True Gore (1987)

Simply Perfect

Please don't spend money on this.

From my favorite movies..

Fresh and Exciting

If you thought that Faces Of Death (1978)was the real stuff then try to catch this sickening tape. I found one copy on the Nostradamus label, very obscure to catch. I can't say that much of this documentary except that it isn't made like Faces Of Death. The music will be annoying for some, sounds like old school industrial music. There is even a gig to see from Factrix where death animals are used to make sound. It goes much further than Einsturzende Neubauten.Maybe for some it will be shocking but there is much more like animal cruelty. One pig is burned alive and a cat's skull is opened to remove a bit of brain to make it a zombie (Jeffrey Dahmer anyone?). The boring part is where Jim Jones (leader of the "Peoples Temple")is giving his last speech before his hundreds followers committed suicide. Some parts are boring and I guess fake like the interview with a so-called vampire. A lot of real corpses are shown and a suicide (fake or not) and the result after a failed suicide. paintings from the black death are shown and the atrocity told concerning that which moves further to the new plague, AIDS. Back then it was a new and strange disease. Not for the squeamish, this is in fact true goreGore 5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 0/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

I believe, that almost everyone of those who've heard something about Monte Cazazza, also have heard about his crazy antics and his sick and strange sense of humour, as many would say. For example a story of "cement waterfall" in the college of arts and crafts, where Monte created a cement waterfall that permanently disabled the main stairway of the building, or a story of "skylab crash" in 1979 (when American space station "skylab" was going to crash), where Cazazza and Genesis P. Orridge was digging a huge pit all day long for a three days, so it would look like "skylab" have crashed in Cazazza's back yard. And it's just a few of a many Cazazza's pranks, so from the beginning of this movie I knew that I will see some of Monte's pranks here as well.If you saw one of the many shockumentaries, which was gaining popularity back in the late 80's, then you basically know the content of these movies. "True Gore" is a bit different and as Cazazza said in one of his interview, where he talked about the video screening of "True Gore" - "it's much better than the "Faces Of Death". Of course you'll see here injuries and deaths - some are real, some are faked. There is one suicide attempt moment in this movie, where the man tried to kill himself with a shotgun. He shot himself, but somehow, by the miracle, doctors saved his life. We see a photo of this man right after the accident - a mess that reminds that it was a face before, and after we see how this man have to live with his "re-constructed" face. Also you'll hear an audio recording of the last speech of Jim Jones (the founder and leader of the "Peoples Temple", which more than 900 members committed suicide in the November 18, 1978). Maybe it's not so rare, because there was a segment with the last speech of Jim Jones at TOPY's "First Transmission" before and even the picture disc LP with this speech was released in 1983 by Jordi Valls (aka Vagina Dentata Organ) and have provoked outrage on a number of occasions, but anyway it's pretty rare material.As I said before - "True Gore" is a bit different from other shockumentaries. Except death-based themes, we can see for example an extracts from Cazazza's short movie "SXXX-80" or extracts from the live performance of Cazazza and band "Factrix" video called "Night Of The Succubus". There is even a Cazazza's video clip in this movie (you can find the one on youtube by the way). Talking about Monte's pranks that I've mentioned before - I've liked the faked interview with an anonymous female necrophile played by Debra Valentine, and an anonymous serial killer played by Cole Palme. I've remembered the intro ("psychiatric" review) from the CD "The Worst Of Monte Cazazza" - it has the same goal - everything has to be serious. The interviews with these two "psychos" in this movie is like a real ones. It was shot in one take, actors was reading from the script and despite the fact, that it wasn't real, Cazazza created a very eerie atmosphere during all "interview". Brilliant work Monte!So, what can I say? "True Gore" is pretty entertaining piece in my opinion. Maybe because it's rare, maybe because it was created by Cazazza and Co., but it has something different, that most of other shockumentaries doesn't have and you just don't feel like watching them again after you watched it once, but "True Gore" is a bit different. Cazazza is listed in this movie as "creative consultant", but he is the main man responsible for this movie. So take a look at it if you'll get a chance.There are 3 versions of this movie by the way (2 English and 1 Japanese). They are a bit different. The first (original) English version is uncut and it is basically the same as Japanese, but in English and isn't censored. The second English version was officially released on VHS by "Wavelenght Video". For some reasons several scenes from the original were cut and instead of them few alternating scenes were added from "Empire of Madness" aka "True Gore 2". Actually "True Gore" came out in Japan first, while the film makers was fighting with the distributors in US. All versions are hard to find. The original uncut English version is the rarest, since it was never officially released. Anyway, it's easier to track down the Japanese version (some people even thought that Japanese release was the only film version existed!).