Fetus

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.

I wanted to watch FETUS for a while now since i heard that it's one of these most disturbing movies. Well no. Sure the gore effects are unique and clearly are inspired by Guinea Pig films, August Underground and Women's Flesh My Red Guts, but the story itself makes zero logic.

We got a guy that has his wife and two children die. This drives him insane so he gets into rituals, and try his best to get in touch with his wife, by killing four men, and then Satan comes in the play. Yeah. I just told you the whole plot.

I was expecting something along the lines of INSIDE, but i got a movie that i barely can describe. I can praise it only for the gore effects some of which look unique, i can give it that. Everything else isn't really good at all.

If you are into films like August Underground, and Nekromanik, like very low-budget low plot films go for it. I did not get disturbed during this movie at all. Since it had zero plot, to begin with. It felt like a Slaughter Vomit Dolls movie, just random scene after random scene, because why not.

When i was watching this movie, a big Daddy Long Legs spider got on my wall, and that triggered me more than this movie ever did lmao.

The opening credits for Fetus proudly state (twice) that it is 'A gore film by Brian Paulin'. Yup! That it most certainly is. The story definitely comes second to splattery excess in what is one seriously strange journey into the macabre. And it's directed by Brian Paulin.

The bare bones plot sees bereaved husband Kevin (Brian Paulin) resorting to necromancy to be reunited with his wife Sara (Nette Detroy). Purchasing an 'instruction manual' from his local Satanic corner shop, Kevin conducts a series of rituals with little success, but lots of mess, the magick requiring unwilling victims (or bits of them, at least). Eventually, Kev succeeds in bringing back Sara, who looks like she's suffered the same fate as that first baboon in Cronenberg's The Fly; even worse, he also summons a screeching demon at the same time.

This all sounds pretty straight forward, but Paulin's telling of his tale includes freakish dream sequences and surreal moments that make it a bit of a head-scratcher overall. But hey, this is, as the credits say, a gore film first and foremost, so let's put the narrative to one side and talk about the blood and guts, of which there is plenty...

The film opens with Sara in hospital, in labour, but the birth doesn't go well: the baby is born via C-section and Sara haemorrhages, bleeding to death. After a dry spell, during which Kevin becomes more and more depressed, sees something weird in the viewfinder of his camcorder (?), and visits the book shop, things get juicy again: Kev abducts two men and gets to work on them, cutting open one victim at the base of his skull and inserting a crowbar, and skinning the second (after bashing him in the face with a hammer). He uses these victims in his first unsuccessful ritual.

Desperate, Kev seeks help from the owner of the book store (Kevin Barbare), who tells him to take a hike. So Kevin abducts him and, in a scene that had me more than a bit confused, causes the man to cough up his guts and his face to explode. Extremely gory it is, but it don't make much sense. Now it's time for Paulin to get sleazy: Kev kidnaps a woman, jams a tube in her neck and bleeds her out, after which he indulges in a spot of necrophilia. This causes his junk to go all manky, and the corpse to give birth to some baby heads and a fetus (which he decapitates). Then the woman comes back to life and stabs herself in the crotch. I'm totally confused.

Finally, Kevin constructs some kind of strange device incorporating the baby heads, a round piece of metal, the woman's corpse, and a hazmat suit. This succeeds in bringing back Sara (but not how he remembered her) plus the demon. And for some reason, Kevin gives birth to a baby out of what is left of his penis. The film ends with the demon ripping off the top of Kevin's head.

The make-up effects, also by Paulin, are sometimes a little too messy for their own good, making it hard to see what is going on, and a few of the more ambitious prosthetic creations aren't totally convincing (the crying baby heads and the Sara thing), but Brian also pulls more than a few unsettling show-stoppers out of the bag, making the film an entertaining treat for those who dig practical effects of the ultra-gory variety.

6/10. An often confusing but very bloody ride for fans of low-budget splatter.

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.

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.