Video Nasty #16
YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED!
The Beast In Heat
1977
A TERRIFYING STORY OF VIOLENCE AND MADNESS.
HORRIFYING EXPERIENCES IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE S.S.!
Original Italian title: La Bestia In Calore
Alternate titles: SS Hell Camp, Horrifying Experiments Of The SS Last Days, S.S. Experiment Camp 2
NTSC Running time: 90:00 +/- 5 minutes. (An explanation for this wildly vague running time is contained in the article below. Most sources quote the length at 86 minutes, so that's about right.)
Directed by Luigi Batzella (as Ivan Kathansky)
Written by Luigi Batzella (as Ivan Kathansky), Dialogue by Lorenzo Artale
Produced by Roberto Perez Moreno
Starring: Macha Magall, Salvatore Baccaro (as Sal Boris), Gino Turini (as John Braun), and a whole lotta naked people!
Body Count: 23 one-on-one murders, with two extended (and bloodless) battle sequences netting approximately 23 kills apiece, for a total of 69!
Naked People: 11 - 7 women and 4 men have full-frontal nude scenes.
Availability: Uncut Region 1 DVD from Media Blasters under the title SS Hell Camp.
BBFC Status
Why it's a Nasty: Nazis, rape, torture, nudity, gore, sexualized violence. Did I mention the sexualized violence?
What was cut: Nothing.
Current UK Status: The Beast In Heat has never been submitted for cinema or video classification. It remains banned in the UK
The Beast In Heat was successfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act, making it one of the DPP39.
Welcome to the wonderful, twisted world of Nazisploitation.
Dr. Kratsch (Macha Magall) is an SS officer and "scientist". Her latest discovery: a strange serum that turns (men? apes? Either way, it doesn't matter) into raving, horny mongoloids. She has one caged in her "lab". He's big. He's hairy. He's naked. And his master loves giving him naked women to play with.
That is how the film begins: Dr. Kratsch, over the objections of her colleague (who we never see again, she probably had him killed), gives her pet a girl to "play" with. As soon as the unfortunate girl (and the audience) sees the monster (Salvatore Baccaro), she tries to get away...but no dice there, chickie. Shoved into the cage, she is enthusiastically raped by the rapacious hulk, giving all assembled the show of virility that Dr. Kratsch had promised. The doctor approaches a male officer who is observing. She sticks her hand in his shirt, asking if he is excited. Upon his affirmative, she slaps his face and chastises him: Nazis are not supposed to get excited about anything, according to her. And, as if to show off her hypocrisy, she then approaches a female officer, who is also very excited, and they share a long, open-mouthed kiss. Apparently it's only the women who are allowed to be aroused by all that rape. Go figure.
Scenes like this are why the film is so notorious.
But before you run right out to find it, a word of fair warning: The bulk of this film is taken up with scenes from Quando Suona La Campana (When The Bell Tolls), another film Batzella directed 7 years earlier. It's standard war movie stuff: soldiers, resistance fighters, lots of battle scenes where people who have been machinegunned at close range clutch their chests and fall over without a drop of blood spilled. Only the brutal, bloody lab scenes were filmed for The Beast In Heat, the rest is wartime melodrama...not that there aren't a few thrills, like the scene where a German soldier rips an infant from its' mother's arms, tosses it in the air, and treats it to a volley of machine gun fire. Poignant.
The accepted estimate is that about 40 minutes of new footage was added to create The Beast In Heat, but I can't vouch for that. It actually seemed like a bit less, but I wasn't able to tell. The DVD I viewed, which is almost undoubtedly an uncut print (thank goodness), did not have a counter on it. Score one for VHS, which has its' time display in the machine, not on the tape. Ever notice how "modern technology" is business slang for "craftier ways to screw the customer"? But I digress. It is these sequences in the lab that make the film worth seeing. Not surprisingly, they are also why the film is controversial. We've all seen war movies, and they're not all Saving Private Ryan or We Were Soldiers. Most of them are boring as hell. When The Bell Tolls isn't bad, but it's nothing special, either. Resistance fighters kill soldiers. Soldiers rape and kill resistance fighters. There is one sequence that deserves special mention:
Don Vincenzo (Brad Harris) has been collaborating with the resistance, yet he is conflicted about the violence involved. Towards the end of the picture, when soldiers storm his church in an attempt to extract information, Don Vincenzo has had enough. He resists, engaging in fisticuffs with his uninvited guests because he hopes to save their female hostage. In a film where literally dozens of people have already been casually gunned down, Nazis armed with firearms fight a priest with one hand on their guns before leaving, routed, at the arrival of Drago (Gino Turini), our mustachioed Italian hero. Wait, what?
