It would be untrue to say that we’re all without secret urges that no one ever knows.

In the sadomasochistic black comedy Piercing, these perverse urges take the form of luring and killing prostitutes. Dark in premise, Piercing takes this concept and runs it through a zany and off-the-wall lens- where absurdity and extremity collide and create a hilariously wacky affair. Note: I watched this film at the midnight screening of AFI Fest, which is more or less the exact viewing conditions in which to see this film. 

For all of Piercing‘s wild ideas, it’s a relatively contained film. Credit that to the film taking place almost entirely in a single hotel room. In addition to its location is the intimate casting which consists of two of the art-house world’s most alluring and attractive young talents. Christopher Abbott and Mia Wasikowska star as the man with a secret fetish for killing call-girls and the unsuspecting blonde who is called to meet him.

…There are moments of gross-out shock pop up in the film, but if you’re in for a devilishly delicious time then ‘Piercing’ will certainly not disappoint.

Reed (Abbott), pardoning himself from his wife (Laia Costa) and baby for a weekend of “business,” takes up a hotel room (a highly stylized art deco design gives the film an out-of-time quality), whereupon he mimes his soon-to-be actions with serial killer precision. The dry humor of which sets up the comedic tone early on. The arrival of Jackie (Wasikowska), then, should be one that Reed knows how to handle and execute, but as Reed quickly finds, she comes with quirky and then kooky variables that soon force Reed to go off-script. And before he or we know it, we’re unsure who’s the cat and who’s the mouse in this perverse game of pleasure and power dynamics.

Based off of the novel of the same name by Ryû Murakami, Piercing is directed by Nicolas Pesce, who brings a wealth of visual homages to the film (particularly the 70s slasher films of the Argento variety) that makes for an overall fun time – if you don’t mind the mostly dry humor with moments of punctuated shock. Fans of Christopher Abbott will be happy to see that he once again brings total commitment to another off-the-wall project. But the real draw here is Wasikowska, who plays totally off type as a ditsy and then commanding blonde who flips the script on us all. You have been warned, though, there are moments of gross-out shock pop up in the film, but if you’re in for a devilishly delicious time then Piercing will certainly not disappoint.

81 min. ‘Piercing’ is rated R for aberrant violent and sexual content, nudity, and language.