Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Bad Biology


It's no secret I have a huge hard-on for Frank Henenlotter. He's an amazing director. He gave us BASKET CASE for crying out loud! (I have always loved the saying 'for crying out loud.' It makes me think of my grandfather, gods rest his soul. He also use to call the couch the 'davenport.' Who talks like that? Whenever we would jump on the davenport, he would always say, 'for crying out loud, stop jumping on the davenport!' Fond memories.) So I was super fuckin' stoked when I heard about BAD BIOLOGY being in the works and I've waited nearly over a year for Franky to give me some of that sweet old school New York sleaze I've been forever fond of. I mean, the man hasn't directed a movie in like two decades or some shit! And he rules!

I must say, I wasn't disappointed in the slightest! Rare! Super excited! I swear to you, BAD BIOLOGY was so much freakin' fun and as much as I hate critic speak, a return to form for my favorite grindhouse Times Square sleazoid cinema director EVAR (with perhaps maybe the exception of Andy Milligan - however, I don't have the same nostalgic budding horror movie fan connection with Milligan as I do with Henenlotter).

BB is the a boy with freak drug addicted penis meets the girl with crazy mutated vagina tale. It takes them nearly the entire running time to meet and the love is unrequited, but it's still a good time getting there. Jen is a talented photographer with an insatiable sex drive who finds solace in bedding, and subsequently murdering, random men she meets in clubs and bars. Batz is a reclusive hot piece with a sentient drug addicted penis who is miserable with his station in life because it's hard to jerk off and have regular relationships with women because his member literally has a mind of its own. The scenes with Batz telepathically communicating with is phallus aren't too unlike Duane and Belial's interactions in BASKET CASE and I believe this is entirely intentional. He tells that thing to shut up, tries to block out communication with it, and sweats, covers his ears and chews the scenery all the while during these scenes.

So Jen has to do a photo shoot at Batz' decaying house, which is how they meet. She's instantly smitten after she sneaks back in after seeing his dick for a second in the bathroom, and watches him fuck a prostitute. He gives her an orgasm for like forty-five minutes after two seconds of sex with is mutated member and Jen knows this is the man for her. She's been looking for something like this her whole life. But, all is not to end in blissful happiness, as Batz' dick and balls detaches itself from his body and goes on a raping spree of nubile young women in the apartment complex not too far down the road. Jen gets there too late and the poor penis, withdrawing from steroids, can't be messed with any further. And without his manhood, all Batz is left to do is foam at the mouth.

And did I mention that Jen is able to gestate a fetus in less than two hours after intercourse? Of course I didn't. Every time she has sex, she has a mutant freak baby that she abandons about two hour later. Good stuff.

The standard addiction stuff is all here. I've always maintained Henenlotter is violently against addiction. Look at BRAIN DAMAGE if you need more evidence. This is truly his most anti-drug/addiction film yet. Not only do the 'protagonists' suffer from severe sex addiction, of which isn't considered psychological, rather biological, an idea of a addiction that I've always personally maintained, Batz' penis is a drug addict itself. Drugs figure prominently in the picture, with a key scene where Batz goes to by drugs to satiate his dick's growing addiction (pun intended) where there is a grotesque picture painted of those addicted to meth. It's comical, in true Henenlotter style, because the man is definitely a master when it comes to the over the top horror comedy, but it still rings very scary for those who have experienced drug addiction firsthand.

The film is over the top hilarious and sad. It paints those that suffer from drug afflicted maladies in a comedic light, but still has an air of importance and seriousness. It's highly imaginative and, while I would have like a bit more of Gabe Bartolos supreme SFX, the sentient stop motion penis towards the end is good enough for me. Charlee Daniels that plays Jen is totally great - she has the perfect amount of over-zealous aplomb to be in a Henenlotter picture. Her sex scenes are so great! And she' beautiful, hilarious, and empathetic, even though she's a total murdering psycho with issues. Batz reminds me of Brian from BRAIN DAMAGE and Duane from BASKET CASE in that he could be the bastard love child of the two. He's sweaty, deplorable, weird, and addicted, but somehow you feel for him.