I'm guessing that this implies a bit of reverence for the church on the part of the filmmakers. Viewing this scene, it made me think (like many things do) about the films of Lucio Fulci. Fulci was known for openly ridiculing and lambasting the church, always with some contempt, be it in his comedies [All'onorevole piacciono le donne (Nonostante le apparenze... e purché la nazione non lo sappia), which translates to The Senator Likes Women (Despite appearances... and provided the nation doesn't know), often shortened to the much easier to fit on a marquee The Eroticist], period drama [Beatrice Cenci], or his violent thrillers [Non Si Sevizia Un Paperino, aka Don't Torture A Duckling]. Clergy are regularly corrupt or murderous in Fulci's films, villainous figures. Batzella, working in the same place at the same time as Fulci, won't even allow a shot to be fired in the church...by Nazis with a hostage who are holding loaded guns! This scene was clearly lifted from When The Bell Tolls, so perhaps there is something else there in terms of that story, but I don't think so. Throughout The Beast In Heat, the Nazis are shown to have no compassion for anything (did I mention skeet shooting a baby?), so why in the world would they allow themselves to be beaten up by a priest and a stereotype? They wouldn't. Is this a personal commentary by the director...or was When The Bell Tolls just a really vanilla war film? I don't know. But it's fun to speculate.
There also seems to be a question of what the director's real name was. He used several pseudonyms, which was common, but while most folks who engage in the practice leave little doubt as to which name is the genuine article, this man either wasn't talking...or no one knows enough about him. Let's look at what we know. Born in San Sperate, Sardinia in 1924, our man made 15 films as a director, 20 as an actor. His film career ended in 1980, but he lived another 28 years until he died from Parkinson's disease at the age of 84. Some claim his real name to be Luigi Batzella, others claim Paolo Solvay, which has that smoother, shorter feel common to family names in Sardinia. For his true name, my money's on Solvay, but for the purposes of this article, I'm going to stick with Batzella. A guy named Solvay would make sensitive movies about love in times of strife. A guy named Batzella might punch your mom in the face while he pisses in your soup. And isn't that why I watched The Beast In Heat?
Oh yes, it is. And when we're not watching bloodless battle sequences or beautiful countryside, it's full-blown sex and violence! That's why I bought a ticket. Hell, I think that's why anyone who's ever watched this thing bought a ticket. And when it's time for the goods, they are delivered with style. A naked woman is tied to a table, her torso burned by a heated bucket, and then a ferocious pair of guinea pigs eat her flesh (There are no typographical errors in the previous sentence). A nude man is strung up by his heels, dunked furiously in a trough of water, and whipped mercilessly...all at the same time. When Dr. Kratsch has three naked male rebels tied up for her own personal use, one of them calls her disgusting and "nothing more than a bitch in heat!" Which brings to mind the obvious question, who is the real beast? The monster...or the creator? The answer here, I think, is both. Kratsch cuts the man's dick off (good for the films budget, but unfortunate for the audience, this happens offscreen), taking sadistic pleasure in it. Her creation, meanwhile, is busy raping another naked chick. The next effect is the best, most revolting, scene: The monster tears the woman's pubic hair off and eats it...all in a graphic close up. I truly think that the only reason this attack is shown and the castration is not was due to budgetary reasons. Batzella had already shown he wasn't afraid to put some cock on the screen, and I applaud him for it. But the cost of creating a fake, somewhat realistic, severed penis, is prohibitive compared to asking an actress to shave and daubing her with some fake blood.
