I had really high hopes for this film after hearing so many rave reviews of it being dark and disturbing. The poor acting, effects and just overall quality really degraded any feeling or story this film was trying to convey. I found myself wanting to fast forward through the horribly slow and uninteresting dialogue between characters and then the "disturbing" bits was essentially porn with some dribbles of fake blood here and there.
8 Reviews
Nowhere near as extreme or intense as it's hyped up to be
JohnFilmfreak18 April 2021
There's real sex scenes and a tiny bit of blood, but nothing too bad at all. If you ever watched porn before, this film will not shock you.
And secondly, the film is very, very, very gay. It's basically gay fetish porn, so if watching close-ups of guys having sex is not your thing, then you're going to be looking at your watch for most of the time. Because about 1/3 of the film is actually close-ups of men masturbating. I'm not even joking. The film rarely goes 2 minutes without showing some guy wanking. It could probably be turned into a fun drinking game, if you are so inclined.
And thirdly, more important, the amateurish level of filmmaking is really distracting from the story. The editing, camera angles, lighting, and most of all audio quality is worse than what you would get just by using a mid-range mobile phone. For most of the dialogue (and there's a lot of it that goes on and on and on and on) you're going to be asking yourself "What did he just say" because it's drowned out by ambient noise.
The director clearly had a pretty good vision for the story and I found it quite fascinating to get insight into the dark underworld of gay fetish clubs that I know very little about. But sadly, the lack of basic filmmaking skills makes the whole thing terrible in all the wrong ways and rather boring.
And secondly, the film is very, very, very gay. It's basically gay fetish porn, so if watching close-ups of guys having sex is not your thing, then you're going to be looking at your watch for most of the time. Because about 1/3 of the film is actually close-ups of men masturbating. I'm not even joking. The film rarely goes 2 minutes without showing some guy wanking. It could probably be turned into a fun drinking game, if you are so inclined.
And thirdly, more important, the amateurish level of filmmaking is really distracting from the story. The editing, camera angles, lighting, and most of all audio quality is worse than what you would get just by using a mid-range mobile phone. For most of the dialogue (and there's a lot of it that goes on and on and on and on) you're going to be asking yourself "What did he just say" because it's drowned out by ambient noise.
The director clearly had a pretty good vision for the story and I found it quite fascinating to get insight into the dark underworld of gay fetish clubs that I know very little about. But sadly, the lack of basic filmmaking skills makes the whole thing terrible in all the wrong ways and rather boring.
Dark Film of Body Horror and Trauma
Reviews_of_the_Dead19 November 2019
The film that ended the longest night of 2019's Nightmares Film Festival and was the world premiere of it as well. I knew from my experience in the year before, the 2am showing was going to be trippy and weird. This did not disappoint. I actually was sitting in the same row as the writer/director Scott Philip Goergens as well as the star Brooke Berry. The synopsis is a psycho-sexual body horror which follows Francis Bacon (Berry), a very disturbed man with an obsession for pain and sex.
We start this with some graphic images of Timothy O'Rork, wrapped in chains and masturbating. At the point of climax, the semen falls on to someone who is being stood on by O'Rork, who is known as Demon.
It then shifts to the present. Francis gets a call to come over and that leads him to Dorothea (Ryoko H.). They have an agreement which is him receiving anal sex from a woman with a strap-on. Things take a turn though when he pulls out a knife, causing Dorothea to freak out.
Francis is into pain when it comes to the pleasure that he's seeking. He frequents bars where for the most part, he ignores the advances of others as he knows they can't give what he's looking for. We see this happen when he rapes another man that takes him home, humiliating him and proving he wasn't ready.
That is until he encounters Hans (Jamee Nicholson). Their conversation doesn't start off smooth, but it seems that Hans is part of a secret club where you can pretty much find any type of pleasure you're looking for. This intrigues Francis and he joins him there. He already was on the path to dark, sexual things, but this takes him even farther into a nightmare that involves pain, pleasure, hallucinations and extreme forms of sex.
