Senseless (2008)

Review by Adam C. Thomas



Senseless is about a man, Elliott Gast, who is kidnapped while on business in Europe and subsequently locked in a room. He is provided everything he needs for daily function: toilet paper, bottled water, the essentials. It is soon revealed that he is being held prisoner by political extremists, and his detainment is being broadcast over the internet, and for a subscription fee, people can watch what happens to him. His captors have dug up every bit of information they can about him, and have posted it on the broadcasting website, letting the visitors decide what should be done with him. Anonymity being the most powerful drug known to man, it is always decided to go ahead with the torture.

The name of the movie is derived from the techniques used to torture Elliott. He is both symbolically and literally stripped of his senses throughout the course of the movie. The torture scenes are gruesome, as any good horror movie should be. The effects in this one were outstanding. There were some truly believable effects, especially when you see him after they’ve stuck an iron to his tongue. Yeah, take a minute and let that sink in, as it only gets worse through the rest of the movie.

Well acted, well thought out, my only beef with this one is it leaned a little too close to the torture porn sub-genre that is saturating the horror market today. However, this one did it well enough that it was better than most of the shock stuff out today, and the pacing was decent as well.

I give this movie a 7 out of 10. Like I said, it’s still technically torture porn, but it does it a lot better and with much more thought than most of the garbage being spewed forth today.