Guinea Pig 2: Flower of Flesh and Blood (1985) review

Gruesome 45-minute oddity about a kidnapped woman, her killer and the systematic way in which he dismembers her body - stripped of plot, subtext and dialogue (except between the killer and the audience), it's psychotic bloodlust in its purest (and most repugnant) form. When you strip away the intensity of the images and unrepentant evilness (the criminal never receives his comeuppance) all it really amounts to is a special effects show of the darkest possible variety. Any sane individual could tell it's not real (sorry, Charlie Sheen) but the fact that things like this actually happen (people get kidnapped and mutilated more often than we'd like to think about) makes you question the rationale and purpose of the picture: is it to serve as a blueprint for crazies (like some say it did for Tsutomu Miyazaki), an exercise in catharsis (horror at its most focused and brutal) or something for gorehounds to gross out their friends?