Surely, we have all seen the protagonist captured and, with the next scene, stripped to the waist by the villain and is in the throes of torture. However, I have always wondered about those omitted moments wherein the victim's shirt is removed. How was it done? Did they remove it upon demand or was it taken from them by force? Was it done violently or ritualistically? Did the villain get some sort of sadistic joy out of the endeavor or was he too preoccupied with preparing the victim's torture? This "photo essay" explores these very questions.


Captured. Kidnapped by a sinister element whose motives he cannot fathom. Alone with his captor in the secluded, abandoned and squalid basement outpost of his abductor, the dark process begins... the process he prayed would never come. Gradually, torturously, he is prepared for the hell that is to follow: his pristine flesh is bared - his shirt is removed. He is stripped to the waist.

Though certainly it shall get worse than this, this step is by far the most dramatic and horrific. It means that his captor's sadistic motives go beyond the simple and predictable. Rather, they seethe with strange and dark desire having to do with his bared skin. And, as such, he sufferers through every agonizing second of becoming shirtless.