Visions of Suffering

Visions of Suffering is in many ways a spiritual successor to Iskanov's previous film "Gvozdi", except that the scale is much larger. I simply adore the frenetic editing, surreal violence, and meticulous exposition. As with the rest of Iskanov's work, we have a maddening blend of art-house furor, junk-art exploitation, and mystery-horror classicism. It's not exactly cohesive, but it's brilliantly depraved. The only flaws are the weak intro/outro segments and laughable special effects in spots.

Iskanov, a damaged and depraved young mind, has created a monster hailing from the despondent Post-Soviet Eastern Bloc. Illuminating the concepts of dreams becoming reality and the nightmarish qualities that might entail from the inter-meshing of the two worlds, he delves into the deepest abysses of the human mind, where the abyss gazes back at you with a furor of demonic intensity. As with my own experience, the rains do bring out ominous visions within slumber that defy the reality we see.

Take "Long Dream", "Eraserhead" and "Subconscious Cruelty", toss them in a grinder, mixed in psylocibin and speed and stick that in your vein - this is it. Another description: About half nightmares, half drug-induced hallucinations, and maybe 2% barely coherent plot about demons, vampires, gory brutal murder and dying in your sleep in the rain. Those very few character-driven moments display weak acting and lighting, but most of the film is just intense visual effects and they get very creepy.