Oxen Split Torture is apparently a follow up to the omnibus style torture flick Joy of Torture released in 1968. I have no idea if there are actually any links between the two films (other than content) and I'm thinking that this film is just trying to cash in on the popularity(?) of the earlier one. That sort of thing is often a recipe for a terrible film; but actually, for what it is, Oxen Split Torture is really rather good. The first film had three separate stories; this one only has two and it's a good deal shorter, but it's also much nastier. The plots of both of the stories focus on torture; I'm not going to get into the specifics of either because the plot lines are not important. What is important is the gore and while the film is not overly gory all the way through - when it does feature the red stuff, it features it heavily and some of the torture scenes really are quite shocking - a scene that sees a man have his foot literally battered away from his leg is a particular highlight in that respect. Director Yuuji Makiguchi really takes care to ensure that the gore scenes are as realistic and graphic as possible; and that is a huge positive for the film. If you want to see something cringe-worthy, don't miss this! I would even go as far as to say that Oxen Split Torture is superior to the original Joy of Torture - it might not be as classy, but it's much more violent and that's all anyone can ask for from a torture flick.
