April 4, 2008 (2008-04-04) (Philadelphia International Film Festival)
January 26, 2010 (2010-01-26) (United States)
Running time
85 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Bad Biology is a 2008 American black comedyhorror film directed by Frank Henenlotter. Produced by rapper R.A. the Rugged Man, it stars Charlee Danielson and Anthony Sneed as sexually unfulfilled people who are drawn together because of their mutated genitalia. The film received generally positive reviews, and was released on DVD in the United Kingdom in 2009, and in the United States in 2010.
Plot
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The film follows Jennifer, a photographer, and Batz. Jennifer has an over-evolved, hyperactive reproduction system. Because of her condition, she can only be satisfied by very intense sex, which occasionally results in the death of her partners.
Jennifer's co-worker offers to get access to a mansion for a special photo shoot. Meanwhile, at said mansion, Batz is trying to subdue his sentient penis, which is addicted to drugs. Batz sees one of the models during the shoot, and gets an erection. Jennifer witnesses this and becomes obsessed with him, convinced that he is the only man who can satisfy her. She steals his house keys and later breaks into his house. She sees him bring home a prostitute and begins to film it.
Although his sexual encounter with the prostitute does not last long, she continues to orgasm for more than forty-five minutes afterwards. Jennifer gets aroused by this, and returns the next night, only to discover that Batz's penis has left his body, and is having sex with numerous women throughout the city.
The penis eventually returns; however, it is suffering from withdrawal, and slowly dying. Batz wants to let it die, because he is sick of taking care of it, but Jennifer begins to give it the drug, rejuvenating it, and causing Batz to overdose. The penis enters Jennifer and she has an orgasm. The penis falls out of Jennifer, dead, and she collapses. She then gives birth to a half-human, half-penis mutant baby before dying.
Henenlotter and Thorburn wrote the script together. Henenlotter acted as director and Thorburn the producer. The two met when Thorburn recruited Henenlotter to direct a rap video.[1] As opposed to his earlier project that were either canceled or compromised, Bad Biology allowed Henenlotter and Thorburn complete creative freedom due to Thorburn's investment of funds. Danielson was dating Thorburn at the time and requested to be cast. In order to make sure she was committed, Henenlotter tried to scare her off, but he was glad when she stayed with the project, as he said that she was "absolutely perfect" for the part. Sneed, who was cast as the male lead, found out about the project from a post on Craigslist. Sneed was initially rejected because of his physique, which Henenlotter did not think was close enough to that of a junkie. Sneed promised to lose enough weight to look the part. When he followed through and lost 30 pounds in 30 days, Henenlotter was impressed enough to cast him.[2]
Release
Bad Biology premiered at the 2008 Philadelphia Film Festival, where Henenlotter received the Phantasmagoria award.[3] It was theatrically released in 25 cities.[4]Revolver Entertainment released the UK DVD on March 2, 2009,[5] and Media Blasters released it on DVD in the US on January 26, 2010.[6] On February 13, 2010, Henenlotter appeared in New Jersey to promote the DVD release.[7]
Reception
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 100% of five surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 7.2/10.[8] Rob Nelson of Variety called it a "so-bad-it's-rad" film that will please Henenlotter's cult following.[9]Bloody Disgusting rated it 4.5/5 stars and wrote, "Bad Biology is simply the most entertaining gore film I've seen in a very long time."[10] Andy Mauro of Dread Central rated it 3.5/5 stars and wrote, "Small complaints aside, fans of Frank Henenlotter should definitely seek Bad Biology out."[11] Justin Decloux of Twitch Film wrote, "Keep your expectations in check, because while Bad Biology is a fun gross out chuckle fest, it's by no means the mondo madness that word of mouth has made it out to be."[12] Matthew Sorrento of Film Threat rated it 3.5/5 stars and wrote, "Bad Biology is more out-of-control than anything the director has done."[3] Ian Jane of DVD Talk rated it 3.5/5 stars and wrote, "It's not the best starting place for those new to his filmography and he's definitely made better pictures, but the rampant spirit of lunacy and comedic perversion that earned him his following has not dulled."[13] Daryl Loomis of DVD Verdict wrote, "This film has just about everything you'll want to see in B-grade splatter."[14]
