wood-69841 I paid money for the DVD because critics described it as bizarre, surreal, experimental, disturbing etc. Now I'm stuck with it. Serves me right. The trailer attributes this quote to Time magazine - "makes Eraserhead seem like Ernest Saves Christmas". The nearest this film gets to Eraserhead is a ten-year-old with a faulty camera playing at being David Lynch. It isn't even good enough to be called amateurish. Basically what you see is a grainy murky monochrome picture of people dressed in rags carrying and dragging a convulsing body across muddy ground and occasionally putting it down and prodding it. For those who are able to convince themselves that this film has merit, and religious significance, my copy is available. I wish I could be so easily pleased. Anyone contemplating watching it for the first time, be aware that it will take seventy eight minutes of your life that you'll never get back.

chocolateshotgun101 It's difficult to explain what Begotten's about. It's better to be direct and say what this film is. So, Begotten is a collection of stretched out scenes with no dialogue, ambient sounds and indecipherable cinematography. To give credit where credit is due, the beginning scene is pretty good. While it may still be a bit too long, it's creepy and pretty disturbing enough for it to be a pretty good and memorable scene. Unfortunately, it's mostly downhill from here. The rest of the film is indecipherable and boring garbage that felt way too long (ironic since the film's actually quite short).Even if the Begotten was shorter, it still would not be worth your time as most of the actual contents fail to make this film enjoyable.

Michael_Elliott Begotten (1990) *** (out of 4) Ultra-bizarre film from director E. Elias Merhige that's pretty much impossible to explain in terms of plot.This is the type of experimental film that you could show to a hundred different people. Some are going to find it completely plot-less and downright horrid. Some are going to think it's a masterpiece of visuals and give you ten paragraphs of what the film is trying to "say." Others will be puking their guts out within the first few minutes and won't be able to give you a decent idea of what was to follow. I'm not going to sit here and pretend to know what this film was trying to say or do. Hell, perhaps it's not trying to say anything. The only one who knows for certain is the director himself and I'm not going to try and pretend to speak for him.With all of that said, did the film work? There's no question about that. I hadn't heard of the film until recently when it started to make some lists of the most disturbing movie ever made. I'm not going to agree with that but there's no question that there are some visuals here that won't leave your mind. I mean, how many movies can you think of that starts off with God killing himself in a brutal manor and then Mother Earth impregnating herself with his seed. From here with see countless violent images of death and just about everything else that you can think of. Again, most people aren't going to be able to stomach the film even if they do find it's direction and visuals to be masterful.Roger Ebert once said a film is successful if the director accomplishes whatever they set out to do. I'm pretty sure that means this here was a major success. The director would go onto direct films like SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE and some Marilyn Manson videos. The amazing visuals in this film is what makes it so mesmerizing and there's no question that it contains a sickening atmosphere unlike any other movie I've seen. The artistic value alone makes this film something truly special and I guess the only thing you can compare it to are the early shorts of Luis Bunuel.

Chelseaa Benwell On researching this movie, I thought I would be in for a film lover's treat. Begotten features grainy black and white on what seems to be a square format with minimal noise and art film style features. When I got into it, the first scene hooked me and I really thought that it would be promising and hold a lot of controversy. However, when things started to come to a boil after the opening scene, I really got bored. It struck me like a blow to the gut and I found myself wondering what I should do with my nails next as opposed to what would be going on next in the film. Begotten is essentially something that would have benefited more as a 30 min short as opposed to 1 hr 15 minutes of confusing nonsense. I really gave up with the characterisations and what was actually going on within the film, because it just got so difficult and pointless to care. For something with such a promising storyline and concept, I was thoroughly disappointed with what I finally viewed and I'm not entirely sure that I'd recommend it to anyone, not even the biggest of horror and gore fans.