A gory serial killer movie labelled the most extreme and controversial horror of 2018 is coming to New Zealand cinemas, complete and uncut.
Lars von Trier's The House That Jack Built stars Matt Dillon as a murderer who deems each of his kills a work of art.
Over 100 people reportedly walked out of the film's Cannes Film Festival premiere, after witnessing scenes of graphic violence against women and children.
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The New York Times reviewer labels the movie "sick, violent and a total bore", drawing comparisons to the Human Centipede trilogy.
"As sick and violent and sadistic as Lars von Trier's new film is, The House That Jack Built fails to conjure anything as diabolical and morally outrageous as non-consensual head-to-heinie," writes Wesley Morris.
"His movie is missing the clarity of vision to whip psychopathology into something rousingly intellectual. It fails to make depravity an experience that either stimulates or appals."
Other reviews are more positive - the IndieWire labels the film "brilliant", Consequence of Sound calls it "divine comedy" and Slant Magazine reckons it "feels like von Trier's greatest film to date".
But with a 42 percent rating on aggregator website Metacritic, it's clear that a lot of critics have problems with the movie.
However, most negative reviews reckon the film's biggest problem is its tediousness, rather than the graphic violence. Some of the reviews include spoilers, including descriptions of the most shocking scenes and how the film ends.
Horror movies specialist website Bloody Disgusting summarised the Cannes response in an article entitled Polarising The House That Jack Built reviews suggest it's this year's most extreme and controversial horror movie.
"It was described as 'vile', 'vomitive' and 'torturous'," wrote Bloody Disgusting's Brad Miska.
"It immediately called back to when Tom Six premiered his Human Centipede sequel to an angry festival crowd that said he took it too far. Six was provoking the audience in response to the harsh criticism of his first Human Centipede. He WON, which begs the question, did von Trier get exactly what he wanted?
"Yes, I think each and every person who walked out of the theatre last night lost the bet they clearly didn't know they had accepted the second they purchased a ticket..."
Kiwi audiences will get to make their own mind up when the film opens in select cinemas on April 4.
Newshub.
