Brazilian horror comedy Bowels of Hell gleefully keeps its head in the toilet in its gross-out depiction of an apartment building so caught up in its own crap that they don’t notice disgustingly cursed plumbing until it’s too late. Writers/Directors Gurcius Gewdner and Gustavo Vinagre don’t hold back on gag-inducing potty horror, creating a strange backdrop to its prominent and ambitious social commentary that skewers generational divides, gender politics, and emotional constipation.
Martha Nowill stars as Malu, a busy mom with a thriving career in event planning. She specializes in gender reveal parties, causing conflict with Malu’s rebellious, nonbinary child, Genesis (Benjamín Damini), especially as she takes on new jobs from clients, including a pregnant neighbor. But that’s the least of Malu’s problems; the single mom also has severe trauma and residual bowel movement issues stemming from the horrific death of her other child via freak toilet accident. Only, it wasn’t an accident.
The toilets have had enough of the tenants’ shit.
Gewdner and Vinagre channel early Peter Jackson for their splattery mayhem, ensuring no bodily fluids are ignored in their tactile explorations of goopy, nasty, cursed toilet madness. The practical effects achieve maximum gross-out effect, and the deaths can be gnarly. But they’re also employed sparingly, at least at first, as they set up a pressure cooker scenario for their characters. That means that it’s metaphor first, gnarly horror second. The good news is that the filmmakers save the best for last, delivering a gory punchline that finally frees clogged bowels in more ways than one.
But it can take a while to get there as the film trudges through barbed social encounters and conflict, dwelling heavily on social commentary over characterization. The high-strung Malu struggles to endear, with her prickly parenting of her abrasive teen doing no favors. It’s part of the point; all characters are so wrapped up in nonsense to see what’s happening around them. They’re unlikeable by design, all in service of its social commentary. And Bowels of Hell refuses to be subtle about anything.
While bickering characters can frustrate, Nowill and Damini both excel at the physical comedy. Nowill, in particular, is fearless when it comes to the vulnerable positions the script demands. In a film that wields the term “fecaloma” as a plot point and opens with the over-the-top demise of a child via monstrous toilet, well, that should indicate the wacky scenarios Nowill’s high-strung Malu faces.
Bowels of Hell attempts to cover too much ground with its commentary, so much so that its themes get a bit muddled as certain elements get underserved, causing pacing lulls. Not helping is how repetitive some of its talking points get, bludgeoning viewers over and over with its satirical lampooning of gender reveal parties. Gewdner and Vinagre succeed in corralling their ambitions into a satisfying, excessively bonkers finale, at least.
Grounding a high-concept horror movie about cursed toilets with real-world issues was the smart approach, rendering relatable anxieties and familiar issues through the lens of gross-out horror and humor. But, as intentional as it may be, spending time with the self-centered tenants of one doomed building can make the patient wait for full-blown gory chaos stretch thin. Still, it’s a commendable, silly, and fearless swing that serves as a demented reminder to eat your fiber.
Bowels of Hell debuted at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. Release info TBD.
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