Day 99 - Gorno Story

Gorno Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

 Roman Gore was a writer, director and producer of splatter films. Born Samuel T. Goreski, Roman used a nom de plume because he said he wanted to emphasize the “Gore” in his films. He even named his film company “En-Gore-tainment Productions.” His first film was called “Gore Factor” and was followed by “Gore Zone” and “Gore Factory.” Roman had no interest in history, but had adopted the first name Roman for no other reason other than the fact that his father suggested it and because he liked the way it sounded. “Roman Gore” could have substituted as the title of one of his films, but he no real interest in gladiators or historical settings. Plus it would have cost too much. Roman liked to keep his budgets low and anything that sounded like it would require sets or costumes seemed way out of reach.

Critics were especially harsh. Roman’s movies were panned for their cheap production quality, bad action and excessive amounts of blood and guts. Someone had once coined the term “gore porn” and “gorno” to describe the over-the-top violent and sexual nature of splatter films. Along with the extremely violent and bloody nature of his films, there was always a tremendous amount of needless nudity, so “gorno” was perhaps the most apt name of a Roman Gore film ever conceived. Roman embraced this concept and criticism and made a career out of it. He created an entire series of “Gorno” titled films about a former porn star that had been disfigured and returned to the sets of his films to enact his horrible and bloody revenge. And of course to have lots of sex with the porn star actresses before killing them.  The “Gorno” series became Roman’s greatest money makers and some of his most notoriously famous films, even if they were only B-movie, video rental type flicks.

As so often happens, somewhere along the way Roman lost his edge. His films became stale and predictable and rather than playing with the expected in an interesting manner, all he could offer up were the same tired repetitive genre clichés over and over again. Some of his weakest films were produced during these years and he created such forgettable schlock as “Gorn on the 4^th of July,” “Gorn With the Wind,” “Gorn Without a Trace.”

After that Roman’s financers walked away from him and he had fewer and fewer films. Financing troubles led to distribution troubles, which led to more budget troubles and cheaper and worse films. Finally a year came and went with no new “En-Gore-tainment” production. Roman was getting older and had lost his fire and it seemed as if film making was becoming more trouble than it was worth.

Years went by and no new films were produced. Roman’s legacy, if there really was one in the first place, faded away and he was mostly forgotten. But then there was a sudden revitalization. The internet gave his films a second life. They were sloppy and funny and cheap in all the right ways. People enjoyed watching clips and recommending them to their friends.

Rumors began to spread in chatrooms and on blogs that Roman had a final lost film. Most people treated it as an urban legend. There was no evidence or proof that it existed, but there were always comments and claims that someone knew someone that worked on the film or had seen the film or knew someone that had. It was supposedly the worst and bloodiest film Roman Gore had ever filmed. It was his final effort. It was a swansong retread of the “Gorno” series that had at one time been so lucrative and popular. Perhaps inspired by the Hollywood trends of remakes and self-referential filmmaking the plot was supposed to feature a film within a film and told the story of the murder of the actors that were filming the latest “Gorno movie.”

But that wasn’t the only rumor. Some people claimed that what it really was was snuff. The actors thought they were filming a new movie. And then Roman actually started killing them. There was no good explanation as to why he would make a snuff film or then actually print and produce the evidence that could get him arrested. But of course no one had really seen the movie themselves so no one really knew just how realistic the snuff claims really were.

One thing for sure though, rumored or real, it was the most talked about Roman Gore film ever, and a lot of people were willing to buy a lot of material that falsely claimed to be footage from this lost production. Some will claim Roman simply perpetuated this rumor himself and it is he that is supplying and selling this fake “found” footage, using outtakes and left overs from his dozens of prior films. Or, as others would believe, Roman is the one producing and selling these new materials, but all of it is in fact snuff and Roman has basically become the first filmed serial killer. Roman himself doesn’t speak to the media and hasn’t commented publicly on any of the myths and rumors that are spread around. But he does have a lot of money coming in and has very large cleaning bills at his house.