Blu-ray Review: The Beast in Heat (1977)

July 1, 2019

Written by DanXIII

Daniel XIII; the result of an arcane ritual involving a King Diamond album, a box of Count Chocula, and a copy of Swank magazine, is a screenwriter, director, producer, actor, artist, and reviewer of fright flicks…Who hates ya baby?

During the final days of World War II; top Nazi scientist Dr. Ellen Kratsch (Macha Magall) gets a wild hair up her ass to create a horny as-all-fuck Neanderthal (Salvatore Baccaro) that humps it’s victims to death. What practical wartime application could this have? None…but Nazis are always up to ridiculous horseshit, so why should this film be any different?

Anyway, some partisans from a nearby Italian village are causing those goose-steppin’ lunkheads some static, so the Ratzis naturally round-up every woman they can find (while shooting old ladies and babies) and systematically torture them to quell that pesky uprising.

Along the way we are treated to some of the classic hits as only The Beast in Heat can do them including; Luger blast to the va-jay, tons of naked flesh (both female and male, because unlike actual Nazis, this flick is all about feel-good equality…or something like that), crappy-ass stock footage, people emoting during torture with the exuberance of eating a tuna sandwich (the nail-removal sequence is aces in that department), ‘lectric labia, “rats” eating a woman alive (rats…guinea pigs same diff), pube eating…just fun for the whole family! Oh, and the beast fucks some hapless victims here and there…and by “fucks”, I mean rubs his eternally flaccid penis against them while making duck faces.

Most folks in the know are either repulsed by these tacky Naziploitation flicks, or take them for what they are; exploitation films in the truest sense of the word. Films like The Beast in Heat were designed to do two things; shock audiences by their sheer manic level of perversion and “wrongness”, and put asses in seats; usually after intense word of mouth and creative ad campaigns that listed all the far-flung territories the films were banned in…and this film is certainly an attention grabber, but for all of it’s horror and abuse, it’s also full of comedic touches (intentional) and deliciously over-the-top performances from it’s baddies (who are presented as the deviant lunatics they were…albeit in a completely over-the-top, comic book manner).

If you are on the fence about The Beast in Heat, let me also add that this Blu-ray release from Severin also features an excellent feature length documentary on the Nazipoitation genre (which really should be identified as sexploitation with Nazi costumes for the most part truth be told)…as well as an excellent interview with author Stephen Thrower about the genre, as well as the film’s trailer.

Bottom line; The Beast in Heat is as wrong-headed and un-P.C. as an exploitation flick as one could hope to find (if that’s your bag…and I’m betting it well and truly is)…and it’s a whole lot of insane-o, sleazy fun as well!

 

 

 

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