[My thanks to regular ScreenAnarchy reader and Film Junkies head honcho Justin Decloux for the following review of Frank Hennenlotter's Bad Biology]
After a 15 years hiatus, granddaddy exploitation director Frank Hennelotter is back to bring us a sexually centred package that promises to be filled with all the laughs and shock we'd expect from the man who brought us the out-there masterpieces "Basket Case" and "Frankenhooker". Will we be covered in goo? Gag uncontrollably? Tell all our friends that we we've been scared for life?
Not quite.
A woman with seven clitorises has the nasty bad habit of killing her lovers during orgasm. A man with a giant sentient penis can't keep it calm. Both of them shall come together and make beautiful love. Or make something horrific. It could go either way.
Keep your expectations in check, because while Bad Biology is a fun gross out chuckle fest, it's by no means the mondo madness that word of mouth has made it out to be. Horror is out the window here and its goofy humor that's taking the forefront. That would be fine if they went completely over the top, but we aren't that lucky. There's a little gore here, but nothing you haven't seen before. The shocks themselves come from the weirdness on display (Vagina P.O.V, Massive Veiny Penis) but in today's world of *OVERTHETOPMOREMOREMORE* it almost seems sedate.
For half of the film, we follow the girl's attempt to find the ultimate orgasm. She kills the people during sex and takes arty photos of their dead bodies. Repeat. For the other half, we follow the man try valiantly to find a way to calm down his extremely agitated member. He takes animal hormones, uses a massive masturbation machine and watches industrial amount of porn. Repeat. Both freaks never meet until the last ten minutes of the film. Funny stuff happens in between, but most of it is inconsequential to the grand picture. There's no real conflict to completely wrap you up in the narrative. We know from the beginning that both of them are going to meet and have sex. Everything should built to that moment, but it doesn't here. The bulk of the film feels like nothing more than a few comedy skits that don't add up. The entire last act shocker [spoiler removed] feels like a desperate attempt to please the audience with tons of full frontal nudity. The thing is, they needed to do something with the nudity, not just give it to us over...and over...and over again.
Shot on 35MM and properly lit, "Bad Biology" is the best looking film of Hennelotter's career. The writing is witty, the actors are hammy ham fisted but enthusiastic enough to win the audience over and Hennelotter brings his the most stylistic direction of his whole career. Bad Biology is by no means a second coming (Sadly) but it is a solid genre effort that everyone should give a watch. Where else can you see a penis gasping for dear life?
Review by Justin Decloux