http://mubi.com/films/the-act-of-seeing-with-ones-own-eyes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_Behind_the_Sun
There was no special effects industry in China when this film was made so many of the special effects in the film were done with real cadavers which director Tun Fei Mou was able to obtain through connections of his. The frostbite experiment victim’s arms were real corpse arms and the child’s body was a real cadaver. Mou waited for a whole month to find a body the same size as the child playing the role. He was almost ready to give up when the local police called him telling him that a child had been killed in an accident. He got permission from the parents and filmed the child’s autopsy, dressing the coroners up like WWII-era Japanese doctors. The close ups of the child’s organs being removed were done by dissecting a pig.
The young woman who is subjected to the lengthy and torturous experiment involving frostbite is actually director Mou’s niece. She was the only person he could find willing to play the disturbing and physically demanding role which involved holding a pair of real corpse arms which were frozen for real in the subzero Manchurian temperatures.She nearly contacted frostbite herself filming it.
The film’s budget was only around $200,000, very low for a film of this scope and subject material. Tun Fei Mou used a variety of cost-saving techniques to get an impressive, gripping film for little money. The gore was done mostly with real body parts both human and animal lending it a spectacular sense of grotesque realism.
This is a question I actually wish I didn’t have an answer to.
Hmmm…know of nothing. The search for the Joel-Peter Witkin of cinema continues…
Wow – Men Behind the Sun sounds CRAZY!!
OROZCO THE EMBALMER
OROZCO EL EMBALSAMADOR
Japan, Colombia
2001
91 Min
Color
1.33:1
Spanish
DIR Tsurisaki Kiyotaka
SCR Tsurisaki Kiyotaka
DP Alvaro Fernandez Bonilla
CAST Froilan Orozco
ED Tsurisaki Kiyotaka, Susumu Saegusa
http://mubi.com/films/orozco-the-embalmer
Re: Men Behind the Sun…Move over SALO. There’s a new fascsploitation spectacle in town.
I’ve always been way too grossed out by descriptions of this movie to even look at stills.
Ah, Men Behind the Sun. Now there’s an example that should be followed.
All movies starring Keanu Reeves.
^ HA HA HA.
^
There is a Polthergeist in which they used real corpses or skulls
“Men Behind the Sun” is disturbing because of the true story, the relatively primitive filmmaking and acting combined with the director’s relentless seriousness, the rather damaged source material and the use of human organs. It makes for a queasy nastiness you will remember.
If you look for it, the region-free two-disc release from Japan Shock is the one to have if you can find it.
The print looks decent, about as good as it can, one supposes, and it is uncut and in 1.1:85. It is not anamorphically enchanced for DVD, so you will have to zoom it in.
The set comes with a second DVD with a documentary called “Kizu” which features interviews with the few surviving guards from Unit 731; in itself of historical importance.
http://www.japan-shock.com/menbehindthesun.html
“act of seeing with ones own eyes” stan brakhage 1971
Jake Cruickshank
I’ve seen a few that use animal body parts, and a few where they actually kill animals (like Cannibal Holocaust), but I was wondering if anyone had ever seen or heard of any movie that used cadavers instead of special effects. I’m not talking about snuff films, or Faces of Death or anything like that.