Every now and then I need to watch a real WTF flick. It’s a cleanser of sorts renewing the palate for many movies to come. Thanatomorphose screamed WHAT THE FU*K from the moment I read the synopsis. The weirder and more disturbing the better. Coming off of just seeing Contracted and feeling a little let down, I really hoped this movie about bad choices and decomposition would fill the void.
This flick revolves around a young women (Kayden Rose) who contracts an odd disease and begins rotting from the inside out. We spend the next 90 minutes watching her sleep, bathe, be naked and engage in various sexual acts all while rotting away.
This movie should have a warning label on the front stating, MASSIVE AMOUNT OF CROTCH SHOTS AND MASTERBATION INSIDE!!. It takes literally 20 seconds past the opening credits to see nudity. If the intent here was not to be all Artsy Fartsy they could have sold this on the nudity and sexual perversion alone. Now that we have that out of the way lets take a peek at this French Canadian cry for help.
Ok, we have a chick with an abusive boyfriend and other male suitors who is completely unhappy and full of sexual frustration on top of depression. This could be many people we know but then you add in this Wall Vagina and issue of physical decomposition and “WTF” is written on everything.
I can handle the Artsy nature of this film and even appreciate what they were trying to do here but it could have been hammered out in a 20 minute short. This movie really drags in the center and becomes almost too repetitive with our struggling artist turned art. This is also meant to be a visually driving piece as the dialogue is very sparse and meant to play “second fiddle” to what’s happening on screen.
The soundtrack felt very minimal but in an intentional way. As with the dialogue, I believe the score was also meant to support but not overshadow the visuals. The risky subject matter only helps to push what we are seeing into a new level of perverse. Having her apartment as the only location also kept the feeling of isolation nice and high. I would have preferred to see some other sets outside of the apartment but understand why there wasn’t any.
The effects here were good and gross. Each and every body part that rotted or fell off looked and felt real. There was no lack of blood and gore in each scene. The movie kept the tone serious and the gore believable, well as believable as a women rotting from the inside out can be anyway. The montage/finale that involves the boyfriend’s demise is something else all together. I felt like a sicko for just viewing it.
This movie is not for the faint of heart or anyone that has a fear of disease. I would recommend this to only real horror sickos and art house junkies. The movie is almost exactly 45 minutes too long. The message is deep and will sit with you for a while, if you can see it through all the crotch shots and rotting body parts scattered about.
out of a possible 5.
