I’ve always had an issue with the term torture porn. I didn’t like the idea of the word “porn” being added to the torture aspects of these movies because I felt that it implied some level of sexual gratification was taken from them, and I don’t think that is accurate. Yet now, years later, you watch a show on the Food Network and people call it food porn. That is when the term starts to make sense, though. Some of these films really are torture porn, if you think about it.
The scenes in these movies are often capturing the most brutal concepts of savagery that one can commit against another, and not only capturing, but focusing on. So, torture porn is actually a fitting term for these kinds of movies. Yes, it sounds like it sexualizes it a little bit, but so what? We are obviously deviant, twisted individuals in the first place to be enjoying this shit, so you think adding the word “porn” to it is supposed to make us (or the people who make the movies) feel bad or naughty? Absolutely not. While it may not be for everyone, and some of it may solely exist with the intent of making people upset, unsettled, or angry (looking at you Captivity), who cares?
So, let’s take a moment and revel in 5 of the most unsettling, scarring, and brutal scenes of torture porn from this odd sub-genre of films.