Bebe

THIS ACC GOT TERMED BUT NOW ITS BACK DONT ASK HOW IT IS BAAAAACK

I had made another acc in the mean Time so imma keep this blog as an archive and post more on the other one

omg toxic yuri

If I tell you this is a horror dance number it still won't prepare you. That last move was so terrifying even the judge was like "Let go! Let go!" If you told me they're actually possessed I'd believe you.

The music is a remix of the song Mere Dholna from the Bollywood movie Bhool Bhulaiyya, a remake of the classic Malayalam horror-comedy Manichitrathazhu. It's about a young bride that seemingly becomes possessed of Manjulika, a dancer of the ancient royal court whose tragic death has turned her into a vengeful spirit, one who evokes the wrath of the goddess Durga Kali. In the iconic scene that is repeated across remakes, the groom and his family discover his bride dancing in the dead of night in a manic, disassociative fugue, wearing a moth-eaten dancer's costume and a face smeared in kohl, ash and vermilion. She's hallucinating that she's Manjulika dancing carefree for the court with her lover. The upbeat music is deliberately incongruous with the pathos and creepiness of the scene in reality, especially as it crescendos in the bride's head to the moment when the king decapitates Manjulika's beloved in a fit of jealous rage.

This specific number is by the all-male troupe B Unique, performed for the Indian reality talent contest Hunabaarz. It's a modern fusion based on Bharatnatyam that turns up the creep factor by 200% and is basically a showcase of contortionism and synchronicity. One of the most perfectly choreographed and executed dances I have ever seen. Truly incredible!

That really depends on your own personal media landscape and what your definition of "ugly" is! As a random example, I've seen many people call ONE's art ugly because of the wobbly linework when I think it's lovely. Ugly could also mean something a bit shocking/crass in its themes. Etc, etc... I'm going to go with the definition of "something that's a bit jarring to look at or go through" here :)

Disclaimer: a lot of these tackle sensitive topics, sometimes for fun and not always tastefully. If there's themes you really can't handle in media, do your research before looking into them.

Manga

I keep recommending yes because it rules but Dorohedoro and its scratchy messy art and gore galore. talking about the manga exclusively here the anime is too polished for my taste

God's Child (Kami no Kodomo): tbh this one is for the art only I hated the writing. very gruesome & unique looking short story

I hesitate to recommend this one because it's edgy as hell but I shan't lie I had a lot of fun with Hellsing. it's "bad" in the same areas as something like berserk but unlike that one it does not take itself seriously

if you liked Tekkon i strongly suggest trying out more stuff by its author (saying this with immense biais). the most ugly/messy thing i've read of his, which isn't a lot because i find his work very delicate, is No. 5 which i would less describe as "good" than "very compelling to me". i also recommend this wonderful essay tearing it down

Comics (non JP)

FLEEP: a short story about a man who wakes up in a phone cabin seemingly encased in concrete. one of the comics i always recommend for its length and storytelling. (link leads to the artist's website where you can read it for free!)

The Astonishing Exploits Of Lucien Brindavoine: a young artist gets drafted in the first world war and goes through a series of almost supernatural adventures. beyond the adventure book aspect, a harsh criticism of nationalism/patriotism that's still awfully relevant

Animation

Ruben Brandt: Collector: a psychiatrist suffers from strange art related nightmares ruining his life. his clients, a bunch of high profile criminals, decide to help him fight off his demons by organizing one long vacation where they steal every painting involved. extremely unique visually, a fun heist movie with thriller elements.

Junk Head: goofy post apocalyptic movie about a man on a quest to save, who keeps losing sight his goal because cartoony violence episodes have his head tumble into new lows, literally. this is, perhaps, one of my favorite animated films ever, it's earnest and fun and lovingly crafted. very unique of a watch

The Apostle: freshly escaped from prison, a thief is on a mission to find treasure hidden by his old cellmate, and finds himself stuck in an ancient village who's strange looking elderly inhabitants are way too insistent on his stay. classic spooky folktale with its millennial curses and foreboding warnings, it's also a nice peek into the culture of Galicia and old world medieval weirdass catholicism. you can buy a DVD on their website

MKFZ: dumb as hell high adrenaline animated B movie with excellent animation. there's a plot about alien living undercover in fantasy california but you don't watch this kind of film for the plot. fair warning this is adapted from a french comic so of course, it's crass and racist

Blow to the Head - Lightning bolt: awesome music video (YT link)(warning for flashing/strobing lights if you're sensitive to that!)

Canon Fodder: from the Memories omnibus film. little slice of the life of a fantasy war obsessed industrial nation

with its new movie on the horizon, it's a great time to get into Mononoke, despite traditionally pretty visuals its got a unique style and gets pretty offputting

Live action cinema

7:35 in the morning: short film about the fear in improvised musical numbers where you don't expect any. it's on youtube in bad quality

The Draughtsman's Contract: an artist is hired by a Lady to draw several vistas of her house, in exchange for money, good drawing condition, and the Lady. follows a good hour of cunts in powdery wigs being awful to each other for their own gain. if you're into dark humor it's a good test, otherwise it has a really satisfying murder mystery to follow too.

