Everyone has experienced that terrible moment: your stomach starts growling at the worst possible moment and suddenly finding the nearest toilet becomes your only priority. Writer/director duo Gurcius Gewdner and Gustavo Vinagre take this universally relatable discomfort and flush every ounce of dignity down the drain with “The bowels of hell», which celebrated its North American premiere at Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.
Years after tragically losing one of her children in a bizarre toilet accident, São Paulo event planner Malu (Martha Nowill) has immersed herself in her work while growing increasingly distant from her rebellious teenager, Genesis (Benjamín Damini). Hoping to land a lucrative contract, she agrees to host an extravagant gender reveal livestream for an attention-seeking influencer living in her apartment complex, much to Genesis’ frustration. Meanwhile, Malu finds herself suffering from severe constipation, becoming terrified of even entering the bathroom. As the other residents continue their daily routines, a grotesque supernatural force lurking in the building’s plumbing begins to turn ordinary trips to the bathroom into horrifying encounters, trapping everyone in an increasingly revolting nightmare.
From its opening moments, “Bowels of Hell” makes one thing very clear: subtlety has no place here. Gewdner and Vinagre lean wholeheartedly into absurdity, creating a film that never apologizes for its outrageous concept. The majority of the cast adopt an intentionally over-the-top performance style that perfectly complements the film’s over-the-top sense of humor, creating several laugh-out-loud moments before abruptly switching to gag-inducing horror. But behind the overflowing toilets and grotesque images lies a surprisingly heartfelt story exploring grief, family acceptance and gender identity. These emotional themes keep the film from becoming just one extended disgusting gag, allowing its characters to retain some humanity despite the increasingly ridiculous situations around them.
The bowels of hell
Martha Nowill proves to be the film’s greatest asset. Faced with the difficult task of grounding an inherently ridiculous premise, she delivers an impressively sincere performance that conveys the lingering trauma of losing a child while struggling to reconnect with the one who is always by her side. Its emotional engagement elevates scenes that could easily have become outright parody, making Malu a protagonist worth rooting for amid the restroom chaos.
Not all aspects of the production are equally successful. While the practical effects are wonderfully disgusting and the makeup department deserves praise for creating several stomach-churning images, the computer-generated effects sometimes fall short, standing out more than expected. Likewise, parts of the film suffer from surprisingly poor and grainy camera quality, distracting from otherwise inventive sequences. The storyline also struggles to maintain momentum. Many scenes repeat the same formula of characters desperately trying to relieve themselves before encountering the mysterious force that inhabits the plumbing. Although amusing at first, the repetition eventually diminishes the suspense, especially since many of these encounters reveal very little before cutting away. The overall narrative also feels somewhat flimsy, never fully developing the mythology behind its supernatural threat despite introducing several intriguing ideas.
The bowels of hell
Still, horror comedies live or die by their willingness to engage in jokes, and “Bowels of Hell” never hesitates to dive headfirst into the toilet bowl. It’s gleefully juvenile, decidedly disgusting, and surprisingly heartfelt when it matters most. Audiences willing to embrace his outrageous humor will likely find themselves laughing as often as they grimace. “Bowels of Hell” may not be the cleanest experience in Fantasia this year, but it’s certainly one of the most complicated in every sense of the word, earn 3.25 eyes out of 5.
