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The wildly grotesque erotica of Japanese manga legend Suehiro Maruo
05.05.2017
11:14 am
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A rather tame example of the work of Japanese artist Suehiro Maruo.
 
Japanese artist Suehiro Maruo has been an active member of the art community in Japan since he was a high school student. At the young age of fifteen, he left school and moved from Nagasaki to Tokyo where he found work as a bookbinder. He would later attempt to get his artwork published in the hugely popular weekly manga magazine Shōnen Jump but was rejected because his work was considered too graphic. Unfettered, Maruo would follow his instincts and in 1980 would finally get a break with another popular manga magazine, Ribon no Kishi which embraced the artist’s violent and often sexually charged vision. This relationship would open many doors for Maruo including a long-term partnership with celebrated alternative monthly manga, Garo. Maruo’s illustrations and paintings have had a deep impact on the world and his work has been translated into many languages from English to Russian. Though I’m a huge fan myself, it’s safe to say that Maruo’s work appeals to a fairly specific audience as the title of this post quite plainly suggests.

Maruo’s style falls under a couple of classifications in the world of Japanese art;  “Muzan-e” that when translated means “Bloody Prints” which is the traditional Japanese art of carving gruesome images onto wood blocks as originally conceived during the Edo period. Another category that applies to Maruo’s work is the term “ero guro” or “erotic grotesque” which should be self-explanatory. I dug through Maruo’s Tumblr (which is quite addicting) and came across some screen shots of an interview he did where he was discussing what drives him to create, noting that he was actually quite “sensitive” but that his sensitivity wasn’t “unshakable.”

“I tend to create expressions that get stronger and stronger and more grotesque. It’s actually just one of my fantasies. Pleasure and pain are subjects I’m particularly interested in.”

Maruo has a rather strong worldwide cult following—connoisseurs of his special brand of diabolical, blood-soaked Japanese erotica are everywhere and his work has been compiled in books, as well as other various publications such as graphic novels and comics. Maruo also makes an appearance in the documentary film Sex in the Comix along with two other influential illustrators you may have heard of, Robert Crumb and German artist Ralf König. If you’re a fan of the band Naked City—the spasmodically awesome ensemble featuring John Zorn and the talented Bill Frisell—then you may already have some of Maruo’s artwork in your record collection as his work is featured on a few of the band’s releases from the 1990s. Included below are images from Maruo’s collaboration with Naked City as well as selections from his catalog which are completely NSFW.
 

 

 
Much more Maruo after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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05.05.2017
11:14 am
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‘Pieces’: The king daddy of ‘80s chainsaw splatter films returns, still exactly what you think is
02.16.2016
08:53 am
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“You don’t have to go to Texas for a chainsaw massacre,” is the infamous tagline from its iconic poster art, but I think the preferred, more succinct Pieces tagline comes below the poster’s fold: “It’s exactly what you think it is.”

There was no question in 1982 when people saw that poster hanging in a theater lobby or saw the trailer as to what they were getting. It was, as advertised, exactly what they thought it was. Citizen Kane it t’weren’t.

While I missed that original theatrical run, I did get to see Pieces in 1985 on the original Vestron Video VHS release of the film. As a young gorehound, it quickly became one of my favorite movies in the splatter genre. What it lacked in pretty much every single aspect of filmcraft, it more than made up for in buckets of blood and grue. The special effects set-pieces, the life’s blood, if you will, of any great slasher film, were so over-the-top for the time period that Pieces became a heralded masterpiece among the Fangoria-subscription crowd.
 

Original Vestron VHS box art
 
The film begins in the 1940s with a small child being scolded by his domineering mother who catches him putting together a pornographic jigsaw puzzle. The child, angry at having his puzzle taken away, returns with an axe and hacks his mother to bits. Everything then flashes forward to the 1980s where horny students on a college campus start getting butchered in various ways—mostly by chainsaw—by a mysterious killer who is saving pieces of the victims to construct a human jigsaw puzzle.The premise itself is so absolutely retarded, the movie can’t fail.
 

 
As I got older, I began to appreciate Pieces for being more than just a gore flick. It became more and more apparent to me upon subsequent viewings and shares with friends that the film, in spite of, or because of, its many flaws is highly entertaining. At times it’s riotously funny. There are certain scenes that come to mind for myself, but any fan of the film would likely name the same scenes—possibly quoting them verbatim. There are scenes in Pieces that, perhaps because of the ESL problems of a Spanish production, or because of simple low-budget ineptitude, are unintentionally hilarious. There’s of course the “smoking pot and fucking on a waterbed” scene, and Lynda Day George’s infamous “BASTARD!” scene:
 
More ‘Pieces’ after the jump…

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Posted by Christopher Bickel
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02.16.2016
08:53 am
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Blood Freak! The ultimate Thanksgiving gore film (and a true Golden Turkey!)
11.27.2014
02:57 pm
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For those of you true seekers out there, here is the ultimate Thanksgiving film on so many levels. First thank the universe this was even made, wasn’t burned or left in a dumpster like so many other small weird films and is waiting for you to devour it. From my buddies Something Weird Video, here is the perfect rundown on this, the world’s only marijuana-addict-turkey-monster-anti-drug-pro-Jesus-gore film!
 

For those that think they’ve seen everything comes Blood Freak, a rampaging turkey monster on a marijuana high!

Finding himself sandwiched between Bible-thumping good-girl Angel and her bad-girl sister Ann, a muscle bound biker named Herschell (Steve Hawkes, star of two obscure Tarzan films) falls under Ann’s seductive spell when she offers him some weed. Quickly becoming a writhing, spastic addict - “I have a feeling I’m hooked!” - the big galoot then gets a job at a turkey farm where he’s fed meat treated with an experimental drug and, like any junkie who eats tainted turkey meat, turns into a man with a giant turkey head. Yes, A Man With A Giant Turkey Head. Who also gobbles like a big dumb bird.

Still hungry for a fix, Herschell-the-Turkey-Man proceeds to attack fellow drug addicts whose blood he drinks with his pointy little turkey beak. In one magical moment, he even buzz-saws the leg off a pusher who holds his stump and howls for what seems like days. All of which is punctuated by philosophical pondering by co-director Brad Grinter (Flesh Feast) before two potheads with a machete decide to go on their version of a turkey shoot…

Wow. A monster movie quite unlike any other, Blood Freak is a jaw-dropping almost legendary milestone in crackpot filmmaking, and the ultimate cinematic turkey. Gobble-gobble!

To top it off there is a narrator who reads from a page on his desk, chain smokes while babbling about the dangers of ingesting chemicals, and at one point has a coughing fit ON SCREEN! This came out on video in the 80’s and it is one of a very small handful of films that still make my head spin.

For those of you who just want a quick dabble, here’s the trailer:
 

 
And for the tried and true freaks here is the complete film (with a silly three minute intro by a non-scary horror host)! Happy Thanksgiving!
 

Posted by Howie Pyro
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11.27.2014
02:57 pm
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