Guinea Pig 2: Flower of Flesh and Blood
Sai EnterpriseCharlie Sheen believed this demented samurai dismembered a real woman onscreen.
While most moviegoers have never even heard of Guinea Pig 2: Flower of Flesh and Blood (1985), actor Charlie Sheen felt that law enforcement needed to watch it. A massive Hollywood star at the time, Sheen contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1991 — and informed them he had just seen a snuff film.
Directed by Hideshi Hino, the Japanese horror film is nothing of the sort. Released by the same distribution company that made Faces of Death so popular in Japan, the film is one in a series of five shorts based on Hino’s own manga comics. Its depictions of murder, torture, and mutilation, however, were highly realistic.
It’s unclear what state Sheen was in when he watched the mysterious VHS tape. What became history, however, is him watching the dramatized depiction of a mad samurai dismembering a helpless woman — and then calling the FBI to bring the man and filmmakers to justice. Remarkably, the feds actually launched an investigation.
Sai EnterpriseThe FBI investigated Sheen’s tape as a snuff film and eventually concluded it was a feature film.
“The FBI confiscated Sheen’s tape and proceeded to investigate all involved, including Charles Balun, an early distributor of the film,” reported The San Francisco Chronicle at the time. “Balun fiercely asserted that the film was a hoax and was merely a series of startling special effects.”
“Propitiously, the Japanese took this time to release Guinea Pig Two: The Making of Guinea Pig One, revealing the technical sleight of hand in all its bone-cracking glory. After viewing this film, the FBI backed off and dropped the investigation.”
It appears as though the movie could’ve been a real snuff film, with its producers merely shooting a fictional explanation as a way to deflect. While that doesn’t appear to be the case, the Guinea Pig series had already caused controversy in Japan years earlier — when the search of a serial killer’s home turned up a copy of Guinea Pig 6: Devil Woman Doctor.
New Terminal Hotel
Bull Lee FilmsActual crime scene tape was used at the same location when police mistook the set for a murder scene.
When Police Chief J.R. Blyth entered the hotel room, he was met by the most gruesome murder scene he had ever seen in 35 years on the force. The room was covered, floor-to-ceiling, in blood and a human scalp lay on the bed.
The scene in question occurred at the George Washington Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was Nov. 14, 2010, when local firefighters who were called to put out a blaze on the fourth floor noted their surroundings in room 405. Hotel owner Kyrk Pyros, meanwhile, knew the truth — and was delighted at the confusion.
Firefighters “were getting everybody out safely and alive,” he said. “No one got hurt in the fire. It was just accidental. Then, about an hour and a half into it … the coroner said they found a crime scene. He said there is a scalp, there is blood all over the walls, written in all kind of languages.”
Bull Lee FilmsPolice found the hotel room covered in blood and a partial (fake) scalp.
“I had no idea what was going on,” recalled Blyth. “Blood on the floor, the mattress, the pillows, piece of a scalp with hair still attached in the center of the bed.”
Chief Blyth had arrived with 10 crime scene investigators in tow before Pyros realized what room precisely they had discovered. As it turned out, it was the room director BC Fourteen had recently used to film the Corey Haim horror vehicle New Terminal Hotel (2010) — and a room he left purposefully covered in blood.
“I smiled and [the coroner] looked at me and said, ‘I am not finding this funny,'” said Pyros. “I said well, that is where Terminal Hotel was shot; that is our scare room … We leave it there on purpose [because] we get haunted tourists. Supposedly, the hotel is haunted.”
Blyth was initially angry at having wasted law enforcement man-hours, but ultimately found the humor in the situation. Perhaps most captivating than a mistaken murder or snuff film scene is the fact that the George Washington Hotel does have a reputation as a paranormal site — with 12 people dying there since 1923.
