(1975) ****
Based on The 120 Days of Sodom, by the Marquis DeSade, Salo has got to be the sickest film I’ve ever seen, and believe me, I’ve seen some sick stuff. A group of libertines hand pick several teens between the ages of 15 and 17, bring them to a large mansion , and begin training them as sex slaves. The training involves frequent sodomizing, being treated like a dog, more sodomy, penis stroking class, some more sodomy, defecating and urinating on command, a little more sodomy, whipping, burning, branding, role play, listening to sex stories from the story lady, torture, death, eating feces and did I mention sodomy?
"I look like Gwenyth Paltrow so I refused to eat my poop."
The impressive part of this film, is how they truly captured the real heart of DeSade’s novel (yes, I actually read it, sick bitch that I am). 120 Days of Sodom is not just a bunch of sex and torture, it’s a whole bunch of political jargon as well. Salo takes DeSade’s 16th century political references and modernizes them to 20th century Nazi’s. The dialog is impressive, the camera work is stunning, the actors are convincing. Would I watch it again? Well, only if I was watching with someone who hadn’t seen it, just to see their expressions. However, my experience was enhanced, and not in a good way.
"Good Dogs"
"Here little doggies, beg for your food."
"Shitfaced!"
Which brings me to Osiris, my sweet little tuxedo cat. Abduscias and I were watching Salo, when a particularly nasty scene came up. After listening to the story lady relay her experience with a client who liked to eat her feces, one of the libertines decides to take a shit, and have a slave eat it. Well, my pal Osiris decided that this was a good time to go into the litter box and drop a duece. The smell permeated the room at the exact time the feasting began, turning our television into smell-o-vision. We were actually gagging.
"When you said tongue twister I thought you meant Peter Piper picked a peck of..."
I seriously doubt any of you will take the plunge into Salo, well, maybe JSP or Whirly would. However, on the off chance that any of you do, make sure the litter box is far from the tv room and don’t say I didn’t warn you.
