Begotten is the creation myth brought to life, the story of no less than the violent death of God and the (re)birth of nature on a barren earth. An independent filmmaking legend, Begotten is a 1989 experimental, silent horror film by E. Elias Merhige. It features no dialogue and presents a surreal, highly textured, black-and-white visual myth about creation, the death of old gods, and the suffering of the earth.