Squirming with Discomfort: Unveiling the Dark Enigma of White Gardenia's ‘Mutilation Theatre’ - A Goredrome DVD Review!

Cover artwork for the DVD release of Mutilation Theatre from Goredrome

Daniel Valient aka White Gardenia is an artist with his collective who push boundaries. They test their viewer whether that person is a newcomer to this realm or a seasoned veteran. I first chanced upon him back when he’d supplied the music for Poison Rouge’s, No Please Not in My Mouth music video (read the review for No Please Not in My Mouth here), so I contacted him. Discovering he had lots of self-mutilation shorts and a few bondage ones, I set about with reviews and interviews with Daniel and Allison, another member of the White Gardenia social club.

Mutilation Theatre is a compilation of just about everything unleashed from these dark gates into the world to cause squirming and discomfort. Luckily, I’m kind of used to this, even before (as I’ve stated in a prior review) I’ve known folks deeply into this. It’s a religious experience. It’s an excitement beyond anything. It takes all the negatives and makes them positive. Well, to someone who does it. Pain overriding pain. Daniel Valient solidifies this rush of emotions thus thrusting it all into the faces of anyone curious enough. They will either accept and understand or they’ll back away into a comfy corner.

Speaking of previous reviews, in this case since a vast majority on show here has been viewed and reviewed in greater details, adding to the fact that Mutilation Theatre runs at four hours twenty-one minutes (woah, yeah, it does), then I heartily recommend leaping through the various links provided to learn more, and in case I miss any (there’s a fair amount), go to the tags section on the front page of Severed Cinema and find Daniel Valient (here) plus White Gardenia (here).

This time around, my Partner in Gore, Willow, is sat beside me for the complete duration. Incidentally, when we first got together, to test her fascination with the extreme side of movies, I showed her Daniel’s infamous finger chopping segment from XXX Dark Web (XXX Dark Web Review from TetroVideo). She loved it. She needed more.

Beginning with the crotch bleeding, Oracle at Erythaga, we watch Allison ride a brush then damages herself while outdoors. Then we have Daniel in head bandages as he’s handed a hammer and nails. I see under the wrap of bandages his usual pissed-off and confused expressions — his eyes and mouth give it away. Allison crucifies him to the table, only one hand whilst the camera blurs annoyingly, and then they struggle to remove the nail. Did I mention that most of their work has a streak of dark humour? Sometimes unwittingly. Remember kids play safe! Antiseptic is poured over the wound. We have standard subliminal words flashing here and there, whilst reverse music plays. For anyone wandering into this torture garden, this is White Gardenia’s crimson topped playhouse. Welcome to their world.

Screenshot from the movie Mutilation Theatre

Allison kisses the gory hole. “Why doesn’t she suck it?” asked Willow. She still hasn’t forgotten them both struggling to fry and gnaw upon his severed finger. There’s a fun interlude involving a giant talking Halloween skeleton in a shop, then we go back to the old school as his experimental looking stuff makes an appearance. It’s like watching a visual Psychic TV tune. There is a pair of random scissors stabbing plus a hammer on the shoulder whilst he looks puzzled.

Don’t be put off by the mention of surreal flashes of words, messages, and images cutting through, they add wonderful depth to the morbid and chaotic atmosphere. It’s an extra level of experience as the atrocity exhibition continues. Daniel waxes lyrical about reality, heaven, and timelines as we briefly see (a teaser) of the before mentioned digit removal.

“Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet.”

Allison pierces her breast; Daniel stabs his hand, and she drinks his blood. Then they make out whilst our senses are pounded by a sonic attack. “We make medical fetish, self-mutilation films,” he explains the finger scene and shows us the aftermath stump. “It’s amazing how well it’s healed without medical treatment.” Guess what? He kept the finger in his freezer. Also, he keeps a fish head. Daniel explains the genesis and importance of the cranium. He wishes to resurrect the fish one day in the future (as I said he explains why) because science is certain that this is coming soon. Daniel goes on to explain self-mutilation, the why: Why do people do it? What does it mean to him? He goes deep into the visions he had when he hacked at his finger, and the symbolic meaning of the film.

Next up is his Hagspoitation theme (read the White Gardenia Shorts and Bondage Clips II review here) which is way beyond Arthur Lucan aka Old Mother Riley (that legend of insane comedy passed away in my city, by the way).

“Twin voices… Chattering…”

“I think he needs a bigger plaster.” commented Willow as we watched blood ooze through the tiny one he has slapped on. Akasha’s First Time (read review for Blood Tastes Like Perfume on Blu-ray from Bizarre Theatre here) has the spunky newcomer drink human blood then suck cock. It all links to the Red Queen. Thus, the journey continues…

Aside from the stabbing, hitting, cutting with razor blades and such, there is early 2011-2013 footage totally un-pain related which brings forth some balance. There is the ultimate WTF music video that’s rough, trippy, and to be honest, pointless. Yet it shows a chapter in this long book opening. Your jaw falls off watching it. Oh, then there’s fish heads again. Let’s not forget the Mayhem knock off band who violently blast the crowd with a pig head sat on one side, and Daniel mutilating himself on the other. We liked them. The vision of his cutting brings a cauldron of GG Allin, Richie Edwards, Marilyn Manson, and the otherworldly stance of Bad Boy Bubby. There is also an overlong second part where he stands with his laptop as the band go deranged.