This is actually another one that is hard to recap as the story itself doesn't have the most layers, but there's quite a bit of symbolism and social commentary here. I was completely exhausted and a bit delusional when the star asked me if I liked it. At the time, I needed to go to sleep and reflect on it, but to be honest, now that I have, I did like this in a sick kind of way.
I won't drop spoilers here, but I do want to unwrap some of what I saw. The first thing is that it makes sense why Francis is the way he is in the movie. He was graphically abused in a way that involved pleasure at a younger age and it damaged him. There's a reveal in the credits that when I saw it, it floored me and also makes a ton of sense. We keep seeing images of Demon throughout this film and near the end, we see his chains coming off him. I took this as Francis has finally found what he's looking for so he's freeing himself.
We get to see a lot of extreme sexual acts in this as well. I personally am only slightly into this for myself, but no where near the extremes we see here. I did like that Francis takes someone who thinks they are and then humiliates them to prove a point. When he gets into the club though, he feels at home. We even see that once he's down this path, he needs more of it and more extremes, which includes sticking needles underneath his scrotum and breaking them off. It was pretty wild and made me cringe.
Not to derail this, but I should probably shift to the effects since I'm starting down it. Two friends that I hung out with at the festival asked me my thoughts on this one. I told them that I didn't really know what I thought at the time, but I could say was that the effects looked so real that I thought some of them might be. I saw that Georgens actually found people who were into more extreme sexual acts in real life and casted them. I do wonder how much of what we saw was real and wasn't. I have to commend him if your effects are that good. The film also has a grainy look to it which just makes it feel that much more real so I give him a lot of credit for that.
I want to move this to the pacing of the film, which has a run time of 95 minutes. That's a good runtime as I don't know how much more I could've taken that night. It really doesn't waste any time in establishing things. We get graphic images to start, we establish his lifestyle and then it starts down the dark path. Something else was the movie likes to linger longer than it should on conversations which made me feel comfortable. With how graphic it gets, I think that was on purpose so I give credit for that. I did like how this ended as well, since it was fitting for how bleak this is overall.
Moving next to the acting, I have to give a lot of credit to Berry. They did an excellent job in this role and really put everything out there. I don't want to be insensitive so if you end up reading this I apologize, but in the film they're portraying a man where I think now they're transgender. I'm sorry if I'm coming off ignorant since I was too exhausted that night to pick your brain. Regardless, I thought the performance was one of the best in all the films I saw at the festival. Nicholson and Ryoko were both really good in support as were the rest of cast, they rounded out for what the film needed.
The last thing to cover would be the soundtrack. I thought it was perfect if I'm going to be honest and one of the best that I heard. It really helped to create such an eerie vibe for this film which worked. I'd be honest that I would actually seek this out to add to my collection of music I write to.
Now with that said, this is not a movie for everyone. It is such a sad and haunting tale of how abuse can affect someone for the rest of their lives. It is an amazing performance from Berry. There's not a lot to the story, but there's some deeper issues underneath what we are seeing for sure. The effects in this are amazing to the point where I questioned what was real and what wasn't. I also like the grainy look which helps to create even more sense of realism. I think the pacing is fine, it does a great job at building tension and making me cringe with a bleak ending. The soundtrack was also really good and fit for what was needed. Overall I'd say this is a good film, but it's not for everyone. Definitely be prepared for how graphic is this, but if you can handle that, there's a sad and dark tale here for sure.
We start this with some graphic images of Timothy O'Rork, wrapped in chains and masturbating. At the point of climax, the semen falls on to someone who is being stood on by O'Rork, who is known as Demon.
It then shifts to the present. Francis gets a call to come over and that leads him to Dorothea (Ryoko H.). They have an agreement which is him receiving anal sex from a woman with a strap-on. Things take a turn though when he pulls out a knife, causing Dorothea to freak out.
