BEGOTTEN was filmed in the late 1980's, but not widely seen until it was released on VHS in 1995. Watching it back then, late at night on a grainy VHS tape on a crappy CRT TV, BEGOTTEN was a trippy pre-internet arthouse mindfuck. Revisiting it nowadays it's still watchable, but more of an interesting cinematic artifact than anything else. Sparse story that really goes nowhere, no spoken words, less violence than you would expect, cricket sounds overdose, creepy nasty-looking people wallering around in the mud, suicide, lots of images of clouds and nature, flickering screen overdose, zero ninjas. The best thing that BEGOTTEN has going for it is the extremely impressive optical effects that make the entire film look totally fucked up. Like there's no grays or something. Everything is either extremely black or white. It looks freaky as fuck. Whatever the effect is, it's awesome!
I am curious what BEGOTTEN would look like without all of the optical effects. But it's probably for the best that it was released the way it was because while there is obviously no way to track all of the ways that BEGOTTEN has influenced people (either consciously or subconsciously) over the decades, the list has got to be a mile long. I won't bore you, or myself, with a list.
Long story, short: if you're interested in exploring the weirder side of Cinema, especially in a historical context, then BEGOTTEN is required viewing. Or, if you're simply looking for a creepy horror movie, you'll probably find the first few minutes entertaining and then fall asleep.
