Salo had a plot and an underlying message (which was based on 120 of Sodom by Marqui De Sade) and was actually filmed well. It wasn't just to shock. I watched it just the other day.
The Angels Melancholy was still filmed and structured better than this tripe, but I mostly hate it because they probably really killed animals on camera for entertainment. (I don't care what real stupid stuff consenting adults want to do to each other, but bringing animals or kids into it is not even remotely okay.) It was also way, way too long and boring in parts. It also technically had a plot (friend was dying, so the old friends got together to do messed up crap one last time & kill him).
August Underground's Mordum seemed to have no plot, but if it was just supposed to be videos of annoying idiots screaming and yelling and doing messed up stuff... Well, I guess that's what it looks like. So, if that's what they were going for, I think they succeeded. That doesn't make it any less dumb or irritating, however. I think I might have lost some brain cells watching this one.
Though, I should point out that I think the female sadomasochist was partially based on the female accomplice from Wes Craven's Last House on the Left, so at least they maybe had a nod to something decent, but I'm really reaching to try to give them much credit at all. The gore effects were pretty good.
I agree with Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer being good. I think it was fantastic, actually. Michael Rooker was amazingly creepy as Henry, though the guy who played Otis was way creepier. Rooker's acting is so natural; it's hard to believe it was his first film.
I haven't watched the other ones you mentioned yet. I probably won't watch Martyrs, because the child abuse in it might give me PTSD flashbacks or something, but I will probably watch the others eventually.
As a film fan, and a horror fan in particular, having already explored most subgenres of horror, I'm more recently delving into the much skeevier subgenres (70's roughies, for example) to find whatever there is to find in films less often seen. It's been interesting so far, but boy have I seen a lot of garbage.
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