La bestia in calore (1977)

User Rating:

2.8/10   

Director:

Luigi Batzella

Writers:

Lorenzo Artale (dialogue)
Luigi Batzella (writer)

Release Date:

19 July 1977 (Italy)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller | War

Tagline:

Your Days Are Numbered

Plot:

This is one of many so called Video Nasties about fictionalized World War 2 Nazi POW camp atrocities...

Plot Keywords:

Nazi | Video Nasty | Nudity | SS | Sex

Cast

Macha Magall	...	Dr. Ellen Kratsch
Gino Turini	...	Drago (as John Braun)
Edilio Kim	...	Captain Hardinghauser (as Kim Gatti)
Xiro Papas	...	Lupo (as Xiros Papas)
Salvatore Baccaro	...	The Beast (as Sal Boris)

Also Known As:

Horrifying Experiments of the S.S. Last Days (USA) (dubbed version)
SS Experiment Part 2 (USA)
SS Hell Camp (USA)
The Beast in Heat

Runtime:

Denmark:86 min | USA:86 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | UK:(Banned) | Norway:18 (uncut) (2009) | Italy:VM18 | Australia:(Banned)

Company:

Eterna Film

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: The shadow of the cameraman and camera is visible during a pan on the large red swastika lawn ornament as a car drives up to the compound.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Blitzkrieg: Escape from Stalag 69 (2008)

Yet another genre disappointment.

In theory, the Nazi-sex cycle of exploitation cinema should be an absolute winner. Not only are all these films based on spectacularly non-PC and offensive plot premises, but by their very nature they give plenty of opportunity for the film-makers to work in scene after scene of gore, nudity, sex, and combinations of the three. Of course, as any seasoned Euro-exploitation fan knows, it is very rare that ANY so-called "video nasty" lives up to the promise of its garish title and plot outline, and in practice, there is nothing that displays this more succinctly than this genre. The Nazi-sex films are ineptly made, dull, boring, and not nearly as offensive as they should be.

Saying that though, THE BEAST IN HEAT does at least enough to raise itself above other dross such as SS EXPERIMENT CAMP. Badly made and boring it might be, but the comedy of the caged "beast" is enough to keep you watching (even though its appearances are few and far between). The nastiest gore surfaces at the very end, and although it's all quite unpleasant in theory (particularly the moment where the "beast" tears chunks out of an unfortunate victim's mons pubis and gobbles them up), the absolutely dire standard of special effects leaves this whole affair more in the niche of BLOODSUCKING FREAKS than MEN BEHIND THE SUN...

Not really worth bothering with unless you are an enthusiast of this sort of thing. "Fans" of this particularly surreal thread of exploitation would be well advised to dabble in the seedy climes of the closely-related "Women In Prison" cycle, because the best of that genre beats this type of gubbins hands down.