I finished watching this movie last night and I'm still in a daze. It took me three separate sittings to get all the way through it. I've seen a lot of films from the horror, sleaze, and exploitation genres, but Salo makes I Spit on Your Grave and Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS look like Muppet movies. No qualifiers here. This is without a doubt the most shocking movie I have ever seen.

Salo takes place in Fascist Italy during World War II. Four men with the aid of a small private army kidnap eight teenage boys and eight teenage girls. They are brought to a villa in the woods and informed that they are now slaves. Any of the teenagers caught having normal sex will be deprived of a limb, and anyone making any kind of religious display will be killed on the spot.

The film is divided into four sections. The kidnapping of the teenagers is part of "The Ante Inferno." Next comes "The Circle of Manias," where the fascists and the kidnapped teens listen to the first of many sexual recollections from aging prostitutes. The teens are degraded in many ways, most notably in a scene where they are forced to crawl around naked acting like dogs and begging for treats. Just for the fun of it, one of the fascists feeds a girl piece of cheese laced with nails.

In "The Circle of Excrement" one of the fascists, inspired by one of the prostitute's tales, forces one of the girls to eat his feces. The viewer is spared nothing. This is shown in nauseating detail as are several subsequent scatological scenes.

The final chapter, "The Circle of Blood," details the final fates of the captured teens. In a chain reaction of betrayal, one boy reports a girl's misconduct in hopes of saving himself. The girl in turn exposes another, hoping to save her own life. In all, four indiscretions are revealed, each leading to the discovery of another. Despite their bargaining, however, none are spared.

During the film's climax, the teens are stripped and staked to the ground in the courtyard. One boy has a lit candle taken to his genitals, and a girl has her breasts tortured in the same way. One boy has his chest burned repeatedly with a hot iron, a girl is scalped, and another boy has his eye gouged out with a knife.

I can not say I enjoyed this film. It was extremely difficult to watch, and I literally gagged more than once during "The Circle of Excrement." While films like The Story of O use sado-masochism to achieve an erotic effect, there is no titillation whatsoever in this film.

One of Salo's most striking aspects is the level of horror it achieves. It reminded me of the way I felt watching monster movies when I was a kid. Even though I knew movies were make believe I was unable to separate myself from the horror on the screen. The emotion seemed as genuine to me as it did to the characters in whatever film I was watching. While watching Salo that wall between fantasy and reality seemed to fall away once again. Like the victims in the film I was genuinely revolted and horrified.

One of the most interesting things about this film is the fact that this is not an exploitation film in the usual sense. The aforementioned Ilsa and I Spit on Your Grave were created specifically to pander to the sex and violence crowd. The makers of those movies knew those factors would get people to the drive- in or to some sleazy inner city grindhouse.

Salo, while containing a great deal of nudity and graphic violence, has a different agenda. This is essentially an art film, believe it or not, the type you always hear Woody Allen talking about in his films. The political overtones are obvious.

That this film was ever made is utterly incredible. Passolini was obviously a director with a great deal of talent (he was murdered a few months after the completion of Salo). The entire film is beautifully shot, and has a strong sense of esthetics with a dash of surrealism. The scenes in the main hall where the prostitutes tell their tales are especially striking.

I do not recommend this film for those who are easily offended. Even those who aren't may find it to be too much. Watching Salo: the 120 Days of Sodom is not a pleasant experience, but it can be a fascinating one. Proceed with caution.