Francis is into pain when it comes to the pleasure that he's seeking. He frequents bars where for the most part, he ignores the advances of others as he knows they can't give what he's looking for. We see this happen when he rapes another man that takes him home, humiliating him and proving he wasn't ready.
That is until he encounters Hans (Jamee Nicholson). Their conversation doesn't start off smooth, but it seems that Hans is part of a secret club where you can pretty much find any type of pleasure you're looking for. This intrigues Francis and he joins him there. He already was on the path to dark, sexual things, but this takes him even farther into a nightmare that involves pain, pleasure, hallucinations and extreme forms of sex.
This is actually another one that is hard to recap as the story itself doesn't have the most layers, but there's quite a bit of symbolism and social commentary here. I was completely exhausted and a bit delusional when the star asked me if I liked it. At the time, I needed to go to sleep and reflect on it, but to be honest, now that I have, I did like this in a sick kind of way.
I won't drop spoilers here, but I do want to unwrap some of what I saw. The first thing is that it makes sense why Francis is the way he is in the movie. He was graphically abused in a way that involved pleasure at a younger age and it damaged him. There's a reveal in the credits that when I saw it, it floored me and also makes a ton of sense. We keep seeing images of Demon throughout this film and near the end, we see his chains coming off him. I took this as Francis has finally found what he's looking for so he's freeing himself.
We get to see a lot of extreme sexual acts in this as well. I personally am only slightly into this for myself, but no where near the extremes we see here. I did like that Francis takes someone who thinks they are and then humiliates them to prove a point. When he gets into the club though, he feels at home. We even see that once he's down this path, he needs more of it and more extremes, which includes sticking needles underneath his scrotum and breaking them off. It was pretty wild and made me cringe.
Not to derail this, but I should probably shift to the effects since I'm starting down it. Two friends that I hung out with at the festival asked me my thoughts on this one. I told them that I didn't really know what I thought at the time, but I could say was that the effects looked so real that I thought some of them might be. I saw that Georgens actually found people who were into more extreme sexual acts in real life and casted them. I do wonder how much of what we saw was real and wasn't. I have to commend him if your effects are that good. The film also has a grainy look to it which just makes it feel that much more real so I give him a lot of credit for that.
I want to move this to the pacing of the film, which has a run time of 95 minutes. That's a good runtime as I don't know how much more I could've taken that night. It really doesn't waste any time in establishing things. We get graphic images to start, we establish his lifestyle and then it starts down the dark path. Something else was the movie likes to linger longer than it should on conversations which made me feel comfortable. With how graphic it gets, I think that was on purpose so I give credit for that. I did like how this ended as well, since it was fitting for how bleak this is overall.
Moving next to the acting, I have to give a lot of credit to Berry. They did an excellent job in this role and really put everything out there. I don't want to be insensitive so if you end up reading this I apologize, but in the film they're portraying a man where I think now they're transgender. I'm sorry if I'm coming off ignorant since I was too exhausted that night to pick your brain. Regardless, I thought the performance was one of the best in all the films I saw at the festival. Nicholson and Ryoko were both really good in support as were the rest of cast, they rounded out for what the film needed.
The last thing to cover would be the soundtrack. I thought it was perfect if I'm going to be honest and one of the best that I heard. It really helped to create such an eerie vibe for this film which worked. I'd be honest that I would actually seek this out to add to my collection of music I write to.
Now with that said, this is not a movie for everyone. It is such a sad and haunting tale of how abuse can affect someone for the rest of their lives. It is an amazing performance from Berry. There's not a lot to the story, but there's some deeper issues underneath what we are seeing for sure. The effects in this are amazing to the point where I questioned what was real and what wasn't. I also like the grainy look which helps to create even more sense of realism. I think the pacing is fine, it does a great job at building tension and making me cringe with a bleak ending. The soundtrack was also really good and fit for what was needed. Overall I'd say this is a good film, but it's not for everyone. Definitely be prepared for how graphic is this, but if you can handle that, there's a sad and dark tale here for sure.
