Amongst the true die-hard fanatics of trashy grindhouse exploitation/horror cinema, a select but obsessive alliance of which I'm a proud member, the comeback of writer/director Frank Hennenlotter was pretty much of one the most anticipated events of the new millennium. The legendary director of trash-classics like "Brain Damage" and "Frankenhooker" hadn't made any films since the disappointing sequels to his classic "Basket Case" in the early 90's. It may have taken Hennenlotter 16 years to direct another film, but he certainly hasn't lost his sense of tastelessness yet. Quite the contrary, I'd say, "Bad Biology" is probably the trashiest and most lurid film in many years. Not bad for a nearly 60-year-old director who hasn't been active in all those years. Right from the opening monologue already, you know exactly what type of movie this will be. A young girl, named Jennifer, enlightens us about her unusual anatomic condition: "I was born with seven clits". The poor girl is sexually insatiable, obviously, and often becomes so involved in the act that she murders her bed partners. If that isn't enough yet, she also gives birth to creepy mutant babies barely two hours after intercourse. With her job as erotic photographer, Jennifer comes into contact with her male antipole. Batz has a monstrous penis, a result of steroid overdose as a teenager, with a mind and sex hunger of its own. The penis causes prostitutes to have orgasms that last hours and goes out alone at night for a raping stroll.
Although I overall really enjoyed my viewing of "Bad Biology", I can't say it was the successful return feature that I wanted it to be. The film contains a handful of terrific basic ideas (like the mutant babies) and some hilarious sequences (throbbing penis penetrates walls), but the wholesome feels somewhat too forced. Hennenlotter tries a little too hard to demonstrate that he is still his old sick-in-the-head self or even that he has become even more perverted during his absence. The main storyline, appropriately described in the tagline as "one god-awful love story" is too thin and Hennenlotter doesn't succeed in holding the viewer's attention until the ending. The wannabe blackly comical jokes and situations often miss their effect and the script is actually at its funniest when reverting to blunt and tasteless images, like a POV shot from inside a vagina or the sight of a man wrestling with his own penis. "Bad Biology" is gory enough to satisfy trash-lovers, with some stupendously over-the-top and gratuitous make-up effects and crazy scenery. Even at barely 85 minutes of playtime, the film contains quite a lot of pointless padding footage, like a couple of teenagers discussing legendary porn star John Holmes in a snack bar and a couple of crack-addicted junkies arguing to each other. All the players were amateurs with zilch experience, so I guess the acting – albeit very bad – could even have been a lot worse. I'm glad Hennenlotter returned, and I enjoyed his bonkers film a lot more than I enjoyed the nowadays overload of remakes and stupid teen slashers, but regretfully his comeback isn't the trash-triumph it could have been.
