Divided into Zero

The Pain of Being Split in Two.

The fusion of extreme-horror and video-art often treads a perilous line between narrative and pure psychological experience—especially when the story unfolds through a disorienting, non-linear lens.

What these films share is an urge to drag the audience into a nightmare of the mind—an exploration of human perversion and existential discomfort.

There’s an undeniable link between childhood trauma and the strange, often subdued oddities of adulthood. The things that happen to us—good or bad—shape who we become.

That doesn’t mean we all end up monsters, but a little fucked-up? Absolutely. Sanity is a concept few can truly claim. You can fake it, work on it, or try to be good, but the ghosts of your past will always linger.

The only way forward is to acknowledge them and strive to be a better version of yourself—not for redemption, but for survival.

As “Divided into Zero” stated: But I know it’s my destiny to be divided!

That single line captures the essence of tormented human nature—the comfort found in suffering, the fear of healing.

Looking inside yourself means facing a darkness that can consume you or lift you up. Personally, I’ve always chosen the latter—again and again: to fall into the void and rise once more. I’ve never let the dark completely devour me.

I coexist with it, while still finding beauty in every breath. It’s not easy—but no one ever said it would be.

Mitch Davis’s 1999 short film is a distilled essence of experimental pain—a visual expiation of guilt, a need to feel the suffering that both punishes and preserves sanity.

The film suggests that we must both live and die with our torments. It’s gruesome and unnerving—graphic, yes, but not in the way you might expect. The violence here is psychological rather than visceral.

“Divided into Zero” can be seen as a companion piece to “Subconscious Cruelty”—unsurprising, as Davis produced both works and shares much of the same creative team.

The two films mirror each other in tone and thematic depth: religious imagery, self-inflicted punishment, and the yearning for transcendence through pain.

“Divided into Zero” poses the eternal question: do we find salvation in sanctified purification, or in the suffering we inflict upon ourselves?

Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in between—in that fragile space where torment and transcendence blur, where pain becomes the only proof of being alive.