Canadian Filmmaker Remy Couture Charged with Corrupting Morals and Production of Obscene Materials
National Post
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/12/12/jury-in-trial-of-quebec-gore-artist-views-hundreds-of-explicit-photos-depicting-murder-torture/
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In some unfortunate news out of Canada, Quebec-based filmmaker Remy Couture has been charged with “corrupting morals through the distribution, possession and production of obscene materials in a case that explores the boundaries of artistic expression.”
National Post reports that a jury comprised of seven women and five men sat in stunned silence as hundreds of photos and two videos of Couture’s work, featuring gruesome murders, torture, assaults and necrophilia with female victims, were shown. The jury must decide whether they are obscene and dangerous and could incite anyone to reenact what they see. Things don’t look good for the Couture camp as the jury asked if the viewing of the materials could be sped up. Each photo was being shown for 10 seconds, and the jury felt that length of time was unnecessary.
Couture faces up to two years in prison if convicted on this charge. And perhaps more importantly, a precedent will have been set. As you can see by the video below, Couture’s stuff is pretty extreme and quite realistic looking (kudos on the F/X, Remy!), but to convict a special F/X artist for plying his craft is ridiculous and dangerous. Once the first shoe drops, who will be the next artist to be silenced? I’d say you can pretty much kiss The Human Centipede 3 good-bye, and don’t even dream about a follow-up to A Serbian Film!
One of the points of contention seems to be whether Couture’s site, Inner Depravity, featured a warning to viewers describing the explicit content contained within the pages. The Montreal police reported finding no type of warning; however, Couture’s defense team produced evidence showing that the site did indeed provide a warning that alerts potential viewers to the graphic content of the site. It also states no one was harmed in the making of the films and the site is dedicated to horror and special F/X.
Couture first came onto Interpol’s radar in 2006 when a complaint from an Internet user in Austria arose. From there, a European pathologist could not say with certainty that the crimes on the film were not actually real. However, all the videos on Couture’s site have credits at the end, identifying all the actors and actresses taking part in the production.
Couture was arrested in 2009, and the hearing began on Monday with two weeks set aside for the showing of evidence. A documentary is being filmed on the case, and a fundraiser is currently active to cover Couture’s legal funds at supportremy.com.
You can watch one of the videos in question, Inner Depravity 2, below. And yeah, it’s pretty fucked up so be aware. There’s your warning.
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