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Nine Inch Nails’ Extremely Graphic ‘Broken’ Short Film Surfaces 20 Years Later

nine inch nails, broken, short film

Recently, a treasure trove of Nine Inch Nails-related video content has been making its way online. Back in February, a couple of weeks before Trent Reznor announced that he was reviving NIN with a new lineup, fans uploaded two bits of footage from the industrial icons’ Fragile days (circa Y2K); not long after that, Reznor himself posted a 75-minute documentary following NIN’s mid-’90s Self Destruct Tour; and then came the three-years-in-the-making nine inch nails: [after all is said and done] fan film chronicling the final 2009 show on NIN’s Wave Goodbye tour. Now, another relic has climbed out of the Downward Spiral: an extremely graphic 20-minute short film that acts as a companion to 1992’s Broken EP.

The 1993 feature, directed by Peter Christopherson, compiles music videos for five of the EP’s six tracks by tying them together through a “snuff” film motif. Between the insect-filled S&M music videos, the camera cuts to a grainy torture porn narrative. As the movie progresses, the victim’s punishment gets more instense, eventually resulting in dismemberment and cannibalism. The killer’s execution by hanging bookends the flick.

According to Nine Inch Nails’ Tumblr, the Broken short was never officially released because of its disturbing content, but it was leaked in the ’90s and has been widely traded as a bootleg ever since. Fans can now see the entire thing. Be warned: This film is very NSFW and not for the faint of heart.