AND it has Casey Belial, the lovable hooker and Duane's confident from BASKET CASE, makes a cameo as Batz' nosey neighbor. I was on the lookout for cameos from other Henenlotter regs, like Kevin Van Hynreck, but my trained eye wasn't honed enough if that exists herein.

Great times, good sleazy stuff, and vagina masks, penis CPR, and arsty photos of guys getting killed while they cum. A feminist manifesto? I don't think so. A sexploitative romp with a message about drug addiction? Maybe.

13 comments:

  1. I've had this sitting around for couple of days now but I've been hesitant to watch it because mine didn't have that cover, but something else much dumber. I was afraid I was about to meet a truly bad Henenlotter film.
    Now I can't wait to see it.

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  2. Awesome! Coincidentally, Netflix just dropped this off today. I should be watching it tomorrow or the next day. Looking forward to it even more after that review.

    My parents suggested I watch Basket Case at far too young an age (probably 11 or 12) so Henelotter is a big part of my horror "origin story." Can't say I loved it as a kid, but it's grown on me in recent years.

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  3. A friend of mine left this at my house a few months back - we'd planned on having a trashy film night and getting drunked. Well, we got drunked, but then I fell asleep shortly after Bad Biology started. Must endevour to check it out. Its still sitting on the shelf above the davenport in my living room for crying out loud!

    Hope you're well! ;o)

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  4. You had me at "sentient stop motion penis." Looks like another MUST-SEE! ;)

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  5. @John. I was steeling myself for something pretty dumb and was so pleasantly surprised. Let's face it - those BASKET CASE sequels were freakin' terrible, so this could have gone either way.

    @Adam. Watch this now. I was probably in my late teens when I saw BASKET CASE and it quickly became one of my favorites. I can't tell you how many countless times I've seen it and it never gets old.

    @James. I do the same thing all the time. It's a wonder I get anything watched. It has to be in the early afternoon before drinkin' o'clock, which is when I watched this. :)

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  6. @Scott. What? Crazy mutated freak vagina didn't do it for ya? ;) I had to go all sentient stop motion penis to win you over.

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  7. Penis monster on the prowl is the biggest WTF moment. So classic Henenlotter

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  8. Don't you know it, JV. The music behind it was so reminiscent of BRAIN DAMAGE, too, when the Alymer injects his feel-good juice into Brian's neck. It's the exact same shit, I'd like to think. Good, good stuff.

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  9. This was pure Henenlotter at his best, such a fucking strange ass movie with the darkest humor I have seen in a while

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  10. Netflix just dropped this off today! Thanks for heads up on it before I watch it. I'll comment again to tell you what I thought of it.

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  11. I passed out Sat. Afternoon due to my injury and trying to watch this. I was not to impressed. It had it's moments. I like the ideas and the plot. The photography was pretty bad ass. The acting was on point as far as Henenlotter movies go. Yet, I am not the expert that you are in his films. I am just a fan of his work in the past. I thank you for turning me on to re-watching basket case some years ago. I was going to go back and find where I left off, but I said the hell with it and went back to icing my swollen elbow in hopes that 100% of movement would come back. FAIL! I will try and give this another go around.

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  12. I didn't get far into the review before I ordered this and Basket Case on Amazon. Basket Case was banned at one point in the UK as it was deemed a "video nasty" by some fool! I only saw it once many years ago and loved it! There are so many movies reviewed on here that I want but I must control my urges to spend cash I dont have...PS. I was a mutated baby found under an old wreaked car! I wonder if...

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  13. It arrived yesterday and I watched it yesterday and of course I loved it. My girl friend would have hated it if I had a girlfriend. I do know women who like horror but it's all the modern slick stuff that I generally dont care for. Cute Vampire boys really dont do it for me...

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