Once a fixture in horror movies, the mad doctor has largely disappeared from the genre, but he makes a big comeback in this gross-out shocker from the Netherlands. The setup is classic horror nonsense: visiting Germany from New York City, two foolish young women leave their hotel looking for a chic dance club, but their car breaks down on a lonely country road in the pouring rain. When they go to a secluded house seeking shelter, they fall into the clutches of a maniacal surgeon who connects them and another unlucky bastard mouth-to-anus, creating the title beast. Written and directed by Tom Six—who doesn’t seem to realize that movie theaters rely on popcorn sales—this nasty stuff plays like a cross between
Saw,
Naked Lunch, and
Bride of the Monster. In English and subtitled German and Japanese.
By
J.R. Jones