Films with a dark and gritty fetish aesthetic

[13]

Cruising, Iverrisible, In A Glass Cage, Beyond The Darkness, Nekromantik I & II and the Japanese stuff like Tetsuo: The Iron Man and Organ were the first that came to mind. Any good recommendations?

[online prowler]

I think all of these already are listed in the established film thread. If you haven't leafed through the entire thread previously I suggest you to do it now. Lot's of goodies.

[13]

I think all of these already are listed in the established film thread. If you haven't leafed through the entire thread previously I suggest you to do it now. Lot's of goodies.

You're right, but I still think it would be nice to have a topic focused on these specific themes in film rather than some "recommend me a good movie thread". For instance, I find the public reaction to Cruising in the gay community to be really interesting (a denial of the dark side of S/M?), the sexual subtext and dark leather/latex aesthetic of Alien. Maybe I wasn't being clear enough in the OP. I know there are lot's of films like this out there. Many I'm forgetting now as well...  

[THE RITA HN]

So many many examples, especially when you obviously delve into the world of Doris Wishman, the Something Weird Video catalog, etc. Virtually a bottomless pit.

Anyways - some Italian favorites that never get enough attention:

BLUE MOVIE (1978) dir. Alberto Cavallone
MAN, WOMAN, BEAST (1977) dir. Alberto Cavallone
QUANDO L'AMORE E OSCENITA (1980) dir. Renato Polselli

Plus - I think my favorite film hands down that tackles so many themes of De Sade's ideology, fetishism, etc. in a such a VIVID and descriptive way, even eventually horrifyingly is:
JUSTINE DE SADE (1972) dir. Claude Pierson
Actually almost captures the sheer chaos of a De Sade book.

[Euro Trash Bazooka]

Fuck Gaspar Noé, everyone should watch "Angst" instead of any of his films.

[13]

Angst is great and so is the soundtrack.

As for Gaspar Noé, I feel that he is both deserving of the praise and criticism he often receives. His films are like visual pendulums swinging between pure transcendence and this childish "yeah so you watched Saló? Now watch this!!!" attitude. He hits that magical spot and then takes it too far. Every time. There's still something interesting in there though. A unique signature.

[nihbraxalizt]

Some movies which both deal with fetishism and use highly fetishized aesthetics:

Madamu Sado: Mesu Jigoku (Madame de Sade, 1986) - Probably the only video-era Roman Porno worth watching and maybe also the only one dealing with sexual submission from a femdom perpective. Grim and sleazy with lots of extensive torture-/humiliation-scenes.

Hakkinbon bijin ranbu yori: semeru! (Beauty's Exotic Dance Torture, 1977) - All of Noboru Tanaka's Nikkatsu-features are great, this one is probably his darkest and saddest flick.
A searious, humorless bondage love-story if you like.

The Image: The Punishment of Anne (1975) - 'High class' BDSM-Porno with plenty of fetishized humiliation. Especially the dungeon scene at the end should fit here.

Super 8½ (1994) - Pretty complex and clever 'meta-porn' by Bruce LaBruce. Maybe not that 'dark', though.

[13]

Thanks a lot to THE RITA HN and nihbraxalizt. I'll make sure to check all of those out.

One I'd like to mention is the HK Cat III film The Rapist. Not really a "fetish-themed" film, but it has this really dark urban vibe to it, which I really like. I'm mostly acquainted with the "gory side" of HK cinema, but I'm sure there's more out there that would fit the bill. 

[l.b.]

probably decently well-known but i think Decoder fits into this. william burroughs worship with guys from einsturzende neubauten, young & gorgeous christiane f., genesis p., bill rice, burroughs himself is in the film. it's all about tape and every copy i've ever seen 'suffers' from generations of vhs-transfers. that combined with the argento style lighting makes the film look like you're looking at one of those red and blue stereograms with only one eye. i think specifically the scene at the beginning of the movie with bill rice in the booth watching christiane stripping is particularly good.

[13]

Hadn't heard of Decoder before. Sounds excellent from what you just wrote. I'll make sure to watch it asap.

A few more:

Captured For Sex 2
Hentai byôtô: SM shinryo-shitsu (1989)
Crash (1996)
Rubber's Lover
A Darker Reality (2008)

[l.b.]

Inserts from 1974, a little more 'British' and 'high-minded' than trashy exploitation. Nevertheless, a meta-movie about the making of a porno during the Hollywood golden age. as a plus, this one has jessica harper and veronica cartwright!

[HongKongGoolagong]

Liliana Cavani's The Night Porter (1974) was absolutely and irreversibly life-changing to me at the age of 12 or 13, seen on late night TV. Never mind that SS Experiment Camp video nasty silliness or the bad arthouse smut of the era it gets lumped in with like Last Tango In Paris, this is a great well acted film which still manages to be as psychologically grimy as you could wish for.

[Half Aborted]

Wife To Be Sacrificed, Star Of David:Beauty Hunting and Blind Beast (one of the greatest films ever made) are all astonishing and beautiful pieces of Japanese filth made with a budget and craft rarely if ever awarded to similarly themed works from other countries. No area of film marries such extreme and audacious content with such genuinely polished and inventive filmmaking more so than pinku eiga, for me the ultimate sub genre of exploitation cinema. Still a very under represented genre in the west which is a huge shame.

[bitewerksMTB]

Oh, "8mm" is terrible! I watched it last week on cable. Best scene is the basement porn convention where dealers openly sell kiddie photos but frown on snuff videos. A much better film with the same theme is "Hardcore" starring George C. Scott.

[GEWALTMONOPOL]

Hardcore is excellent!