Everything compiled is an endless feverish dream and nightmare, a landscape of agony, but also euphoria. Fairy tales and Salvador Dali loom just outside of the frame. I simply cannot complete every barrage of assaults to the senses into this review. It’s going to be way too long anyway. This is the ultimate White Gardenia experience. From Allison’s razor slicing then doodling with her blood, to their mini epic, How to Raise Women From the Dead (read the review for White Gardenia: How to Raise Women from the Dead here).

The clotted cream is here for all. Mutilation Theatre a colourful and extraordinary extreme circus. I can’t stress enough to check the other reviews over the years for a greater view. There is a fair amount of footage I hadn’t seen before though. The live metal stuff, and Cher eating flowers, for instance (more of her clips are featured on this release including a few from Blood is Sweeter than Honey). Amongst it all there are also moments of clarity, thoughts, kisses, and passion. Oh, and there are one or two repetitious pieces of footage throughout.

Their bondage stuff, at least examples of, appear in one big clump. To be honest, once it arrives with a lot of new pie in the face footage (Laurel and Hardy make a wonderful appearance), a lot of the churning and building emotions dissolve to nothing. The bondage simulation is mainly clumsy, forced, and they both are obviously uncomfortable. Hehehe, I remember laughing before about Allison’s baby “Waahs” (read review for White Gardenia Shorts and Bondage Clips II here). This time around we both fell about laughing. It’s great. Regardless, this section is over-long, rather ludicrous in parts, and very monotonous. Better choices and less of the same stuff would have helped. Be wary, those with a delicate stomach, there is a shit sequence…

At over four hours, this is value for cash, however, if the dreary fat was cut away and some repeated material, it easily could have run forty minutes to an hour less perhaps. I advise watching this in two sittings. Desensitizing, tiredness, and boredom may occur or at worst if you bravely tackle it full on because there’s a complete dead hour.

All the influences are on show here in Mutilation Theatre. Surrealism, art, philosophy, quantum psychics, and much more. There’s a conversation between Daniel and Allison, where he explains (as he did in the interview) his disdain for sex plus why. We chuckled over how many times Allison yawned. Also, the full-page information scraps are quite interesting. For example, the factors of a multiverse that could result in a torture/hell universe (brilliantly Event Horizon style) are worth pausing to read fully as they are thought provoking.

Towards the climax of our trek through Mutilation Theatre, we get shorts from other folks that White Gardenia were involved with in some way. Gore Filth steps up. I last saw him in the Rob Ceus compilation, The VHS Strangler: The Giallo Tapes. Gore is certainly a one-off. Around the four hour mark his masked face leers at us. We see a quick clip from one of their earlier shorts, then a loose story connects about a drug which turns pain into pleasure. Side effect? Pleasure for pleasure’s sake isn’t anymore. This whole chapter is fun. The fake penis must be seen to be believed. Nekromantik this is not! Next up is Jack Mulvanerty who worked with Daniel on Split (read the review for Split from Ensuring Your Body to Hell Productions here). It’s a sombre and moody piece of work that lingers a while afterwards.

And that, ladies and gentlemen is just about it. Goredrome have made the sound magnificent, and the picture quality of the clips vary due to filming materials at the time. Extras are middling unfortunately. Daniel and Allison get married (audio only). The second extra is simply a rehash that exists for no reason whatsoever. The third, Potential Ways to Defeat Death, is worth a visit, if, like Daniel, you have an interest in such things.

Remember, unless you are aware of some of their history, or have a genuine open-minded interest, and a sense of humour, then this isn’t for you.

All in all, Mutilation Theatre is money worth spending. White Gardenia have commented recently that they’re perhaps moving away from the pain and mutilated body scenario stuff to head into biblical and scientific territories. Goredrome are a fantastic label that you can see are building to great sick things.

Speaking of which, after purchasing Mutilation Theatre on DVD or Blu-ray (the Blu-ray is quite different, Daniel has told me), if you contact him with proof of purchase, he’ll post you out a t-shirt free of charge. The garment is white, as modelled below by Willow (the black one I’m wearing is currently a one-off, but he’s had loads of people asking so you never know).

Here are Daniel Valient’s lines of contact: Instagram and Facebook.

To procure yourself a copy of Mutilation Theatre, visit our friends at Goredrome.

Directed by: Daniel Valient, Allison S.
Written by: Daniel Valient, Allison S.
Produced by: Daniel Valient
Cinematography by: Daniel Valient
Editing by: Daniel Valient
Music by: White Gardenia
Special Effects by: Allison S.
Cast: Daniel Valient, Allsion S., Cher, Kydra, Tim, Akasha
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 4h 21min

Distributor: Goredrome