Irreversible (2002)
Review by Sam O'beirn

I have been watching horror movies ever since I was 5 years old. From the Saturday afternoon creature features on channel 4 out of Chicago, to watching Cujo, and Jaws with my father when my mother wasn’t looking. I grew up watching hammer horror and troma classics on “Commander USA’s Groovy Movies”, with the aid of a dish when I lived out in the middle of nowhere. When I was 11 I watched my first Nightmare on elm street movie (Dream Warriors if you need to know), and watched my first Argento film when I was 12. I KNOW grue. I’ve grown up with horror and violence. I watched the Faces of Death tapes with a friend while drinking beer and eating pizza. I was hardcore, and nothing could phase me. Then I watched Irreversible. Released in France in 2002, and almost instantly banned in most countries in the European Union shortly thereafter, Irreversible tells us the tale of one day in the life of a French couple who are very much in love. Filmed in much the same way as “Memento”, it starts at the end of the film, with two aging French men talking in a hotel room about a disturbance at a bar called “Les Que”( “The Hole”, or “The Ass”), and the film goes down hill from there. After a ride in an ambulance, and a run through a gay fetish bar, we see what may possibly be one of the most brutal beatings I’ve seen in a movie. We see punches, kicks, breaking bones and anal rape, then ending with a beating delivered with a fire extinguisher that actually made me a little ill to watch. Going back further, we discover that Marcus, played by Vincent Cassel, is seeking revenge for an attack on his girlfriend, Alex, played by Monica Bellucci. After roughing up a transsexual prostitute, he finds where the man known as “The Worm” can be found. Shoot to a party that we see Bellucci’s character leaving to walk through a tunnel under a street to get to a metro station. This walk leads to one of the most horrifying and frighteningly realistic rape scenes I’ve ever seen on film. And it just goes on. At almost 10 minutes in length, it’s almost unbearable. The movie is almost an after thought after this scene. We see shots of the couple meeting a friend and going to the party, and shots of them hopelessly in love, but it seemed just too…surreal after that. I have watched a lot of horror movies. I will be the first to admit that Rape/Revenge films are not my favorite genre, but I’m generally able to keep an open mind and able to see good things in any movie I watch. I couldn’t here. All I can do is tell you, and let you make your own choice in the matter of this film. I can’t even in good conscience rate the film. This is the only movie I actively tell people not to watch. It’s been 6 years since I saw this film, and I can still remember the screams that Monica Bellucci made during the rape, and the brutal beating that followed. 6 years and it still haunts me. Make your own choice, but don’t say I didn’t try to warn you.