Bad Biology, 2008.
Directed by Frank Henenlotter.
Starring Charlee Danielson, Anthony Sneed, R.A. The Rugged Man, Ginger Starr, John A. Thorburn.
SYNOPSIS:
A man and a woman who both have specific sexual proclivities eventually meet and fall in love… sort of.
“I was born with seven clits” may not be as iconic an opening line to a movie as “As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster” but it does set up its particular narrative just as well. Bad Biology is director Frank Henenlotter’s sixth full-length movie and the only movie he has made this century (so far), and it originally came out at exactly the right time as torture porn and ‘70s grindhouse tributes were in the throes of commercial success.
So just what did the mind who had previously given us the Basket Case trilogy, Brain Damage and Frankenhooker come up with during this fruitful time for the bizarre and the brutal? Jennifer (Charlee Danielson) is a beautiful young woman who has a slight problem when it comes to relationships as she was born with seven clitorises. Well, seven that she knows of, as she thinks she may have more deeper inside, but nevertheless, these multiple organs are always hungry for stimulation and cause Jennifer to crave sex to the point when her partners are spent, they literally have nothing left. Add to this that her regular post-coital ritual is she gives birth to a mutant baby, she doesn’t really have what you might call a loving relationship with any man she has sex with.
However, all is not lost as Batz (Anthony Sneed) is a man with a similarly peculiar problem – difficult to say which is worse – as his penis was cut off and reattached during birth, resulting in him needing to inject it with steroids to keep it functioning. The thing is, the overdosing of steroids has caused his mutant member to become sentient and crave constant stimulation, to the point where it detaches itself and goes on the rampage after suitably naked female targets. Will these two biological oddities ever meet, and what would happen if they did?
It doesn’t bear thinking about, but you don’t have to imagine as this is a Frank Henenlotter movie and he isn’t shy about showing you everything, and neither are any of the cast. Yes, nudity, sex and gore are high on the agenda here, along with a seedy sense of humour and the director’s customary grindhouse sensibilities. However, anyone expecting the grimy feel of Henenlotter’s previous works may be surprised as Bad Biology does benefit from better practical effects – okay, there is one CGI shot that does stand out as looking particularly awful, but it did in 2008 so it hasn’t gotten any worse – and a cleaner look that may not sit well with fans of Basket Case or Brain Damage’s aesthetics, but at least he wasn’t trying to make a movie that looked like it was from the ‘70s with fake scratches and cigarette burns on the film, as other notable filmmakers were doing at the time.
In other ways, however, Bad Biology fits right in Henenlotter’s catalogue of work as the acting is, at best, passable, with Charlee Danielson putting in a committed performance that makes you wonder why she hasn’t been cast in anything else, but the rest of the cast are full of the usual Henenlotter bit players who basically read their lines out loud while someone films them and the take that they don’t fluff gets used. That said, for dedicated Frank Henenlotter fans, Beverly Bonner does pop up in a cameo, and her appearance adds a fun little callback to the Basket Case and Frankenhooker days.
Needless to say, Bad Biology is not for everyone, but if gratuitous nudity, misshapen appendages and a cast of weird characters with bad attitudes are your catnip then Frank Henenlotter once again delivers the goods. It is an odd choice for a 4K upgrade considering there are other, bigger budget, effects-laden blockbusters that should probably be ahead in the queue for a remaster if you were to ask the general public, but Severin Films have polished it up nicely and delivered a bumper package for fans, the disc featuring new and archive materials, including two audio commentaries featuring Frank Henenlotter and various cast and crew members. If you have never heard a Frank Henenlotter audio commentary then the inclusion of two audio tracks is a treat as the man is very knowledgeable about movies – especially grindhouse horror movies – and is always a joy to listen to.
There are also cast and crew interviews, including a very odd three-minute interview with Charlee Danielson as she bounces a basketball, and a short film called Suck made by actor Anthony Sneed that won’t change your life but is a fun and suitably strange inclusion. Add to that the punk rock feel to the artwork and this 4K UHD edition of Bad Biology is a marvellous makeover for a movie that probably didn’t deserve one, but the fact it exists makes the world a slightly better place.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
