've ever seen, probably only compared with "Un chien andalou" (the one directed by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali).

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: beautiful and brutal
Review: the opening sequence is god killing himself.
it's a very beautiful movie if you give it a chance.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: How bizarre.....
Review: One of the most bizarre and fascinating films that I have had the pleasure (or maybe discomfort) to watch. The cinematography of this film really baffled me. There was so much to take in with this movie that I really cannot explain it all or go into great detail because I do not want to ruin it for anyone else who may view this and be completely turned off from the idea of watching this movie. A mind-numbing experience from start to finish. Self disembowelment, necrophelia, masturbation, an epileptic savior...what more could one have asked for. Gruesome, visceral and extremely sad. I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys art films or for anyone who enjoyed the pure insanity of David Lynch's Eraserhead. Pleasant viewing!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of my favorite films
Review: BEGOTTEN will shock even the most jaded horror fans. In an age
where "horror" in American film is represented by teenage
models who couldn't get onto DAWSON'S CREEK mumbling to each
other about how ironic horror is,BEGOTTEN is more important
than ever. There's no dialogue,just images and ideas from
the darkness of nightmares. Gruesome,yet intelligent and beautiful.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: For-gotten
Review: I consider myself a movie aficionado of sorts, and have always taken a liking to thought provoking, artsy movies. I am open to interpretation, and actually prefer movies that leave something upon the viewer to figure out for themselves. But this movie flat out leaves too much to chance. The images are barely reminscent of any sort of humanoid figures, if they are to represent God or mother nature or any other spiritual figure. If I didnt know what the movie was supposed to mean before I saw it, it would have no sence whatsoever! Plus I couldnt help but think throught my first viewing that this could be the film of some college student trying too hard. What is supposed to be "shocking" or "unforgettable" is lost mostly in the fact that you CANT SEE ANYTHING, especailly in the opening scene. This is a DVD, but the point of view is muddy and dark. I will say though the the sound effects are pretty bizarre, if anything. Maybe I am lacking the imagination that some of the people that gave this five stars did. But this movie in my opinion just plain stinks.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best movie ever ?
Review: Oh my fu%¤ing god....what a movie. From the beginning to the end you sit there totally spellbound. I guess It is the sickest movie I have ever seen. I don't know, It's hard to describe....seeing is believing.
I have always been a big fan of the horror genre, and especially movies that is something special (Eraserhead, Deranged etc) but this movie reach the top.

Love this movie!


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