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 ow on earth do you follow a film like "Entrails
of a Virgin"? Surprising no one, director Gaira took the logical
route and came up with "Entrails of a Beautiful Woman". Genius.
Even those who haven't seen the original should have a good idea what to
expect given the title and the highly suggestive cover art -- namely a
great deal of sex and violence. Unfortunately, like its predecessor, this
particular cocktail is 3 parts sex and 1 part violence, and again it comes
across as violent porn on a bad trip rather than a true horror film.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: T&A
can be a beautiful thing, but really, if you want to see this much sex, go
watch porn. Surely it can't be any more embarrassing to rent a film like
"Raiders of the Lost Ass" than something that has the words
"entrails" and "woman" in the title. Perhaps someday,
someone will make a great film that mixes hardcore sex and violence.
Sadly, though entertaining enough, "Entrails of a Beautiful
Woman" is not that film.
This is a sequel in name only, which is probably a
good thing as the unconvincing swamp monster from the original was not
exactly memorable. Instead, we have a gang of low-down Yakuza who are
involved with kidnapping women, raping them, shooting them full of drugs,
and then -- in their own words -- "selling them to Africa". The
drug in question is some ill-defined super smack called "angel
rain", which puts users in a state of sexual frenzy.
After one such victim turns up at her door, explains
the Yazuka's awful scheme, and then kills herself, a beautiful
psychiatrist decides to investigate and take revenge. Using the tried and
tested method of sleeping with her quarry then hypnotizing them, she soon
falls into their clutches and suffers the same dreadful fate. However, for
some unknown reason she rises from the dead as a kind of hermaphrodite,
inside out zombie and kills the offenders in a variety of particularly
unpleasant ways.
The story this time around is a little more
ambitious, which raises the film slightly above its predecessor. The drugs
subplot, though never elaborated on, is quite interesting and reminded me
of the excellent "Naked
Blood". In addition to this, Gaira actually tries to create a
couple of proper characters this time around, even going so far as to make
one of the villains vaguely sympathetic. Unfortunately, whenever the story
starts to engage the viewer, Gaira throws in another pointless 5-minute
sex scene.
This is a major annoyance, as although some of sexual
sequences are entertainingly perverse, in general they serve only to slow
things down and waste more of the movie's already short running time.
There's not so much optical censoring this time around, as Gaira instead
goes for the "strategically placed" limbs approach. I'm not sure
whether this is a good or a bad thing, to be honest.
"Entrails of a Beautiful Woman" has in its
favor the fact that, porno scenes aside, it certainly looks more like a
real film than its predecessor. There are a variety of sets this time, and
the bigger budget makes the whole thing seem less theatrical. There is
also a higher degree of horror and gore, and although generally saved for
the last 20 minutes, most of it is way more effective than in the first
film.
The monster make-up is actually quite disgusting, and
this is definitely the only film I've seen to feature a killer creature
that boasts not only a giant penis with teeth, but also a truly nauseating
vaginal chasm. It's fair to say that there are a number of outrageous gore
scenes, mostly with a rather hideous sexual touch, and this is a plus,
making the whole mess a lot less like the cheap sex film it often appears
to be.
Sadly, everything else about "Entrails of a
Beautiful Woman" is exactly like a cheap sex film, including a
terrible script, awful acting, and a totally inappropriate soundtrack.
After the third extended masturbation scene or torrent of bodily fluids,
viewers will likely be going blind for all the wrong reasons. I guess
being a sex industry man himself, Gaira was just sticking to what he
knows, though he should realize that in general most horror fans are more
discerning than their porno counterparts.
Overall, "Entrails of a Beautiful Woman"
earns exactly the same rating and hesitant recommendation as its
predecessor. This is about as far out as exploitation cinema gets, and
whilst there is way too much time spent on the porno aspects, it's pretty
entertaining and there are enough "money shots" of the right
kind to keep genre fans interested.
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