Fetus

This is a real bloody treat for you. And by bloody I mean bloody! This movie is damn near soaking in the stuff. But that's not all. There's some truly demented and depraved stuff going on in this beauty. If you are easily offended or squeamish, this is not the movie for you.

The plot is pretty simple, a man loses his loving wife during childbirth, along with his newborn baby. He falls into a deep depression and comes to the conclusion that he must bring her back from the dead, by any means necessary.

That's the general scope of it. The story is pretty plain, with relatively plain acting and sound effects to go with it. Also with this being shot on video, it looks so cheap most would probably dismiss it as rubbish before even giving it a chance. They would miss out though. Where this movie succeeds is in the special effects. Those were some astounding effects! Things were so bloody I was getting nauseous. Usually I find blood splatter fun and hilarious, but I was getting grossed out in this one. You gotta admire that reaction. So seldom do people get grossed out anymore with movies. But this is just disgusting. Never mind the gore, you got so many taboos broken it's insane. I don't want to spoil anything, but given the title, you know there's going to be some mistreating of a fetus. But that's not all. There is a truly demented scene towards the end that I will not spoil here, but if it doesn't leave you applauding, I don't know what will.

I'm going go out on a limb and guess many horror fans would not approve of this. But being the gore hound that I am, I found this little gem delightful.

I've now seen several gory horror movies by Brian Paulin, two of which I enjoy as much as vintage Lucio Fulci, Inside and even more than Olaf Ittenbach's best pieces (his nasty shot on video gore chambers, Black Past and The Burning Moon, rather than his ambitious, but often dull "big" movies).

I hope Mr. Paulin gets his due.

Certainly, the viewer needs to accept certain things that come with a micro budget labor of love like Fetus and undoubtedly some viewers want quickly-edited bloody action movies (28 Days Later and The Descent) rather than atmospheric isolated horror, which is my preference (eg. Rosemary's Baby, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Scarecrows, City of the Living Dead, Inside, Profondo Rosso, The Shout, Lost Highway). I imagine that if this piece (and Bone Sickness) were shot on film in the seventies and rediscovered now, they would be ubiquitously categorized as "essential cult."

((I don't have a problem with shot on video stuff (which this is), especially when the compositions and lightning are as thoughtful as they are here and i believe there is a some benefit to the extra visual information you get at 29.97 fps, a different level of reality, even if the image isn't quite as pretty. It's not better than film, but different with it's own quality.))

When comparing Fetus to Paulin's seemingly best known work, Bone Sickness, Fetus is altogether better realized-- the compositions, lighting, acting and effects are of a higher caliber-- but Fetus is less ambitious in terms of its scope. So Fetus is more professional and less flawed than Bone Sickness, but it does not reach as high or sustain its crescendo for nearly as long. I also appreciate the fact that Fetus is done in a completely serious way, rather than the jokey splatter of Jackson or Evil Dead II or Shaun of the Dead kind of stuff.

The music is strong, and in an older Giallo style, which helps the vibe. There are certainly some moments that confused me-- audio & effects ideas that didn't fully translate-- but this movie and Bone Sickness are the best shot on video horror movies I've seen, and they overachieve in so many departments (inventiveness, craziness, atmosphere, gore, etc.) that all the flaws are easily forgiven.

If you liked Ittenbach's Black Past & The Burning Moon, I recommend Fetus, which is a comparable chamber of gore, though Fetus is better written and photographed and is aided by a very good score. I look forward to more work by this driven and talented guy.

You're wife and child die during child-birth. What do you do? Of course you visit your nearby Goth store and buy a witchcraft book so you can resurrect them. Dur!

Brian "I don't want to shave my head" Paulin is back again with another gore flick. After the ultra gory and ultra turdy Bone Sickness, I had a slight curiosity to see how his new horror flick would end up turning out. My main issues with Bone Sickness was that it was repetitive and boring. Unfortunately the same problems occur in Fetus. Scenes go on for far too long. This film should definitely have been a short instead of a feature. That's a f@ckin fact.

Honestly, there isn't anything very memorable in this one. In the other review on here the reviewer mentions some pretty cool stuff like a penis giving birth, some chick shooting her snatch away....honestly, even though these things sound cool, they really aren't. There's zero scares and anything remotely gory is so amateurish and sloppy the feeling towards anything extreme is more neutral than eye-opening.

For this guy, there isn't anything to really write home about. There's some okay nudity, some very average looking graphic gore, and.....yep, that's it. I really do hope that Paulin's next venture doesn't have him as the lead, and that he strictly focuses on the fx, since anyone who studied under Dick Smith should be pretty good. Unfortunately, this one is another lame duck, and it's strike two for Brian "My Mom says I'm handsome" Paulin. In the meantime, I'll go re-watch some classic Ittenbach.

Lots of people hated both Fetus and Bone Sicknes, two movies from director Brian Paulin. Well, i like them both. Paulin delivers the goods in this two movies. Fetus is a non-stop bloody perverted low budget movie. Paulin is like an American version of ultra gore directors, his movies only objective are to show blood and gore and gross stuff. Thats what he promises and thats what he gave the people with Fetus (and Bone Sickness). Don't expect Oscar material performing or dialogs, this is low budget exploitation. One great highlight of the movie is the sound, its very well worked, the editing (image and sound) is really good and generates some good scares. Recommended for the gore fans.

For a movie about "fetus," there is not enough actual fetus. I came in expecting them to discuss fetuses but there is like none at all! I was very disappointed. The gore looks like gum wrappers and the humans look like Teletubbies. Much work is needed. 1/10.