So how does it all turn out for Dr. Kratsch and her creation? You'll have to watch it to find out. Yes, I am recommending that you track down and watch The Beast In Heat. I love a film that can make you laugh and cringe at the same time. I love movies that aren't afraid to handle taboo subjects in irreverent ways. And I love movies that don't pretend to be anything but what they are. The gore effects are decent, not great. The sex is terribly simulated, some of the worst I've ever seen (Attention Nazi guy, you do know that you can't have sex with your pants covering your wang, right?). The dialogue is WAY better than anything you would expect, low on camp, high on wartime philosophy. And Salvatore Baccaro has to be seen to be believed. Bravo to this man, whose acromegaly cut his life short in 1984 at the age of 39. But what a way to be remembered! (For a glimpse of this striking man in a more realistic setting, you can watch for Salvatore playing himself, a humble flower vendor, in Dario Argento's masterful giallo Profondo Rosso.)
That's all for now, kids. I love hanging out with you and it's always a blast. Until next time, I'll leave you with my usual caution. Stay the fuck away from Nazis. I didn't need to tell you that, right? Well, I did it anyway. Because my name's Justin. JustinCase.
Dr. Kratsch (Macha Magall) is an SS officer and "scientist". Her latest discovery: a strange serum that turns (men? apes? Either way, it doesn't matter) into raving, horny mongoloids. She has one caged in her "lab". He's big. He's hairy. He's naked. And his master loves giving him naked women to play with.
That is how the film begins: Dr. Kratsch, over the objections of her colleague (who we never see again, she probably had him killed), gives her pet a girl to "play" with. As soon as the unfortunate girl (and the audience) sees the monster (Salvatore Baccaro), she tries to get away...but no dice there, chickie. Shoved into the cage, she is enthusiastically raped by the rapacious hulk, giving all assembled the show of virility that Dr. Kratsch had promised. The doctor approaches a male officer who is observing. She sticks her hand in his shirt, asking if he is excited. Upon his affirmative, she slaps his face and chastises him: Nazis are not supposed to get excited about anything, according to her. And, as if to show off her hypocrisy, she then approaches a female officer, who is also very excited, and they share a long, open-mouthed kiss. Apparently it's only the women who are allowed to be aroused by all that rape. Go figure.
Scenes like this are why the film is so notorious.
But before you run right out to find it, a word of fair warning: The bulk of this film is taken up with scenes from Quando Suona La Campana (When The Bell Tolls), another film Batzella directed 7 years earlier. It's standard war movie stuff: soldiers, resistance fighters, lots of battle scenes where people who have been machinegunned at close range clutch their chests and fall over without a drop of blood spilled. Only the brutal, bloody lab scenes were filmed for The Beast In Heat, the rest is wartime melodrama...not that there aren't a few thrills, like the scene where a German soldier rips an infant from its' mother's arms, tosses it in the air, and treats it to a volley of machine gun fire. Poignant.
The accepted estimate is that about 40 minutes of new footage was added to create The Beast In Heat, but I can't vouch for that. It actually seemed like a bit less, but I wasn't able to tell. The DVD I viewed, which is almost undoubtedly an uncut print (thank goodness), did not have a counter on it. Score one for VHS, which has its' time display in the machine, not on the tape. Ever notice how "modern technology" is business slang for "craftier ways to screw the customer"? But I digress. It is these sequences in the lab that make the film worth seeing. Not surprisingly, they are also why the film is controversial. We've all seen war movies, and they're not all Saving Private Ryan or We Were Soldiers. Most of them are boring as hell. When The Bell Tolls isn't bad, but it's nothing special, either. Resistance fighters kill soldiers. Soldiers rape and kill resistance fighters. There is one sequence that deserves special mention:
Don Vincenzo (Brad Harris) has been collaborating with the resistance, yet he is conflicted about the violence involved. Towards the end of the picture, when soldiers storm his church in an attempt to extract information, Don Vincenzo has had enough. He resists, engaging in fisticuffs with his uninvited guests because he hopes to save their female hostage. In a film where literally dozens of people have already been casually gunned down, Nazis armed with firearms fight a priest with one hand on their guns before leaving, routed, at the arrival of Drago (Gino Turini), our mustachioed Italian hero. Wait, what?
