Sh*t Happens in the North American Premiere of ‘Bowels of Hell’ at Fantasia Festival [Movie Review]

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Everyone has experienced that dreadful moment: your stomach begins to rumble at the worst possible time, and suddenly finding the nearest bathroom becomes your only priority. Writer/director duo Gurcius Gewdner and Gustavo Vinagre take that universally relatable discomfort and flushes every ounce of dignity down the drain with “Bowels of Hell,” which celebrated its North American premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

Years after tragically losing one of her children in a freak toilet accident, São Paulo event planner Malu (Martha Nowill) has buried herself in work while growing increasingly distant from her rebellious teenager, Genesis (Benjamín Damini). Hoping to secure a lucrative contract, she agrees to organize an extravagant gender-reveal livestream for an attention-seeking influencer living in her apartment complex, much to Genesis’ frustration. Meanwhile, Malu finds herself suffering from severe constipation, becoming terrified of even stepping into the bathroom. As the other residents continue their daily routines, a grotesque supernatural force lurking within the building’s plumbing begins transforming ordinary trips to the toilet into horrifying encounters, trapping everyone inside an increasingly revolting nightmare.

From its opening moments, “Bowels of Hell” makes one thing abundantly clear: subtlety has no place here. Gewdner and Vinagre lean wholeheartedly into the absurdity, crafting a film that never apologizes for its outrageous concept. The majority of the cast embraces an intentionally exaggerated style of performance that perfectly complements the film’s over-the-top sense of humour, creating several laugh-out-loud moments before abruptly shifting into gag-inducing horror. Beneath the overflowing toilets and grotesque imagery, however, lies a surprisingly heartfelt story exploring grief, family acceptance and gender identity. Those emotional themes prevent the film from becoming little more than an extended gross-out gag, allowing its characters to retain a measure of humanity despite the increasingly ludicrous situations surrounding them.

Bowels of Hell

Martha Nowill proves to be the film’s greatest asset. Faced with the difficult task of grounding an inherently ridiculous premise, she delivers an impressively sincere performance that conveys the lingering trauma of losing a child while struggling to reconnect with the one still by her side. Her emotional commitment elevates scenes that could easily have descended into pure parody, making Malu a protagonist worth rooting for amid the toilet-bound mayhem.

Not every aspect of the production is quite as successful. While the practical effects are wonderfully disgusting and the makeup department deserves praise for creating several stomach-turning images, the computer-generated effects occasionally fall short, standing out more than intended. Likewise, portions of the film suffer from surprisingly mediocre, grainy camera quality, distracting from otherwise inventive sequences. The screenplay also struggles to maintain momentum. Numerous scenes repeat the same formula of characters desperately attempting to relieve themselves before encountering the mysterious force inhabiting the plumbing. Although amusing at first, the repetition eventually diminishes the suspense, especially since many of these encounters reveal very little before cutting away. The overall narrative also feels somewhat flimsy, never fully developing the mythology behind its supernatural menace despite introducing several intriguing ideas.

Bowels of Hell

Nonetheless, horror-comedies live or die by their willingness to commit to the joke, and “Bowels of Hell” never hesitates to dive head-first into the toilet bowl. It is gleefully juvenile, unapologetically disgusting and surprisingly heartfelt when it matters most. Audiences willing to embrace its outrageous brand of humour will likely find themselves laughing just as often as they grimace. “Bowels of Hell” may not be the cleanest experience at Fantasia this year, but it is certainly one of the messiest in all the right ways, earning 3.25 eyes out of 5.