Hello, I noticed Mortal Kombat was being promoted by Houdini. So you brought it on yourselves this question HEHE. How does one do gore and dismemberment with Houdini of organic characters (or any cool tips for say cutting a tree or object in half rather then just breaking it apart)?
Also a bonus question - any good tutorials for Rag Doll with a Character in Houdini or how could one go about doing rag doll in Houdini?
I think something like Vellum could be feasibly used for organic effects. A lot of gore VFX come down to good textures primarily, with some basic deformation and enough density in the mesh to appear smooth.
In most cases, my advice when it comes to gore is that there is no substitute for doing it practical, but of course it depends on the shot.
Check out the Tutorial section in the Learn tab, and do a search there for Rag Doll and you should find some great resources.