I'm guessing that this implies a bit of reverence for the church on the part of the filmmakers. Viewing this scene, it made me think (like many things do) about the films of Lucio Fulci. Fulci was known for openly ridiculing and lambasting the church, always with some contempt, be it in his comedies [All'onorevole piacciono le donne (Nonostante le apparenze... e purché la nazione non lo sappia), which translates to The Senator Likes Women (Despite appearances... and provided the nation doesn't know), often shortened to the much easier to fit on a marquee The Eroticist], period drama [Beatrice Cenci], or his violent thrillers [Non Si Sevizia Un Paperino, aka Don't Torture A Duckling]. Clergy are regularly corrupt or murderous in Fulci's films, villainous figures. Batzella, working in the same place at the same time as Fulci, won't even allow a shot to be fired in the church...by Nazis with a hostage who are holding loaded guns! This scene was clearly lifted from When The Bell Tolls, so perhaps there is something else there in terms of that story, but I don't think so. Throughout The Beast In Heat, the Nazis are shown to have no compassion for anything (did I mention skeet shooting a baby?), so why in the world would they allow themselves to be beaten up by a priest and a stereotype? They wouldn't. Is this a personal commentary by the director...or was When The Bell Tolls just a really vanilla war film? I don't know. But it's fun to speculate.
There also seems to be a question of what the director's real name was. He used several pseudonyms, which was common, but while most folks who engage in the practice leave little doubt as to which name is the genuine article, this man either wasn't talking...or no one knows enough about him. Let's look at what we know. Born in San Sperate, Sardinia in 1924, our man made 15 films as a director, 20 as an actor. His film career ended in 1980, but he lived another 28 years until he died from Parkinson's disease at the age of 84. Some claim his real name to be Luigi Batzella, others claim Paolo Solvay, which has that smoother, shorter feel common to family names in Sardinia. For his true name, my money's on Solvay, but for the purposes of this article, I'm going to stick with Batzella. A guy named Solvay would make sensitive movies about love in times of strife. A guy named Batzella might punch your mom in the face while he pisses in your soup. And isn't that why I watched The Beast In Heat?
Oh yes, it is. And when we're not watching bloodless battle sequences or beautiful countryside, it's full-blown sex and violence! That's why I bought a ticket. Hell, I think that's why anyone who's ever watched this thing bought a ticket. And when it's time for the goods, they are delivered with style. A naked woman is tied to a table, her torso burned by a heated bucket, and then a ferocious pair of guinea pigs eat her flesh (There are no typographical errors in the previous sentence). A nude man is strung up by his heels, dunked furiously in a trough of water, and whipped mercilessly...all at the same time. When Dr. Kratsch has three naked male rebels tied up for her own personal use, one of them calls her disgusting and "nothing more than a bitch in heat!" Which brings to mind the obvious question, who is the real beast? The monster...or the creator? The answer here, I think, is both. Kratsch cuts the man's dick off (good for the films budget, but unfortunate for the audience, this happens offscreen), taking sadistic pleasure in it. Her creation, meanwhile, is busy raping another naked chick. The next effect is the best, most revolting, scene: The monster tears the woman's pubic hair off and eats it...all in a graphic close up. I truly think that the only reason this attack is shown and the castration is not was due to budgetary reasons. Batzella had already shown he wasn't afraid to put some cock on the screen, and I applaud him for it. But the cost of creating a fake, somewhat realistic, severed penis, is prohibitive compared to asking an actress to shave and daubing her with some fake blood.
So how does it all turn out for Dr. Kratsch and her creation? You'll have to watch it to find out. Yes, I am recommending that you track down and watch The Beast In Heat. I love a film that can make you laugh and cringe at the same time. I love movies that aren't afraid to handle taboo subjects in irreverent ways. And I love movies that don't pretend to be anything but what they are. The gore effects are decent, not great. The sex is terribly simulated, some of the worst I've ever seen (Attention Nazi guy, you do know that you can't have sex with your pants covering your wang, right?). The dialogue is WAY better than anything you would expect, low on camp, high on wartime philosophy. And Salvatore Baccaro has to be seen to be believed. Bravo to this man, whose acromegaly cut his life short in 1984 at the age of 39. But what a way to be remembered! (For a glimpse of this striking man in a more realistic setting, you can watch for Salvatore playing himself, a humble flower vendor, in Dario Argento's masterful giallo Profondo Rosso.)
That's all for now, kids. I love hanging out with you and it's always a blast. Until next time, I'll leave you with my usual caution. Stay the fuck away from Nazis. I didn't need to tell you that, right? Well, I did it anyway. Because my name's Justin. JustinCase.
