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Broken (1992)
Director: Peter Christopherson Writer: Trent Reznor Keywords: Drama, Short A twenty minute Nine Inch Nails video, shockingly grotesque.
| Name | Occupation | Birth | Death | Known for |
|---|
| Bob Flanagan |
Performance Artist |
27-Dec-1952 |
4-Jan-1996 |
Supermasochist |
| Trent Reznor |
Electronic Musician |
17-May-1965 |
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Nine Inch Nails |
REVIEWS Review by anonymous (posted on 7-Sep-2006) I first heard of Reznor's Broken film in a Rolling Stone interview. To paraphrase, he said that, along with the producer, they had set out to make the ultimate horror movie. What they made was indeed shocking cinema. The film is basically hand-held cam footage of two men meeting and going back to one's garage, where one ties up the other and tortures him in various ways, before finally eviscerating him to end the film. This handy-cam footage is intersperced every few minutes or so with a Nine Inch Nails music video from the Broken album. The scenes of torture are graphic. I haven't seen this since '92, but still vividly remember being shocked silly when the torturer cuts off his victim's penis and bathes in the blood that runs out like water from an open faucet. Thinking back, the thing that really shocked me and friends that saw the video was the striking realism of it. While there must be 'special effects', there was obviously no money put into the visual production of the handy-cam scenes, so it's fairly discomforting because you wonder several times if you're watching a snuff movie. Now, for the NIN fan, each song (save 'Help Me, I Am In Hell', if I remember correctly) from what was arguably the band's best release has a video, and they're all pretty good for their time. I think I've seen all those videos on TV, 'Net or DVD now, but I've still only ever seen the actual Broken movie for the brief while I borrowed it from my best-friend's brother... a VHS tape I may or may not have returned, or loaned-on to someone else... Thanks again, Ralph. And sorry if I didn't give that tape back to you. To summarize: Two-Stars-Out-Of-Four, and that's basically for the music videos, which I like, basically because I was a fan. The "film" itself, while meeting Reznor's lofty goal of being sickening, was far too crude to be considered anything more worth-watching than a high-school film-arts slasher flick.
Review by anonymous (posted on 28-Jan-2007) I found myself watching a rather high quality version of this film on youtube one afternoon. I wasn't prepared for what I was about to see. Take all the gore and horror movies, that may have ever made you feel the slightest bit uncomfortable and make the feeling increase X 100. This 20minute film was easily one of the most gore-filled, disturbing experiences of my life. Having said all that. There is something brilliantly artistic and real about this piece. It's no secret that the songs from Broken were written about Trent being a slave to TVT records, and if the visuals are anything like what he was feeling, it must have been a tough time for him. Im not sure wether I like this movie hence the 2 stars. Shockingly grotesque and disturbing visuals, but it suits the songs. Someone on youtube had commented "Only a sadomasochistic personality and heroin could have spawned this" which i think is an accurate way to describe the piece. Im stuck between being a fan and not liking it. IT IS a film however i recommend for any NIN fan to see
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