Visions of Suffering (2005)

Visions of Suffering is filled with outrageous special effects, mind-numbing visuals and a totally unique storyline that propels the viewer into asurreal world you may never wake up from.

Demons stalk a victim in his sleep. They appear whenever the rain falls and threaten to break free from the land of nightmares into his conscious world. A drug-induced vision allows the demons to finally tear apart the veil that separates him from their nightmare world, and the victim is dragged into their hellish realms. The latest film from director Andrey Iskanov (Nails, Philosophy of a Knife) this Russian tale of horror takes you on a stunning visual journey into the depths of nightmarish hallucination. Product Description

always put me to sleep

i tried several times over a period of weeks to watch this movie and all it did was put me to sleep. it has a very slow pace to it and it goes back and forth between characters. there is not alot of talking and nothing is really fully explained....or it could have been that everytime i tried to watch it i ended up falling asleep. there was one part with the large monster and that was just cheezy. not something i would recommend unless you need a sleep aid. September 22, 2008

"The Rain Is Their Time" ~ Demonic Convergence On A Stormy Night

Note: Russian with English subtitles (contrary to what the `Product Details' indicate).

Synopsis: A young man awakes from a nightmare on a dark, rainy night. He always has bad dreams when it rains. As he smokes a cigarette and meanders around his apartment the surreal atmosphere of his dream seems to invade slowly into his waking reality. A repair comes to fix his phone and as he works he begins to talk about vampires and spirits and how the become tangible when it rains. Not long after his departure he peers out of the window and notices mysterious man in black coat and hat standing motionless across the street. A little later he looks again and now there are three "Men in Black" all gazing towards his apartment window.

As all this is taking place the storyline flips back and forth to another young man dressed like a Catholic priest (whether he is one or not is uncertain) who is obsessed with an attractive Goth girl (who is connected to the young man having nightmares) who frequents a night club aptly named `Delirium', a hang out for Goths, sado-masochists and druggies.

As the strobe lights spur on the mindless hordes at the `Delirium' the rain continues to fall and the demonic beings outside the apartment move closer and closer to their prey. Will the rain ever stop? Is there no hope for escape?

Critique: The '05 Russian film `Visions of Suffering' is most definitely only for the most avant-garde amongst us. The images are intense, the violence disturbing and the demonic images repulsive. The music is a mixture of electronic and environmental sounds intermingled with demonic laughter, breathing and vomiting if you can imagine. This is one of those films that create an eerie, stifling atmosphere that seems to ooze out of the television into your room. Don't watch it alone late at night and allow yourself the time to watch something immediately afterwards to get this one out of your mind as quickly as possible. June 1, 2008

Where are the subtitles???????

Being a fanatic of foreign horror, especially surreal cinema, I've been chomping at the bit to watch Visions of Suffering when I first saw the trailer on Unearthed's website. I got my copy, dimmed the lights and pushed play, ready for a psychadelic rollercoaster of macabre imagery and surreal effects.

Problem is, there are NO subtitles. And I don't speak Russian. This problem is compounded with the trailer having English subtitles and the back of the DVD cover clearly stating "Russian soundtrack with removable English subtitles".

After inquiring with Unearthed about this, they got back to me immediately and said that some DVD players turn off the automatic subtitles for some reason and hitting the Subtitles button on your remote should do the trick. Didn't work for me but Unearthed is still looking into other possible solutions, which is unbelievably incredible customer service, hats off to Unearthed. April 26, 2008

Real life? A dream? Real life? A dream? Real life? A dream?

I have to admit, I'm not quite sure WHAT I saw. If it were not for the narrative at the beginning of the film stating that this guy's dreams are meshing with real life, I probably would have ejected the disc, and let the film languish on the shelf until I was bored enough to want to watch it again.
There IS still the constant of what I call East/West Translation. Seems it takes the Russians approximately 1 hour to tell a story that it would have taken Hollywood to tell in 20 minutes. Take the film "Stalker", for instance. This film is approximately 3 and a half hours long. The story could have been told in about 1 hour and 45 minutes.
"Visions of Suffering" is no different. This could have been told in an hour. Don't believe me? Chris Carter did it for seven years with the X-Files! Yes, there were images that could not be filmed for TV, but considering the plodding stream of images that are supposed to be scary, the film falls short in the suspense department. The fish sandwich and the dog sequences are disturbing, but on the whole, I found this film lacking. Maybe if it WERE pared down to an hour, it might have been interesting.

I'll have to give it three stars for ATTEMPTING to be scary, but sadly, that is all. April 14, 2008

Are you kidding me?

People gave this movie 5 stars? What, are you the producers or something? This is one of the worst "movies" i've ever seen, if you can even call it a movie. If you like absolutely terrible trance music and scenes that drag on too for lack of good editing, maybe. The cover for this looked awesome, but i couldn't wait until it was over. It took me four or five times to get through it, no lie. The plot is stupid, the acting is terrible, and half the scenes are just strobe lights and sound effects in a club. Buy something better with your money. March 27, 2008

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