Official synopsis
Malu is cracking due to the weight of past trauma and a rebellious child. When a strange curse turns toilets into deadly monsters, she is hurled into a surreal nightmare where motherhood, grief, and existential terror can’t simply be flushed away.
Review
There’s no shortage of scatological-themed fear-fare at this point in time. For example, Canada gave us Scared Shitless (2024), France gave us Flush (2025), and now Brazil checks in with horror comedy Bowels of Hell (2026) from codirectors Gurcius Gewdner and Gustavo Vinagre. It’s a scatalogical take on grand guignol that will have many viewers gagging from its opening moments, but the film balances its crazy set pieces with some heartfelt ones.
The story revolves around event planner Malu (Martha Nowill), who suffers a tragedy early on in the film (no spoilers here) that leaves her with a strong aversion to toilets. She is also unwilling to use her rebellious teen child’s (Benjamín Damini) preferred pronouns and adopted name Genesis, and their strained relationship adds dramatic heft to the demonic-toilet proceedings.
Gewdner and Vinagre, who cowrote the screenplay with Antonia Baudouin, don’t shy away from letting the fecal matter fly in copious amounts as numerous victims — including animals as well as humans — are claimed. The set pieces featuring toilet-related attacks rank extra high on the absurdity meter, and the practical effects work behind them is quite impressive.
Nowell and Damini head up a solid sizable cast. Everyone is in on the tone of the film, and it comes off as quasi-campy without heading into full-on camp territory. Bowels of Hell does exactly what it is meant to do: entertain while grossing out viewers. It’s not going to be for everyone, but those in the mood for some midnight-madness style looniness should find plenty to enjoy.
Bowels of Hell had its world premiere at Rotterdam Film Festival on January 30, 2026, and screens again on February 4, 6, and 7, 2026. For more information, visit https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2026/films/bowels-of-hell.
