This one opens with a pink swastika splashed across the screen. It's going to be one of those nasties. The "naziploitation" ones.
Interestingly, out of 5 films from the list so far, it's the 4th one from Italy.
It's also the first one not to be released uncut so far.
It's such a manky film that the BBFC would probably still cut it to ribbons.
It's also so awful that it's not really a surprise no one wants to touch it.
Anyway. The Beast In Heat. Directed by Luigi Batzella (as Ivan Kathansky I assume because he didn't want his name anywhere near it) An SS experimentation camp is ran by Dr. Ellen Kratsch, a sadistic nazi who takes great pleasure in torturing the prisoners she lords it over. Her doctors have created a sex crazed half man, half beast who greatest pleasure is raping the female prisoners it gets it's hands on and it's Kratsch's hope that these rapes will lead to a super race of beastly humans. While these gestapo funded experiments are taking place, a nearby village full of partisan fighters is planning a raid to destroy the camp and end Kratsch's evil reign once and for all.
Yep. It's as repugnant as it sounds. It's a film that revels in it's nastiness, wallows in it, zooms in for close ups. The nazi's here mow down old women, throw babies into the air before machine gunning them, shoot grandads in the face in front of their grandsons. Kratsch gets her kicks from watching the beast attacking her prisoners, feeds others prisoners to rats and loves to pluck out fingernails before zapping genitalia. It's easy see why this one got added to the nasties list. Then in between it's more disgusting moments it manages to be incredibly boring and as badly acted as anything you've ever seen. A fact compounded by some stunningly bad attempts at dubbing. It's rare you find a film with literally nothing to recommend in it but The Beast In Heat is that movie.
While you're watching this you'll have the niggling feeling that something isn't quite right about the whole enterprise. It feels jarring, terribly edited, juggling two plotlines that never ever feel right with each other. You wouldn't be wrong to feel this way because The Beast In Heat is actually two films thrown together. All the partisan stuff is from a totally different film!! A dreadful WW2 actioner called When the Bell Tolls and all the nazi experiment stuff was filmed 7 years later and added to it to create The Beast In Heat. It's a cheap way to make a film I suppose but the results speak for themselves.
Despite amateurishness residing in every facet of this film's being it's still tough to watch. The camera leering over sexual assaults and torture, zooming in on nudity and screaming faces. There's something very unsettling about directors who choose to shoot films in this manner. It feels like an insight into a psyche you'd rather not see. But perhaps the most unsettling thing about this shitshow is the "beast" itself. Played by an Italian actor called Salvatore Baccaro (under the name Sal Boris, see, no one involved uses their real name) who was truly exploited here. Suffering from Acromegaly, his looks were used to create a beastly character and his every appearance just feels horribly distasteful. It's just another reason to shudder at this one.
I'd avoid this like the plague.
Next up. Blood Feast. A campy slice of fun from Herschell Gordon Lewis.
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