Vile, disturbing and gritty - adjectives that don't win you many movie fans, but ones that pretty-well sum up Hurt, a rough, (in many senses) micro-budgeted shocker with a few regretful things going against it. Things other than being stripe-to-stripe objectionable, that is.

Back in 1990 a little film called Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer finally made it to our art-house theatre after crashing on the shores of the MPAA. Given an 'X' rating for 'moral tone' (try editing that out of a movie) Henry ultimately went the usually commercially disastrous 'unrated' route, made back 6-times its budget and drove up water bills as people were forced to take long after-viewing-showers in hopes of redeeming their souls. Seriously, I walked around NW Portland in a daze for a solid hour after watching Henry, unable to regain my equilibrium. Hurt is no Henry, but you can see where writer/director Scott A. Martin's head is at. Unfortunately, Hurt has a few hurdles to overcome, not all could have been helped, either, before it sleazes its way into the psyches of those sick souls such as myself who will watch it.

In haphazard fashion, Hurt introduces us to a quartet of maggots who get their kicks from directing homemade porn in which the 'stars' end up dead. Main hairball Michael reaches out to a Reality TV producer for some recognition, with inter-cutting from interview segments to snuff footage to who-knows what type of footage revealing some of Michael and gang's 'thought processes.' Hurt wisely eschews gore in favor of long takes of Michael et al setting up their fake porn scenarios with young actresses - scenes that will bore and alienate most exploitation fans due to their banality. Of course such banality is also the lynchpin of Hurt's success: these guys are your everyday American idiots, undereducated, criminally self-centered and unimaginative. There are no Saw-style traps, no Lindsey Lohan in peril dramatic tics, just angry drunken hicks who make the quick mental leap: "hell, we's f***in' her in the basement, let's kill 'er, too!" And that's what they do, repeatedly. As they go on, they get more into their personas as porn auteurs, but the stark realism of their awful, thoughts-free activities makes their cruelty that much more angering and believable.

On the other hand, when is watching cruel idiots - with half-formed, barely understood senses of entitlement - screwing and killing women on poorly filmed video considered entertainment? These things are obstacles Hurt might not be able to overcome in finding an audience. Coming two years too late to ride the 'torture porn' wave, Hurt by default loses most of its potential viewer-ship. Those who venture anyway might be turned off by its crushing veracity. Part of what makes movies like this bearable is the fact that you can discern the art and artifice. Some moments of skilled camerawork lift the veil on the cinema-verite (or vur-tay as the kill-crew says) aesthetic, but mostly it's just guys who barely seem to know how to operate a camera, poor lighting and other earmarks of your second cousin's handiwork - too real. Another problem is the bloated running time, which could be a plus/minus situation. The movie is too long, seems padded, and becomes aggravating, which raises uncomfortable questions of audience/director intent.

Hurt is not a masterpiece, but it earns a slot on the shelf with films of similar reprehensible ilk (Last House on Dead End Street etc.). Missing all the things you look for in a major horror release, (slick footage, top-notch acting and a moral center for instance) Hurt earns its bloody stripes through an unflinching, unapologetic look at pointless cruelty, and there isn't even any gore. Even though it missed the torture boat, Hurt still has a point to make. You men and boys out there, think about how much the Internet has influenced the commoditization of the body - to such a point that thousands upon thousands of girls and women are literally gagging through sex acts, ostensibly for your pleasure. And all of this is a supposedly rightful click away, all day and all night. In rough fashion Hurt shows us that callous disregard for life and dignity is ingrained, and right at our fingertips.

The DVD

Video:
Hurt might hurt your eyes in its fullscreen 1.33:1 ratio. It's comprised of various bits of handheld and static digital/analog video, edited together in clever fashion. Despite the time-bending, interwoven threads, it looks like what it is; grotty, low-budget video work. Using an HDTV monitor might hamper your viewing experience; better to watch this on the old RCA in your basement.

Sound:
No claims are made as to audio processing on the package. It sounds as if the source audio is from built-in microphones on the cameras, (again, this ups the authenticity) resulting in sometimes hard-to-hear dialog. Plenty of music is on the soundtrack too, including lots of cover songs that may or may not be cleared for usage, but who cares? The music is clear and used judiciously to enhance the mood of random evil.

Extras:
Redemption video is responsible for putting us in a world of Hurt, but I'm still not sure if A) There's even room for another exploitation DVD house, as the pickings are getting slim, and B) If Redemption has what it takes to pack the releases with extras. Trailers for two other Redemption releases, and the Original Trailer for Hurt join with a Stills Gallery (about two-dozen stills from the feature) that renders said stills pretty small amongst the layout. So far, not so good. A Blood & Dishonour Book Teaser grants three super small pages from a book about vampire Goth chicks, not my cup of tea, but not much of a teaser to sway me, either. At least there is a Director's Commentary Track by Scott Martin, who also wrote and stars in the film. Martin gets points for honesty in his first commentary track, but it's a bit of a wash. Silences abound, and a good chunk of time is spent on details of little import; whose basement is this? Whose weird shack in the woods? And why is the commentary track so far out of sync with the action? Martin even notes at one point that the things he's saying aren't interesting to most people. But give him points for trying.

Final Thoughts:
Arriving well after most 'torture porn' audiences have escaped the theaters, Hurt sadly misses its mark with an ultra-rough (production-wise) but uncompromising look at detached depravity 21st-Century Style. Things that make a horror movie good, like skilled acting and additional oversight are lacking, meaning Hurt is overlong and injurious to most viewers. But if it's a starkly real and banal look at what your meat-bag chauvinist neighbor might be doing in his cellar on the weekend, you'll get a numbing and unpleasant eyeful, without the stomach-churning gore that ratchets up the prurience level. Hurt is modern, heartless evil for an Internet-addled world out-of-touch with human compassion. Non-bandwagon-riding sleaze heads might want to Rent It if they want a depressing dose of hopelessness.

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