Begotten | Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes

Movies / TV

    Celebrity

      No Results Found

       View All       Movies Tv shows Shop News Showtimes

      Begotten

      1991 1h 18m Drama List
      70% Tomatometer 10 Reviews 65% Audience Score 5,000+ Ratings God Killing Himself (Brian Salzberg), Mother Earth (Donna Dempsey) and Son of Earth-Flesh on Bone (Stephen Charles Barry) are players in a myth of primal gore. Read More Read Less

      Critics Reviews

      View All (10) Critics Reviews
      Janet Maslin New York Times Mr. Merhige's concentration, while impressive in its way, seems almost entirely self-contained, with little effort to engage an audience on even the level of myth; the film's approach is far too grotesque for that. Rated: 2.5/5 Aug 30, 2004 Full Review Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader If you're squeamish you should avoid this like the plague; others may find it hard to shake off the artistry and originality of this visionary effort. And if you're looking to be freaked out you shouldn't pass it up. Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Michelle Kisner The Movie Sleuth Begotten holds power as a bizarre and mystifying piece of art that still haunts viewers. Nov 11, 2023 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews This one is made for freaks and those who love strange films. Rated: B+ May 29, 2016 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 3/5 Jun 12, 2005 Full Review Andy Klein Los Angeles CityBeat Rated: 4/5 Jun 23, 2004 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

      View All (338) audience reviews
      R W Easily one of the most creative and unique films ever made. It's as comforting as it is disturbing much like the contrast of the visuals. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/26/23 Full Review Musuko S Perhaps THE scariest movie ever made? Hard to watch these characters in their strange, hellish other world but I love it Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/07/23 Full Review Audience Member Can filmmakers and audiences stop perpetuating the very often false notion that just because something is different, shocking, or controversial that it's automatically good? Was this movie different? Yes. Was this movie shocking/disturbing? At times. Was this movie interesting? Almost never. Was this movie pretentious? Insufferably so And for all the smug people who say the only reason someone didn't enjoy this movie is because they're too low-brow or unintelligent to appreciate it, get over yourselves. I could film my washing machine cleaning a load of laundry with a fisheye lens and strobe lights flashing for two hours and make the same argument that anyone who doesn't view it as transcendental artistic genius is just too shallow or dumb to understand it, when the reality is that, like this movie, it'd just be an occasionally interesting but mostly boring, albeit "unique" and "different", waste of time. 1.5 stars because there were as least a scene or two that made me go "That was kind of neat" Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Obvious symbolism, some great disturbing imagery here and there, but more often than not, dull and repetitive, rather than unsettling. Also the grainy look didn't work, it mostly got in the way, as some images would have worked far better without that filter. Still, if you're into avantgarde stuff, it's okay to see it, just to know smth like this was made, but otherwise there's really no so much to see here Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member The movie that spawned a creepypasta image meme. Not much more to be said to commend the film beyond the spooky images. The visual quality was so poor, it was hard to tell what I was looking at half the time, and failed to convey what was happening, even in the sense of abstraction. I guess the visual direction was an experiment, one that mostly failed. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Begotten is dark,bizarre,uncomfortable and very disturbing. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

      Cast & Crew

      Show Less Cast & Crew Show More Cast & Crew

      Photos

      View All Begotten photos

      Begotten

      View more photos

      Movie Info

      Synopsis God Killing Himself (Brian Salzberg), Mother Earth (Donna Dempsey) and Son of Earth-Flesh on Bone (Stephen Charles Barry) are players in a myth of primal gore.
      Director
      E. Elias Merhige
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      English
      Runtime
      1h 18m