Torture porn  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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American exploitation, gorno, splatter film, gore

In 2000s cinema, there has been a resurgence of films influenced by the splatter genre that depict nudity, torture, mutilation and sadism, sometimes disparagingly labeled "torture porn" by critics. The Eli Roth film, Hostel (2005), was the first to be called "torture porn" by critic David Edelstein in January 2006, but the classification has been applied to Saw (2004) and its sequels, The Devil's Rejects (2005), Wolf Creek (2005), and the earlier films Baise-moi (2000), and Ichi the Killer (2001). Edelstein also included Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004) in with the genre, due to its explicit scenes. A difference between this group of films and earlier splatter films is that they are often mainstream Hollywood films that receive a wide release and have comparatively high production values. The 2002 horror film FeardotCom has also been listed as an example of torture porn.