Now here is a film that lives up to its title, and then some!, Visceral: Between the Ropes of Madness is a 2010 Chilean picture, regarding the unfolding/ breakdown of a boxer. It features gore/ violence- both extreme & sexualized, Intense BDSM, rage, torture, vomit and a largely industrial/noise-based soundtrack- which intensifies things even more. Here from Unearthed Films- those seekers of worldwide extreme film- is the first ever Blu-ray release of the film, including a director's commentary track & a few other things.

Visceral: Between the Ropes of Madness (aka Visceral: Entre Las Cuerdas De La Locura) is from the year 2012. It was written, directed, edited by and stars Victoria, Chile born Felipe Eluti. This is his only directional credit, though he has one or two other editor and actor credits.

The film's central/ main character is simply named Boxer( Eluti)- with a few supporting characters/ victims. The movie runs at the one hour and sixteen-minute mark, and really, the intensity barely lets up, aside from a few more haunting & eerie moments, which are soundtracked with a mix of wind, creaking ropes, and uneasy ambience.

From the outset, the intensity/disorientation is locked in, as we get red-shifting/ blurred credits. Before we move into a rapid cut collage of a man warping his fists, looking pained, and a woman, roped up/ wrapped in grey packing tape- bloody moaning & swinging.

As the film unfolds, we rapidly shift back & forth in the Boxers' timeline, and (possibly) between the real and unreal.  The key plot point is that he has a big fight coming up, but largely the film is a freefall through violence, depravity and madness, as our lead character carries out one violent atrocity after another.

Eluti is an intense, at times generally frightening presence, though there are moments of normality too, which helps ground things. The film largely consists of the footage of the capture and torture of women & couples he picks up & takes back to his apartment. And really, these cover pretty much every violent act you could imagine/ would want to imagine- many of the victims are roped up, or roped down in detail. There’s knees broken with a hammer, teeth and tongues pulled, guts pulled out of those still alive, one dead/ decaying person tied to a dead person, heads smashed in, relentless face beatings, and later gory Fellatio with biting.

Aside from the boxer, and his moustached/ balding trainer, there is one other character who keeps appearing throughout the film- a grey pig-faced/ demon figure, in a rope bondage dress, with her breasts uncovered.

The film is mostly soundtracked by a mix of clanking ‘n’ bashing industrial fare, searing tone sustain, and jarring noise tone moments. 

I’d say I’m a seasoned extreme horror fan, but during Visceral: Between the Ropes of Madness, I found myself flinching and even wanted to look away on a few occasions. Yes, the main/ primal focus is brutality /intensity- but there is some shape/ form to the whole thing, with undercurrents of very toxic masculinity, hopes and fears, and what insanity might look like.

On the extra side, we get a commentary track from Felipe Eluti- this is in Spanish with English subtitles, and it’s a decent director's track. He starts off by letting us know that the quote that opens the film is from a serial killer. He talks about how he was twenty-eight in the opening scene, and that he’s now forty-two.  He discusses how the opening credits were inspired by Tetsuo: The Iron Man- chuckling, saying the film was always going to a transgressive. He discusses the time shifts/ his appearance changes throughout the picture.  We find he studied film, but not acting, though he had discussions with actors. He talks about how violence is created in a very realistic manner- so much so, that some people questioned whether it was a snuff film- he confirms it’s all effects. He points out/briefly talks about locations, and we find out he had no film permits. We find out that the main location was his living room, which he ruined, having to repaint & mop many times. Later on, he talks about how the character's eyes say so much in the film. He discusses the use of off-angle shooting and low ceilings to create discomfort, and we find out the effects were created by three people.

Otherwise, we get a three-minute footage from the film's premiere, an image gallery, and a trailer.

Visceral: Between the Ropes of Madness truly is a nasty & unforgiving gut punch of a film, which needs to be approached with caution, and strong nerves. It’s great to see Unearthed getting back to hardcore cinematic extremity, after a few tamer releases of late.