Stuff like this makes me question if it's possible it could ever be made in America. Sure, we have David Lynch, Guy Maddin, even David Cronenberg, adding to our wonderful world of extremely disturbing for the sake of disturbing film-making, but could they go to this level? Or am I being unfair to say that this is a different level? It could be the same intent with a different approach...<br /><br />We have three segments, each "extreme" in their own way. The first, a shockingly gross-out horror film involving foetophagia (pardon me my neologism if there happens to be a real word for said consumption out there), is about all the wonder in blood and gross biological matter you can possibly compress into gut-churning madness. Too bad it doesn't really have much more to it than that, because honestly once you get over the initial "gut" reaction, there's not much more to care about... no spectacular cinematography, nothing really amazing in performances... no real reason to be a movie as opposed to a photograph, a written story, a bad tale told over candlelight. I'll just pretend it's all symbolic of the current issue over stem-cell research and leave it at that.<br /><br />The second segment, by the wonderful Park Chan-Wook of Oldboy fame, gets a little better. Our little friend Park has an eye for torture, I see, as now it involves a movie director and his wife tied to his own house-like set, a disturbed extra putting him through physical and emotional turmoil. This one has no long-winded development of psychological torture-by-hypnotism, this is straight out lose-if-you-do, lose-if-you-don't. The focus on the stage lighting and the levels of truth and deceit make it an interestingly post-modern look at spectatorship, as now these characters are forced to look at each other take up and remove their costumes in a twisted dynamic. Too bad that theme isn't really developed much more than just being there, because again, this film has a little bit less in terms of cinema. It has some neat tricks here and there, just nothing to write home about.<br /><br />The third segment, and my favorite, is from my man the amazing Takashi Miike of Ichi the Killer fame. A much more atmospheric and involving film, indeed, this is the story of a woman who dreams fitfully about her accidental murder of her twin sister at the age of ten, with a slightly more complex plot involving a circus performer and pedophilia. Mostly films that turn out to be "just a dream" are kind of disappointing, but this has something fresh to add to the group. It also has the most to offer cinematically, with real care put into editing, production design, imagery, juxtaposition, and whatever possible to embellish mood. Of all the segments, this is the most artsy and lovely, and really a good end to round up the features we've been subjected to.<br /><br />Overall, don't expect to eat comfortably after viewing this film. Not gonna work out well. I wouldn't expect the most amazing stuff awaiting you, but on the other hand if you're the type to be absolutely fascinated by the places the human mind will go, see how you handle this. The Marquis de Sade would be proud.<br /><br />--PolarisDiB