THE VICTIM
2003
WRITER / PRODUCER / DIRECTOR / EDITOR
Duration: 36 minutes
Please note:
It March 2010 it was brought to my attention that journalist Guy Patrick of The Sun newspaper was intending to run an article about my fiction drama films and that he would attempt to sensationalize them as "offensive". If his article, or any other regurtitation of his claims, has brought you to this page then I invite you to watch the film below, while bearing in mind that much more sexually and violently explicit films such as Seven, Hellraiser, A Clockwork Orange and The Exorcist are commercially available in Britain. Such controversial films not only receive advertising space in newspapers, but are often given praise by film critics employed by newspapers. I'd also like you to consider that the 2006 James Bond film, Casino Royale, featured a sexual torture scene, yet the film received a 12A certificate. My film below, now over six years old, attempts to explore the psychological aspects of sadism while minimizing on screen violence.
I believe Guy Patrick's article is simply part of a pre-election mud-slinging campaign for the purpose of attacking the UK Independence Party, of which I have been actively campaigning for in recent months. To that effect I invite you to read my article New Labour New Fascism New Racism, which explores many of the pitfalls of our EU membership and hence my reasons for campaigning against the major parties in Britain that refuse to give the British people a referendum on our EU membership.
In addition, the claim that I have attached UKIP tags on the end of my fiction films is nonsense, as the videos embedded below demonstrate. Note they have been posted for two years on Youtube. A full response refuting The Sun's story (and their source Simon Boyle of Mercury Press in Liverpool) can be read on my Press page.
part one
Synopsis:
A man awakens to find himself tied naked to a chair in a dark basement. His captors introduce themselves as a duo of deranged sadists who have targeted him at random as their next victim and that he is to be tortured and eventually killed.
Their captive is surprisingly calm considering his predicament and soon reveals himself to be a fugitive on the run for similar crimes. He even offers to join forces with his captors and demostrate his own methods of pain infliction on a fresh victim.
A battle of loyalties ensues between the three men as the victim plays on his captors differences. Is he the psychopath he claims to be or does he have another agenda?
part two
Production notes:
The Victim was Rob Ager's first film project. A cast and crew of over twenty-five volunteers worked on the six day shoot. At 35 mins the film was too long for the short film festival circuit and hence only received a handful of screenings. It's relentlessly dark content also discouraged some festival submission panels.
The main objection has been to a scene in which the lead character (Matthew Benson) repeatedly burns a restrained female victim (Jackie Knowles) with a lit cigarette. The script called for the actual burning to take place off camera to lessen its offensiveness for audiences. However, due to the angle of the shot audiences were accidentally given the impression that the victim was being burned on her genitals. This only added more horror to an already sinister screenplay.
The strength of this film is its gritty realism. although fictional it's content is drawn from extensive research on a subject that is normally misrepresented on film.
Cast
Matthew Benson, Jack Gallagher, Marc Bolton, Jackie Knowles, Lucy hoult, Luke Gardiner
part three
part four