DIRECTOR Michael Winterbottom has defended his new film which shows Jessica Alba’s character being beaten to a pulp.

Psychotic thriller The Killer Inside Me, a film based on a 1952 novel of the same name, has already been slammed by critics as a gruesome portrayal of misogyny, Sky News reports.

Winterbottom hit back at critics insisting that he wanted to stay true to the original story of one of the most famous graphic pulp novels of the 1950s. "I thought it was a great book," said Winterbottom, who has tried not to read too many of the inevitable negative comments directed his way.

"Obviously this is a story that involves some violence towards women and I can understand that is shocking. It should be shocking. If you made a film where there's a guy beating up a woman and it was enjoyable that would be wrong."

The original novel was written by Jim Thompson whose other works, “The Getaway” and “The Grifters,” have also been adapted into movies.

Winterbottom's take on “The Killer Inside Me” follows a badly-received 1976 adaptation.

Critics have criticized a scene in the new adaptation which features Alba's character getting battered by the murderous Lou Ford, played to chilling effect by Casey Affleck.

"I think it is Casey's performance that makes it seem as uncomfortable as it is," said Winterbottom, who previously aroused controversy with the sexually explicit and far less successful film, “9 Songs.”

"It's about the emotion of the scenes more than about the physical violence. People talk as if it is very graphic, I think it has more of an emotional weight in the story."