Bad Biology

Known for his own brand of body horror, usually involving forms of parasite and their symbiotic relationship with mostly male protagonists, Frank Henenlotter has not directed a feature film since 1992's Basket Case 3, a sequel to his excellent debut feature Basket Case (1982). Whilst his previous work focused on male stories of addictions and afflictions largely involving strange parasites, detached, mutated brothers, and one creating and manipulating using substance addiction, Bad Biology's focus is on a young woman, Jennifer (Charlee Danielson), who has a very unique affliction that she has learnt to control.

Jennifer has an incredible amount of clitoris's, and is overly sexual. Her biology is also accelerated which leads to her giving birth to malformed premature babies two hours after having sex. Her main goal in life is to feed this high sexuality, but psychologically she really wants love, but her deformities hold this back. This is until, of course, she stumbles on a reclusive man who suffers from an equally weird affliction, and a penis that has it's own consciousness.

It is typical Henenlotter, with the right amount of gross-out horror involving mutant cocks and gruesome, deaths. His brand of body horror (unlike David Cronenberg's style) has an abundance of spot on humour. Bad Biology is not his greatest film by a long shot, but it does pass by quickly, and is often very fun. OK, so the special effects are completely silly, and seems not to have progressed since his original Basket Case, but the stop-motion, detached phallus, eating though walls, is still repulsively amusing.

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For those of you who know who Frank Henenlotter is, I have no pity for you. Absolutely none. You walked into this movie, knowing it was going to be trashy, gory, full of twisted eroticism, and without any socially redeeming value. And, yet, here you are, shocked after having seen Bad Biology. All I can say is: shame on you. Shame on you for being offended. Shame on you for watching it. Shame on you for saying, "I liked Frankenhooker, but..." Come on! Give me a break. Frankenhooker wasn't some cinematic masterpiece. It was awesome for what it was, and that's all. If this movie pushed the boundaries too far, then I can't wait to see what you say when you watch Henenlotter's next movie, should we be blessed with another.

For those of you who don't know who Frank Henenlotter is, I'd probably caution you against watching this movie, unless you're already familiar with grindhouse/trash cinema, such as Lloyd Kaufman and John Waters. While I think some of the exaggerated (and somewhat melodramatic) reactions are funny, it's probably better to be safe than sorry, when it comes to such transgressive art. Rape, murder, and abortion are all played for laughs. Does that offend you? Good -- that means that you don't suffer from whatever mental illness makes the rest of us laugh. Go in peace, and know that you're normal, in at least this one area. Even if you're a social deviant who has no sacred cows, then I'd still suggest that you wait until watching some of Henenlotter's other movies before you watch this one, because it's a rather stark and offensive introduction. Frankenhooker, Brain Damage, and Basket Case would all be good starting points and would be much more gentle introductions to Henenlotter. If you like his style, then come back and try this movie. You might not like it, you might be offended, or maybe you'll think he was trying too hard, but at least you'll have been a bit more informed about the director's style and sick sense of humor.

Honestly, I didn't think it was all that offensive or transgressive, but that's probably because I'm desensitized. If you consider yourself a sensitive person (or a person of good taste and refinement), then this probably isn't a good movie to watch. Instead, I'd suggest something a bit more mainstream, like Waters' later work (Crybaby, Hairspray, Serial Mom, Pecker, etc). While still brilliant and subversive, these movies don't quite push social boundaries like Pink Flamingos or Bad Biology.

"Bad Biology" wasn't as interesting as I would have hoped. Henenlotter makes one-of-a-kind movies, some of which are certified cult classics, like "Basket Case" and "Brain Damage". You know you're going to see something different when you watch one of his movies.

"Bad Biology" does have an interesting concept. We have a young woman with a strangely overdeveloped reproductive system: she has at least seven clitorises, can orgasm just by crossing her legs, and is a nymphomaniac who gives birth within hours after having sex, and simply leaves her "freak babies" to die in trash cans.

She meets a young man whom she believes might finally be able to satisfy her: he has an enormous, insatiable penis he talks to, and is addicted to drugs he uses to keep it subdued.

The stage is set for what could have been a very interesting kind of love story between two "freaks". Instead, it takes too long for the characters to meet, and they never really have a relationship. The whole movie feels pedestrian; lazily shot and put together, the line readings mostly unnatural and the dialogue scenes poorly edited.

For some reason there area few refugees from the underground hip-hop scene involved in front and behind the camera: Vinnie Paz from Jedi Mind Tricks, Remedy from the Wu-Tang Clan, and R.A. the Rugged Man.

You know, I'm still trying to think of how to review this movie. It's disgusting as hell, and also about as sleazy as you can get, but that's exactly what Frank Henenlotter was shooting for, and he exceeds as always. We start with the story of a woman that has seven clits, and is constantly getting off, or looking to get off. And not only that, but after each time she gets it on with a guy, she has a mutant baby within two hours, which she just flat out discards. Now that should be enough, but nope, there is also a dude that has a huge penis that pretty much thinks for itself, and requires constant stimulation to keep the dude from going insane. So he has this jerking off machine which is a hoot, and also plenty of drugs from his fixer to keep him totally screwed up, which helps in handling his huge, and I mean HUGE monster penis. So here we have, a woman with a 24 hour a day sex drive, and a man with the male equivalent. Perfect match so you say?? Not so fast.... By the time they meet, the monster prick has taken off on its own, leaving the poor dude behind. Yep, a monster prick that goes around searching for women, and having not much of a problem finding them. So how does this all end? Well, that's why you watch the movie. Frank Henenlotter is definitely a unique filmmaker, with a few of the most amazing gore films ever made, and I love his work. This movie is a little different, because it was basically written by a rap artist, who is also the producer. The commentary explains all of that, because it's him and Frank doing the talking, and they seem to be having fun. Many of the roles in the film are also rap artists, and the music is pretty much all rap or close to it. It doesn't make much difference, because there are so many naked gorgeous women mostly with large breasts in this movie, that I didn't pay a lot of attention to the music. Some people might almost call this movie soft porn, and I doubt the filmmakers would disagree, but it does have a big Frank Henenlotter blood and gore element to it, and also all that strangeness we find in only his movies. For me, I like it, it's certainly a lot better than "Black Devil Doll", which I have still not reviewed. Those two movies are really not that similar, but they do both feature a lot of naked women with large breasts. Soooo, yes, you definitely need to have this one in your collection, if for no other reason, than it's a Frank Henenlotter film, and those are far and few between, which is sad to me, because it is definitely a one of a kind.

I'm not familiar Frank Henenlotter's work. I haven't seen any other of his movies. I watched this one because of the positive comments I found on IMDb. But believe me - watching this movie is complete waste of time. The plot is terrible, the acting is terrible (especially by Charlee Danielson), the special effects are (guess what?) terrible, and the music is simply annoying. The music seems to be made on a cheap keyboard by a person that doesn't know how to make music. It could be a great movie, because the idea for it is good, but there are too many things in it that make it not worth watching. This movie is utterly bad and I don't understand why some people should find it so great.