The Vivisection

The Vivisection (To Qhapiqoroqo) is a T'vaqi horror film created for television on preset wave replay.

Plot

The film opens with footage of farmland. The narrator of the film introduces himself over recorded clips of crop plantations. He states that he is a student filmmaker producing a documentary on the local medical scene of the town he lives in. He notably does not divulge his name or the town he lives in, but does have a pronounced Mholosi accent. The film cuts to a surgical center, which the narrator introduces as "the best in the nation" despite its lackluster appearance. The narrator interviews several staff members of the facility, but spends the most time talking to accomplished cosmetic surgeon Mhodo Asov, who appears to take a liking to the narrator.

The film returns to footage of daily surgical center routine. The narrator obtains permission to enter an unoccupied operating room, and spends some time recording various fixtures and surgical implements. He is informed by a nurse that the room is used only for critical emergencies, and that it has the highest mortality rate of any room in the building. The narrator leaves the room after this, but not before secretly pocketing a scalpel as a souvenir.

The narrator sets up another interview with Mhodo Asov. It is clear by this point that he has developed a fixation on Mhodo, whom he finds peculiar in an indescribable way. Shots become much more amateurish as the narrator begins to lose interest in his initial focus. During the second interview, Mhodo speaks to the narrator on casual terms, insisting the narrator refer to him by his first name. At the end of the conversation, Mhodo invites the narrator to his own house, claiming that he has a special medical process he would like recorded "for the nation to see". The narrator accepts.

At the house, the narrator follows Mhodo into a bunker, where a crude operating table has been set up and furnished with a variety of surgical tools. Mhodo opens a freezer in the bunker but does not let the narrator record the contents, retrieving a smooth layer of human skin. He wordlessly lays down on the operating table and begins slicing a portion of the skin of his forearm off with a scalpel. The process appears excruciatingly painful. Mhodo then crudely stitches the still-frozen skin patch onto his forearm. The narrator is speechless, and Mhodo explains that his own forearm skin was beginning to develop dark spots indicative of a cancerous disease, making use of donated flesh to remove the affected area. The narrator is shaken but intrigued, and agrees to meet Mhodo again the next night.

The next day, the narrator attempts to get more footage of the surgical center, but finds that it is closed. At night, he returns to Mhodo's house and descends into the bunker, where Mhodo is waiting. Mhodo has a wide grimace on his face, appearing to have crudely forced the corners of his mouth into a constant smile with large pins. He tells the narrator in a raspy voice that he is trying to improve his approachability, and that he has yet to find a solution for his voice. Mhodo opens the freezer and hesitates, allowing the narrator to briefly capture what appears to be an emaciated corpse within. The narrator begins breathing more heavily, continuing to film Mhodo. Mhodo produces a human eye and thumb and proceeds to tear out his left eye and saw off his left pinky, replacing them accordingly. He screams throughout the entire process, causing his mouth to bleed profusely around the pins locking it in place. The narrator backs out of the bunker and dashes upstairs, but briefly catches Mhodo returning to the freezer and retrieving a human arm.

The narrator returns to his own home, which is nearby, and forgets to turn off the camera. It records him sobbing before he remembers and turns it off. The narrator wakes up late the next morning and rushes to inform a Magister of what he has seen, but the town's small Magisterial department is preoccupied with an ongoing drug heist. He then attempts to tell someone at the surgical center, but finds it locked with a notice posted informing him that surgical patients have gone missing and that all staff have been dedicated to a search effort. The narrator begins swearing profusely before he spots a young Hapšâw'l woman in hysterics over her missing husband. After thinking, he sprints to Mhodo's house and finds the door unlocked. Descending to the bunker once more, he finds three disfigured corpses piled onto the operating table, including a Hapšâw'l man at the top, horns severed. Mhodo is not present. The narrator, hysterical, runs back to the surgical center, apologizes profusely to the Hapšâw'l woman, and jams his stolen scalpel into the keyhole of the entrance in an attempt to pick the lock. He is successful, and locates the door to the operating room that he previously visited.

Upon opening the door, he discovers Mhodo hunched and writhing on the operating table, making an incision on his forehead. He has grafted horns onto his head, added extra elbow joints to each of his arms, and sewn his still-smiling mouth shut, among other grotesque modifications. Noticing the narrator, he vocalizes through a hole carved into his neck, referring to him as his "most beautiful subject". The narrator, enraged, runs towards Mhodo with his scalpel, but Mhodo dodges the attack with surprising agility. The narrator stumbles, allowing Mhodo to lunge and tackle him to the ground. The camera falls out of the narrator's hands and records part of a wall as audio of the fight continues in the background. A splatter of blood hits the wall and sounds of the struggle cease. The camera is picked up and pointed at the operating table, where the narrator lies motionless with a gash in his neck. The camera is turned off.

Production

Cast

No cast members of The Vivisection had ever starred in a television film before by the director's choice, in order to preserve maximum realism. The main cast is as follows:

• Tinan H'nari as the narrator
• Dap Torono as Mhodo Asov
• Sip Poshami, Loqa Poshami, and Hido Homhan as surgeons
• Miaro Hiqaro as surgical center nurse
• Wilisil Paral as Hapšâw'l wife
• Tšay'l Tegêrâtâ as male Hapšâw'l corpse

Several background roles uncredited.

Reception

After only three weeks of screenings, The Vivisection became the highest-grossing television film in T'vaqi history. It gained renown for its excessive gory imagery and detailed practical effects, though critics have noted the film's somewhat contrived narrative and overreliance on violence and body horror. Due to its amateur documentary presentation, many mistakenly believed the events in the film to have actually occurred.

The Vivisection experienced a degree of success internationally. Unofficial Tun'ilhameng translated screenings of the movie