Public Outcry Kills Torture Porn Marketing Campaign

I am quite able to distinguish between real deaths and fake ones. My sister and best friend were murdered on the same night when I was 13 from some sick puke that the state thought was safe to reallease after he had raped and beaten three previous women.

Publishing this kind of violence in the mainstream media and putting it up in the sky glorifies these killers. Fantasy power hungry addicts never get behind the glory of these super killers and then do their best to live the vision.

Your mind is that of a barbarian, a savage at best, if you find entertainment in the suffering of others...male or female.

This is a terrible ad, but it bothers me that these feminist groups jumped all over it because it was a woman. It gets to me that they only seem to have a problem with glorifying violence when it's women who are getting hurt.
To Harry Plendl:
Please don't compare the real deaths of real humans to a fake movie. If you want to know what the real problem in America is, it's people who are unable to distinguish between the two, as you just showed.

To Chris U. : That's a pretty ridiculous statement. I don't think Hollywood has much of an agenda outside of making money.

freedom of speech? OK, but it seems to me that the question is not only about choosing a form of entertainment which here is clearly fake and no documentary flick. It's rather about point of view: pro torture propaganda? anti torture? compassion? sadistic voyeurism? I can't answer the question without watching the movie which I don't plan to do. However, the above ads seem to me to mix up a certain erotic pleasure for the viewer (beautiful woman's face and body) with the clear depiction of extreme suffering of that same woman. Quite disturbing, I think. And: Can you imagine a male person in the same ad? Very unlikely, isn't it?

The MPAA did NOT approve these ads. That's what got them into so much hot water. They posted these completly on their own without any approval from anyone, unlike the "Saw" and "Hostel" posters which are all pre-appreoved by the MPAA. These two franchises are proof positive that this type of shock advertising doesn't really work as you seem to insinuate.

I'm so sick of hearing this sh!t. Legal snuff films?? I got news for you- Snuff films are real. So called "torture porn" is fake. And saying that they glorify violence against women is also sh!t. I seem to recall movies like Hostel and Saw having quite a bit (if not the majority) of violence performed against men. These movies are intended to entertain, and for those of us who don't live under a rock, they do they're job quite well. This kind of stuff happens every day, all the film-makers do is open our eyes to it.

movies have become just another part of the propaganda machine. these movies are designed to desensitise people into thinking that torture is fun. the goal is to raise a new generation of kids who are ready and willing to accept war and torture as acceptable options in our more dangerous globalized society. the first step is to show people what torture looks like in glorified hollywood form, the next is to say that it is okay, then that it is fun, the final step is to encourage people to use it on our "enemies". i don't like these films, i don't think they have any artistic value, and i think that only sick people with no sense of human decency or emphathy would like them.

I first heard about these billboards from AOL. I imagined they'd be a lot more graphic than this.
This is not that bad, but I do see the other side of the argument.

I understand both sides of the argument. It's going to be advertised everywhere, because that's how movies are promoted, regardless of genere. Do I particularly agree with it, no not really. Advertising is such a stronghold in this counrty now. There are advertising vehicles, very increased volume of ads in the theaters, radio, magazines, etc. Should some certain envelop pushing films not be marketed to the degree of other movies? Absolutely not. The people who are fans of horror films deserve advertisement as much as children waiting for the latest Disney Pixar movie. I think a feasable response to public outcry such as this, would be for the media to leave the graphic images for the big screen. If you present to someone a billboard depicting a woman crying behind a fence with a bloody finger, and another where she is submitted to obvious torture, I believe they will see the movie regardless because they are fans of the genere. I am aware that horror films in particular seem to be trying to out-do their predecessor, but I don't think their audience grows as a result of this. I for one am definately not a fan of horror films in the least, and this type of "in your face" advertisement makes it easier and easier to pass on these movies.

Actually, the reaction is because this stuff is on billboards displayed in public where people have no choice but to see it. It's one thing if you choose torture porn as your chosen form of entertainment, it's quite another to have it forced upon you in the open public.

The reaction people are having is not because they are over the top, it's because it's to realistic to what could actually happened to an abducted person. People didn't care about seeing Freddy K. mangle a body on a poster, but now they are upset over something that could really happen.
Nobody wants to deal with reality, or the bad things that can and do happen.
That's why bad things continue to happen.

I concur, These movies glorify killing humans and then we have war protests. It truly makes Americans look like a bunch of hypocrits as well as sickos. I am embarrassed that we will continue to market these movies and censor the nude body in love stories.

I disagree with you slightly. I understand what you're reacting to - I hate this kind of shit, and refuse to watch it - but becoming outraged against it is precisely the point for exploitation films. It's part of their promotional machine, and now you're a part of it as well.

I liked the ADS makes me wanna see this movie & I will!

that description is exactly right "torture porn" I just want to say that I grew up on horror films but there is something disturbingly different about the kinds of movies produced today. films like freddy and jason and halloween and evil dead were cartoonish and simple to see through. these new movies like saw and captivity are just legal snuff films. maybe I am getting older but hollywood if getting full of sick people that just want to suck everyone down to there level to make them feel normal. seeing the outcry about these billboards gives me hope that most people see these movies for what they are, stylized snuff films. kill your tv and cable and dish and theaters.