Begotten

1991 "The Extraordinary First Film From The Director Of Shadow Of The Vampire"
5.6| 1h12m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 05 June 1991 Released
Producted By: Theatre Of Material
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Begotten is the creation myth brought to life, the story of no less than the violent death of God and the (re)birth of nature on a barren earth.

Genre

Fantasy, Horror

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Cast

Director

E. Elias Merhige

Production Companies

Theatre Of Material

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Begotten Audience Reviews

Karry Best movie of this year hands down!
LouHomey From my favorite movies..
Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.
Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
rahnskeptic I saw the film nearly a year ago,but I hardly remember how I came across that pretentious experimental work.I had seen some scenes from the film,but couldn't find the guts to watch the whole of it.Unless I got stoned one day... Probably everyone heard from a stoner that "you look at things from different perspectives when you are high." Well,the decision was made and I watched the entire film.Do I regret? I do. The "experimentation" consists of solely noises and blood.If you are not a fan of those things, you will keep ask yourself "but why" constantly while watching the film. I do like experimenting,but I also prefer that if it doesn't work, it should be abandoned.Not to be demonstrated as an"art-house" cinema.The guys experimented with distorted,black and white images with scary background noises.Putting aside the philosophical storyline (by the way,it is also pretentious), the cinematography simply doesn't serve any purpose.Do not waste your time!
kate fell (obsidianrose4) In a lot of reviews you will likely hear people say this film peaked in the first ten minutes or so. I don't disagree. The reason I believe this is because the imagery is the clearest during those first initial minutes. Begotten was filmed in very grainy/ blurry way that for the majority of its length it is very hard to tell what you are looking at exactly. I'm not going to lie, the movie is basically moving blurry blotches of black and white. I enjoyed the parts when my brain was able to discern anything remotely recognizable. Those images were no doubt very haunting but it wasn't enough for me at first. I saw something wrong with the whole thing. I was dissatisfied because I had expected to be relentlessly disturbed the entire time. Then it occurred to me hours after viewing that maybe I was missing the point. Watching Begotten, for me, was like stumbling in the dark, the only flashes of light you encounter reveal dreadful things that make you long for darkness again. Few movies can inspire that kind of dread and although the film was fairly boring overall there is definitely something to be said for that.
Roman James Hoffman Remember that scene from the Japanese 'Ring' when we see the cursed video footage for the first time and it's a disturbing, grainy, black and white montage of writhing bodies, ominous hooded figures standing beside the sea, and the well in the middle of the desolate forest? Well 'Begotten' is a lot like that except that it's arguably more disturbing as well as considerably longer.'Begotten' is clearly not for the masses. From the get-go the imagery is gruesome: in the opening scene we see a figure disembowelling himself with a razor, the corpse of which is molested by a female figure who impregnates herself and gives birth to a fully grown man who convulses in seemingly perpetual agony before both of them consequently suffer at the hands of different categories of ambiguous, sadistic ghouls. At the end of the film a cast of 'characters' informs us that those at the beginning were God killing Himself, Mother Earth, and Son Of Earth - Flesh On Bone…if that helps.In addition to this challenging content, another point of contention is the grainy, 'Erasrerhead'-esque black-and-white cinematography which makes the images at times so distorted that it's difficult to discern any clear outlines, which can be frustrating when you're trying to not miss anything in an attempt to fathom the impenetrable narrative! However, in endeavouring to appreciate the bold artistic ambitions of the film I forgave all of this...but the one thing which really irked me was the fact is that it is basically too long. The film clocks in at over 70 minutes and yet I genuinely think I would have appreciated it to the same level if it were half of this.Having said that, the film clearly wasn't designed with any intention of crowd-pleasing, and unrepentantly is what it is: a unique and individual film which walks amongst the best (and most thought-provoking) experimental cinema has to offer. So while you could say "take it or leave it" I really think those that choose the latter are missing something exceptional.
Marko Poljakovic This film is an attempt to shock the public and nothing else. It is not art at all,It is an idiotic desire of maker to collect all the taboo"s in one place, to give it a horrific note with weird picture and sounds, and off course that there will be high-blown hipsters in public who will claim that this is remarkable masterpiece of "art". Total loss of nerve. Go and die hipsters!! Today, all sorts of people think that they are some kind of artists, and always there is audience, no mather what kind of crap is on board. Only stupid people can watch it twice and seek for deeper meaning of it. Stupid, bad and ugly movie. That is enough about this peace of garbage, now i am writhing only to fill this lines, and that it is.