My favorite indie horror film of the last 10 years
davidgreen981726 March 2022
Truthfully a masterpiece of independent filmmaking. The cinematography, acting, writing, and soundtrack are absolutely fantastic. Brooke Berry really threw himself into a very physically demanding role and embraced the character fully. An excellent and fascinating look into a man's descent into a hellish new reality through sex and violence. Highly recommended.
Amazingly dark debut!
Scarybear3118 April 2021
I watch A LOT of what most would consider extreme horror, and one of my biggest complaint it that they focus on the gore. Ignoring that either the actors suck or there isn't really a story to support the extreme gore. 29 Needles fixes this problem. Not only is the gore on point, but the story is well written and the cast is awesome! This is one body horror movie that isn't gross for gross sake. It actually has a purpose and meaning behind it. This is the directors/writers first film.....I can't wait for the next one!
A beautiful nightmare of pleasure and pain
miserythesexorcist29 April 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The film in this review contains extreme and graphic subject matter as well as spoilers and as such may not be for everyone, be forewarned.
Do you know what "CBT" is? If the answer to that question is "no" this film is not for you. Or perhaps deep down inside you do know what it is but have inner Demons you would rather keep inside? 29Needles will open your mind to sating those inner sexual Demons and perhaps even embracing them.
The film begins with the protagonist, Francis, having a rough sexual encounter with a rather grungy man, whom is covered in hair and sweat, with a steel chain wrapped around his form and in between his teeth, biting down on said chain hard enough to bleed. This encounter will stick in Francis' mind for his entire life, seemingly the seed which grows his sexual desires into the painful and often violent nature it is today. A life filled with constant sexually fueled nightmares, scenes which inspire a drive for more extreme encounters. Witnessing the evolution of Francis' desires is both frightening and enticing, due in no small part to the amazing performance by Brooke Berry. Her use of facial expressions to convey everything from disappointment, fear, repulsion, inspiration, excitement is masterfully done. Every action taken by Francis feels real, the pain of breaking needles off in one's scrotum appears authentic, so authentic that it makes one wince each time you hear the needle break.
In the beginning, Francis' journey seems somewhat normal, perhaps extreme to prudish folks but nothing shocking. A three way which ends abruptly as Francis shows his desire for pain sets up Francis' frustration with his sexuality, and an inability to recapture the sheer pleasure he experienced in his youth with the chained man. We find Francis' at home frustrated, eyeing a set of medical needles on his table. At this point we begin to see the extremes he will go to in order to feel better. As the needle pierces scrotal flesh, you can sense the weight of the judgmental world fading from Francis' shoulders. In the background we see masked figures observing from a distance, ones Demons enjoying their hosts perversions it seems. The figures appear both frightening yet familiar, almost comforting in an odd way.
In another scene, as Francis relaxes at a bar he often frequents, a man continues to eyeball him. The man approaches Francis', much to Francis' disapproval. This man ignores Francis' obvious disinterest, and seeks to have fun with the man "who likes it rough". This man will quickly find out that the saying "be careful what you wish for" rings dreadfully true as Francis' does indeed enjoy things rough, but one person's rough is another's nightmare. A boring bj leads to Francis demanding to have his genitalia bitten, which it reluctantly is. This leads to a rough session of belt whippings, hitting, mouth pounding and overall beating. In the end, Francis still seems unsatisfied, almost as if this was merely a lesson being taught to a man who didn't know what he wanted, a man pushing others for something he never truly understood.
