Blind Beast (1969) Yasuzo Masumura

Country: Japan| Director: Yasuzo Masumura

A blind sculpter kidnaps a beautiful young model and takes her back to his home. He and his mother live in a warehouse that he has turned into a surreal tribute to the senses. It is filled with huge sculptures of body parts and the female form. He is obsessed with exploring the senses to the fullest. At first, the model only wants to escape from this bizarre scene, but eventually she succumbs to his strange vision and even surpasses his obsession.

This film definitely is shocking, but not because of any large amount of gore or particularly brutal sex scenes. Director Yasuzo Masumura has done an amazing thing in that he's made a film that is shocking thanks to the ideas that it promotes. Naturally, there's a fair amount of nudity; but it's very soft and clearly wasn't what the director valued most when it came to making this film. There is a rather visceral sequence towards the end which is sure to get the audience cringing, but it's not the most shocking thing about the film - which again is amazing since this would have been the standout in most other movies like this. The atmosphere is surreal throughout, and this is good as it allows the director to throw in just about anything and it comes off as being believable in spite of the fact that a lot of the ideas in the film are really quite ridiculous. I always find it difficult to judge things like acting when a film is subtitled; but the lead duo are at least believable, while Yasuzo Masumura's cinematography and attention to detail is the finishing touch that makes the film what it is. Overall, Blind Beast is a bizarre oddity that verges on brilliance.