There's nothing more American than a good comeback story. Especially by an underdog. That's what low-budget Horror filmmaker, Frank Henenlotter is. From a technical standpoint, his movies are pretty bad. Not to mention that his last film was in 1992. It seems as though the man has had very few ideas in his long career, although, the one's he has had have all been borderline genius. That is, if you happen to have an appreciation for the bizarre and the grotesque. That's what his films have been like as long as he's been making them. But more specifically, Frank Henenlotter seems to have a thing for deformities, freaks, and how they're dealt with. usually very poorly, which is where his own special brand of dark humor always shines through. The weirdness, as well as an obvious nod to 50's creature features, are consistently present and make Frank Henenlotter's body of work possibly the most distinct of any director I'm familiar with. And in that respect, the movie I'm going to talk about does not disappoint.
Although, the disappointment is there. More on that later. The movie I want to talk about today is Bad Biology. Frank Henenlotter's most recent film. Many thought he was done making movies. But in 2008, he finally returned to bring us yet another freakshow. I have some mixed feelings about this one, which I will go into, but I will say the man is smart. Because he knows that sex sells. And he came up with a fairly clever way to apply that to his weirdness. In a nutshell, Bad Biology is about a woman with a seven clits, who has a freakishly hyper-active sex drive as a result of this. What this film is really about is that AND some guy with a dick which has a mind of its own. Even the cover implies they are equals in the story, and possibly romantically connected. But this movie is mostly about this chick named Jennifer, who can't seem to get enough dick. A woman who wasn't always so comfortable with her abnormality, now embraces it all fully. Jennifer searches for dick, gets down to business, gets seven times the pleasure of normal women, usually gets carried away and kills the guy connected to said dick, all resulting in some serious pigging out. Minutes later, she pushes a freak baby out her cooter, Which is coldly discarded as non-human.
Jennifer has been hurt a lot, and her free-spirited sluttiness, as well as her disconnected view on things, is a direct result of this. And perhaps her existence has driven her a bit crazy on top of it. Although, she's not all bad. Just selfish, with some serious narcissistic qualities. It does seem as if all this is leading towards her gaining a love interest. And that love interest would obviously be a guy named Batz. Batz has a bit of a dick issue. A dick which was accidentally cut off at birth, but later reattached, and injected with all sorts of drugs in the hopes of making it work properly. But somehow, it developed a mind of its own, and has been out of control ever since, with a pussy-thirst which cannot be quenched. And the more drugs get injected into it, the more of an ugly, mutated mess it becomes. Also, any woman who gets fucked by this freak dick usually orgasms themselves to death. No poon can withstand the power of this monstrous tallywhacker... At least not a normal one. That's where Jennifer comes in. When these two find each other, it seems like a solution for them both, or at least one of them. However, nothing good could possibly come from so much freakish sexual frustration coming together.
I enjoyed this movie. Really, I did. But did it live up to my expectations? Not really. But that's only because of the level of entertainment value and legendary status of Henenlotter's earlier films, as well as the ridiculously long wait for him to finally make another film. I just expected a little more. On one hand, the story is classic Henenlotter. On the other hand, it's typical Henenlotter. Nothing new, while the charm of the earlier films are lacking. In story, as well as heart and soul. The whole thing just seems a little thrown together, with characters that aren't all that likable. And personally, I don't think the rap score did this movie any favors.Now, I'm not one who needs romance in movies, but we have every reason to think this is all leading towards these two people finding each other, making their own existence more bearable, giving each other peace, or some shit. When the opportunity presents itself, Jennifer is merely interested in the "super dick" and nothing else. While the anti-social Batz just wants no part of her, period. Well, at least this approach wasn't predictable, but with the movie already seeming very incomplete, this lack of story and character development left me feeling very much unfulfilled. However, there are plenty of fun moments, and some pretty funny lines, as well as a hilarious ending which is classic Henenlotter at its classiest. That alone made the experience worth it. Bad Biology has its flaws, but ultimately, I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Basket Case or Brain Damage. Although, I really do hope this doesn't end up being the Henenlotter swan song. Because I feel like the man is capable of more. Yet, I can't help but be grateful that Frank Henenlotter made this comeback in the first place. But with rumors now circulating of a Basket Case 4, Let's hope Bad Biology was just a warmup. 5/10
#Review