Soon after, our protagonist is approached by a young man named Hans with promises of a place where anything goes, a place where Francis can feel accepted, a place that seems too good to be true. After a bit of a back and forth, Francis seems intrigued and accepts the man's invitation. Once we find ourselves at this nameless club, hidden away in an unassuming rundown building, we see a world of sexual freedom and extremes, just the place Francis' inner demons can feast at. Naked bodies quivering with pain and pleasure, bodily fluids flowing freely, dog crates, and much more. It is here that Francis finds a man willing to bleed, a man cutting his own chest for Francis to drink of his warm blood. Though that is only the beginning of the fun. Let's just let this be a surprise for you. At the end of the night, we see a Happy Francis show his appreciation to Hans with a kiss to the cheek, a very different side of Francis that had yet to show itself. This night only serves to embolden his inner Demons though, and they are not yet sated. Soon Francis begins to see things which are not there, his nightmares also becoming more extreme. These dreams must become reality for Francis, and they do in a very grotesque way. An emboldened Francis finds himself attempting to enact his will on the young woman from the threesome at the beginning of the film, an attempt which is unsuccessful. The world outside of the extreme club is as boring and vanilla as it always was. The extremes that Francis will go to increase in intensity, from soundings gone very south, blades in the rectum, and much more. Will anything be enough for Francis? Or will these extremes only keep intensifying?
The artful nature of the cinematography truly highlights the heart of the film. Francis' journey is masterfully shown, everything about it seems real, as if this were less a movie and more a documentary following a man on his path of sexual destruction. The special effects are more realistic than most big budget films, and that says a lot about the skill and heart that went into this masterpiece. Everything from severed fingers to slimy male genitalia worms, to goopy brown tree slime, look as real as can be. I had a very hard time telling if Brooke had actually put those surgical needles in her scrotum! I'm still unsure actually, and that is a shining example of the high quality of the SFX. Speaking of Brooke, this movie would not have been the same without her, truly a Diamond in the film industry that will forever be missed.
To wrap this up, 29Needles is a graphic, perverse, grotesque, often disturbing and frightening film while at the same time being one of the most thought provoking, a film that will have many people turning it off very early on. I would advise that you fight through if you find yourself wanting to turn it off, you will never have another experience quite like this. It is not for everyone, the phrase "too extreme for mainstream" is very fitting. Those who can muster the willpower to last to the end will find themselves glad they did, likely to begin questioning their own boundaries and desires, or perhaps finding a new found appreciation for said boundaries. This film has found itself not only my film of the year, but my top film of the last decade, and has nestled its way onto my top films of all-time list.
Do you know what "CBT" is? If the answer to that question is "no" this film is not for you. Or perhaps deep down inside you do know what it is but have inner Demons you would rather keep inside? 29Needles will open your mind to sating those inner sexual Demons and perhaps even embracing them.
The film begins with the protagonist, Francis, having a rough sexual encounter with a rather grungy man, whom is covered in hair and sweat, with a steel chain wrapped around his form and in between his teeth, biting down on said chain hard enough to bleed. This encounter will stick in Francis' mind for his entire life, seemingly the seed which grows his sexual desires into the painful and often violent nature it is today. A life filled with constant sexually fueled nightmares, scenes which inspire a drive for more extreme encounters. Witnessing the evolution of Francis' desires is both frightening and enticing, due in no small part to the amazing performance by Brooke Berry. Her use of facial expressions to convey everything from disappointment, fear, repulsion, inspiration, excitement is masterfully done. Every action taken by Francis feels real, the pain of breaking needles off in one's scrotum appears authentic, so authentic that it makes one wince each time you hear the needle break.
In the beginning, Francis' journey seems somewhat normal, perhaps extreme to prudish folks but nothing shocking. A three way which ends abruptly as Francis shows his desire for pain sets up Francis' frustration with his sexuality, and an inability to recapture the sheer pleasure he experienced in his youth with the chained man. We find Francis' at home frustrated, eyeing a set of medical needles on his table. At this point we begin to see the extremes he will go to in order to feel better. As the needle pierces scrotal flesh, you can sense the weight of the judgmental world fading from Francis' shoulders. In the background we see masked figures observing from a distance, ones Demons enjoying their hosts perversions it seems. The figures appear both frightening yet familiar, almost comforting in an odd way.