Three Kings: during the gulf war, a group of US soldiers decide to steal Hussein's gold for themselves under the mighty standard of kuwait's loot repatriation. extremely caustic take on good ol murican international politics. i was shocked at how far it goes and it's express, low budget treatment which i did not expect from a hollywood film. the movie tires itself fast and becomes less good in its second half but the it's opening acts are interesting

Delicatessen: a sliver of humanity survives in an old timey stone building in the middle of nothingness on top of a functional butcher's shop. gossip follows the arrival of a new roommate. how does one even maintain a butchery in a no man's land? weird film with a unique(ly goofy) take on the post apocalyptic genre

Other

For traditional artists, I like the works of Beksinski (<3), Schiele, Giger. For modern artists Oleg Vdovenko (heavy gore warning for that one), Jeff Simpson

In order according to how disturbing they were for me; considering how they might be interpreted at face value; with theme: child/childhood, puer aeternus, if you will, innocence (the innocence - that is to say, the disinhibition - in killing or hurting, with or without specific criteria), perversion and impulse, how and what the books might or might not criticize, what systems are questioned and so on.

Trigger warnings, from all the books sparingly (mentions, descriptions and representations of [...], etc):

Taboo.

Of the sexual kind. Sexual abuse. Incest (mentioned only and only in theory, as far as I remember); perversions in childhood, acts perpetrated by children, sexual phases and behaviours of the child, negation or acceptance and consequent indulgence in hidden desires.

Cults or sects, general abuse, drug use, blood, torture (on humans, on animals), gore, body horror, violent, but surely creative, death; general cruelty (children involved), bombs, explosions, rather accurate descriptions of death by such events, etc.

Misogyny, racism, transphobia; bad representation of mental illnesses; and, of course, any kind of discrimination and trauma that might go on in a family system.

Pros of reading the books if you manage not to get triggered:

Religious citations done right

Cool

...

Spoilers.

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God's Child (Kami no Kodomo) - published by Ohta Shuppan - Story and art by Nishioka Kyōdai (Satoshi and Chiaki Nishioka siblings).

Short manga, probably the most triggering of the list, as it also contains visual elements. It might be taken as disturbing for the sake of it, and maybe it is. No morals and apparently even fewer regrets.

The narration is great, but the story in an of itself doesn't hold any sort of very special value.

However, and this is important, I feel like the graphic style is what justifies the story and the very creation of the wonderful sacrilege. I won't waste any words and instead opt to attach some safe panels. In any case, if God's Child is not for you, I still recommend you to research other works by the same authors.

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The perfume - Patrick Süskind.

"The late 20th-century novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Das Parfum. Die Geschichte eines Mörders) by Patrick Süskind (1949– ) is probably the best-known German literary text to appear in the last half of the century. It is a complex multilayered postmodern tale exhibiting features of many genres— at least partially alluded to in the seeming discrepancy between title and subtitle. Primarily, it is a detective fantasy set in 18th-century France, but it has also been interpreted as a critique of enlightenment attitudes, a (mock) historical novel, a bildungsroman, specifically a Künstlerroman, and it certainly is a pastiche with sheer infinite intertexts and allusions to cultural, artistic, scientific, and literary facts and events."

"But the privileging of one mode of perception, a feature observable in much of Süskind’s work, forms only one of several structures of fascination that grab the reader almost physically: disgust, human depravity, criminality, perverted erotics, but also the novel issue of olfactory aesthetics, the impressive and easily communicated knowledge of perfumery, and the quick sociohistorical sketches of the city of Paris."

Tremendously intriguing with two hints of irony hidden behind obsession and a destiny that seems to be fully supporting the protagonist- a maladapted genius, a manipulative loner and an ambulant death omen. I hope you're in for a fun time during your execution - if you wish to see a priest get so horny as to shake his green miter off his head without realizing; if you're in to witness dreams of crimson palaces that overwhelm all senses just as much as all reasoning.

Part of what makes this book my favorite is how detached the protagonist is. Grenouille's impulse towards his victims is not sexual nor sensual; instead, through his (surely distorted) perspective (surely, still that of an unjustifiable murderer) all faults and hypocrisies of the society that surrounds him come alarmingly alive.

(Section 2: I fucking hate the movie)

This however is not how the story is portrayed in the movie, that I was able to watch with only a little bit of disgust on my face EXCLUSIVELY because I was so stoned that all my muscles were locked in place. Imagine how bad the movie had to be in order to get them to move. More points against the movie, that you SHOULDN'T watch before reading the book (...I should have said: movie that you shouldn't watch at all, if you wish to keep sane; but you do you, since you're reading this post and it will only get worse from here):

The protagonist, whose actions are all about manipulation, lacks all manipulative charge and is made into a half-stereotype of an autistic kid with a special talent. Not say this kid couldn't be autistic, I'm talking about the representation/narrative the movie gives it (also, writing this as an autistic).

Not only this, but while he is supposed to be grotesque, utterly disgustingly ugly in his looks, the movie makes him out to have a sort of "primitive" look that is anyhow still quite attractive. It's not the actor's fault, that's not my point.

The movie lacks the seven years Grenouille spends in his cave, which, interestingly, are crucial to his development.

His murders are made into something somewhat erotic or with a sensual or romantic drive. While there is erotism in murder - beauty comes from terror, and such is true, because I know it is; and while there is perversion in the book, in the movie it feels like it was portrayed as a love story gone wrong, because "Grenouille is just a guy he doesn't know how to cope and how to behave" (see point n.1).

To summarize: the book does not romanticize any part of itself. Onward.

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The wasp factory - Iain Banks.

In the middle regarding the triggering level, but probably the most controversial book out of the three because of the representation of the characters' situations, and because of how hidden the meaning behind it might be. Note: the trans experience is NOT the point of the book, because:

It is forced;

It is a tool used to explain the critique the book brings forth.

I encourage you to read the essay below: Devolving gender in Iain Bank's "The wasp factory".

And also this one:

Other stuff :P I find the narration a bit dense, not too fluent, in some points, but past the beginning it got better for me. Know this: the wasp factory made me feel depraved as I read it, whether I was horrified or laughing at the deaths.