The Joy of Sex. Kinda., 4 Mar 2009

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M. S. Skidmore (Kinver, United Kingdom) – See all my reviews

  

When a movie begins with the not so subtle opening credit of ”An R.A. The Rugged Man Thorburn production’ you get the impression that you’re not entering into the next great cinematic masterpiece. However, when that is followed by ‘A Film by Frank Henenlotter’ your hopes are raised considerably higher. However, from my recent viewing of Mr Henenlotter’s latest endeavor, maybe I shouldn’t have raised my hopes that high at all…

Henelotter has been away from directing movies for a very long time and for me at least, he’s been sorely missed. His unique brand of bizarre ideas combined with an actual ‘idea’ behind them proved a very successful antidote to all those 80s slashers that he was so obviously trying to distance himself away from. Beginning with the great ‘Basket Case 1 & 2′ to my favourite anti-drugs movie ‘Bran Damage’ and finally with the near classic ‘Frankenhooker’, old Uncle Frank has entertained me time and time again with his off the wall humor and strange creature features. So, to see him ‘come home’ has been an exciting proposition to say the least…

Which brings us to ‘Bad Biology’. The story has Jennifer, a young woman with a strange abnormal mutation (which we couldn’t possibly discuss on a family website) which gives her a heightened lust for sexual gratification. Across town, a young man named Bax, who has his own sexual issues (again, which I won’t spoil here) injects steroids into his . . . err . . . gentleman jim to satisfy his own particular frustrations. The first half of the movie splices scenes of these two sexual adventurers in their many encounters with hapless horny folk up until their long awaited meeting when . . . well, let’s say sparks do indeed fly between the two.

This eventual meeting is possibly the problem with the movie. The preceeding 50 minutes or so is just a collection of soft core sex scenes combined with awful acting from a plethora of rap stars and adult actresses and you yearn for the main couple to meet. The lead up to their union is quite dull and you find yourself wanting to forward to the end… Lead Charlee Danielson isn’t the best actor in the world and when she breaks the ‘fourth wall’ by talking to the audience about her lustful activities – it comes across as amateur and mis-directed (instead of amusing and fresh, which it was so obviously trying to be). Anthony Sneed doesn’t fair much better either, yet he does represent the usual Henenlotter lead actor role with the ”boy with a secret” scenario that is prevalent in many of Frank’s back history of films. To be fair, the acting across the board is pretty painful and one particular scene which takes place in a diner where 3 teens talk candidly about their private life is so badly acted and staged that it resembles a school play or indeed a rehearsal for the final scene.

The film plods along at a slow pace with the odd shot of female flesh every 3 minutes, and even this usually helpful cinematic device becomes tiresome at the 40 minute mark. Your mind starts to wish old Aylmer or Belial would turn up and give this movie some life . . . or at least, a little personality. Things that are obviously shocking or subversive in the film makers minds just come across as cheap, sleazy and tacky in actuality and the wonderfully dull script by both Henenlotter and Rugged Man is both school boy smirk and tired horror comedy in one – and not something of originality and wit that I feel Henenlotter was always remembered for.

On one hand, I admire his dedication to keeping things low budget and not just directing the usual horror sequel dreck – but, when you compare this to his older catalogue – it seems the director is far from the top of his game.

Revolvers disc is a movie only affair, yet the picture is sharp and the movie does look good on what is obviously a low budget. The audio is a little all over the place, but that’s a minor quibble. The film itself isn’t the comeback I was hoping for and just in another long line of crude and smutty horror comedies that clog up video store shelves. Watch ‘Brain Damage’ again instead.

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Henenlotter Makes Another Film That Begins With “B”, 4 Dec 2008

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Brady Orme (Edgbaston, England) – See all my reviews

  

  

The title of this review alludes to the fact that every Gore-Festooned movie Frank seems to make begins with a “B” – “Basket Case”, “Brain Damage”… Okay, so “Frankenhooker” is the exception, but nobody’s perfect. Far be it from me to belittle the return of the venerable Mr. Henenlotter – He’s been mostly MIA since the early ’90s, and horror film has become far poorer thanks to his absence. But! weep nay more ye mirtles green, he’s back and striking a Body-Horror pose in your face once more. Perhaps his new renaissance can be put down to a new partnership with rapper R.A. The Rugged Man (R.A. Thorburn to his parents), but who cares. We have to relish this return.

The plotline of the film is perhaps a little too risque for the purposes of this review, but suffice to say, as the sub-title “A God Awful Love Story” attests two mis-matched individuals find themselves at the receiving end of something a little more, erm, “advanced” than the usual frottage. Led by a “thumping” (yowsa!) score by Prince Paul and a look that refuses to betray the low-budget origins such a movie usually has, you can do far worse than to help Henenlotter fund his pension. To Hell with the epidemic of anaemic “Slasher” re-makes out there which threaten to turn the Horror Genre into a sick parody of itself. Watch this instead and boost the resistance.

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Frank is back – and we love him even more!, 3 Feb 2009

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M. Hewitt “Mike H” (London) – See all my reviews

  

I loved Basket Case back in the day, and then I found out about Frank Henenlotter’s other films – Frankenhooker, Brain Damage – demented cult genius films all of them!

And now, after 16 years, he’s back with probably his most outlandish film yet – the great Bad Biology. I’ve now seen this film twice (at last year’s London FrightFest and Dublin’s Horrorthon festivals), and loved every second of it both times, and can’t wait to get the DVD when it’s released.

Starring two first-timers (the gorgeous Charlee Danielson and dapper Anthony Sneed), the film is pure comedy horror genius from the opening line. Packed with heaps of nudity and old style gore (the stop-motion male member is a hoot), they sure don’t make enough films like this anymore, which makes Bad Biology even more special and unique.

If you have even the merest curiosity in great laugh-out-loud grindhouse cinema, this is your starting point. For fans of Frank Henenlotter, you don’t need another recommendation – this is the film to show and amaze all your friends!

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