In another scene, as Francis relaxes at a bar he often frequents, a man continues to eyeball him. The man approaches Francis', much to Francis' disapproval. This man ignores Francis' obvious disinterest, and seeks to have fun with the man "who likes it rough". This man will quickly find out that the saying "be careful what you wish for" rings dreadfully true as Francis' does indeed enjoy things rough, but one person's rough is another's nightmare. A boring bj leads to Francis demanding to have his genitalia bitten, which it reluctantly is. This leads to a rough session of belt whippings, hitting, mouth pounding and overall beating. In the end, Francis still seems unsatisfied, almost as if this was merely a lesson being taught to a man who didn't know what he wanted, a man pushing others for something he never truly understood.
Soon after, our protagonist is approached by a young man named Hans with promises of a place where anything goes, a place where Francis can feel accepted, a place that seems too good to be true. After a bit of a back and forth, Francis seems intrigued and accepts the man's invitation. Once we find ourselves at this nameless club, hidden away in an unassuming rundown building, we see a world of sexual freedom and extremes, just the place Francis' inner demons can feast at. Naked bodies quivering with pain and pleasure, bodily fluids flowing freely, dog crates, and much more. It is here that Francis finds a man willing to bleed, a man cutting his own chest for Francis to drink of his warm blood. Though that is only the beginning of the fun. Let's just let this be a surprise for you. At the end of the night, we see a Happy Francis show his appreciation to Hans with a kiss to the cheek, a very different side of Francis that had yet to show itself. This night only serves to embolden his inner Demons though, and they are not yet sated. Soon Francis begins to see things which are not there, his nightmares also becoming more extreme. These dreams must become reality for Francis, and they do in a very grotesque way. An emboldened Francis finds himself attempting to enact his will on the young woman from the threesome at the beginning of the film, an attempt which is unsuccessful. The world outside of the extreme club is as boring and vanilla as it always was. The extremes that Francis will go to increase in intensity, from soundings gone very south, blades in the rectum, and much more. Will anything be enough for Francis? Or will these extremes only keep intensifying?
The artful nature of the cinematography truly highlights the heart of the film. Francis' journey is masterfully shown, everything about it seems real, as if this were less a movie and more a documentary following a man on his path of sexual destruction. The special effects are more realistic than most big budget films, and that says a lot about the skill and heart that went into this masterpiece. Everything from severed fingers to slimy male genitalia worms, to goopy brown tree slime, look as real as can be. I had a very hard time telling if Brooke had actually put those surgical needles in her scrotum! I'm still unsure actually, and that is a shining example of the high quality of the SFX. Speaking of Brooke, this movie would not have been the same without her, truly a Diamond in the film industry that will forever be missed.
To wrap this up, 29Needles is a graphic, perverse, grotesque, often disturbing and frightening film while at the same time being one of the most thought provoking, a film that will have many people turning it off very early on. I would advise that you fight through if you find yourself wanting to turn it off, you will never have another experience quite like this. It is not for everyone, the phrase "too extreme for mainstream" is very fitting. Those who can muster the willpower to last to the end will find themselves glad they did, likely to begin questioning their own boundaries and desires, or perhaps finding a new found appreciation for said boundaries. This film has found itself not only my film of the year, but my top film of the last decade, and has nestled its way onto my top films of all-time list.
*sick, raw, beautiful and just crazy
jaysonpalmer11 May 2021
Here is my review: fantastic!
I love abstract and thought provoking films. 29 Needles is perfect for that.
This is definitely not a movie for everyone. But for those of us into the Under belly of cinema, 29 Needles just doesn't get any better than that.
I love abstract and thought provoking films. 29 Needles is perfect for that.
This is definitely not a movie for everyone. But for those of us into the Under belly of cinema, 29 Needles just doesn't get any better than that.
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