‘Torture porn”, like all pornography, is hard to define, but as the US supreme court judge Potter Stewart once said, “I know it when I see it.” It is content designed to repulse, disturb and shock without narrative or artistic merit. The term “torture porn” became popularised around 20 years ago in the mid-2000s, when – after the success of Saw – cinemas were rife with films such as Hostel 1 and 2, which saw young tourists tortured by death cults. The Human Centipede featured other tourists stitched together anus to mouth, while A Serbian Film depicted a man being drugged and made to commit unspeakable acts by yet another death cult.
Eventually, the fashion for extreme brutality died down, only for horror to become “elevated” – and emphasise dramatic elements and metaphors over gore. Until The Idol, that is. The drama stars Lily-Rose Depp as a pop singer attempting a comeback, who is taken in by a slippery Svengali (the Weeknd, a Grammy-winning musician). It may not contain death cults or severed limbs (yet), but it is so commited to artlessly making its protagonist suffer that it has single-handedly resurrected torture porn.
