The Thingy: Confessions of a Teenage Placenta

I'm always searching the world to find underground flicks so by attending conventions I do come across those flicks. Let this be such one. It's made in Belgium and is out now but the problem is always promotion. There's another horror flick out in Belgium 'Welp' which do has a lot of promo going on due Halloween but back to The Miracle Of Life. It wasn't an easy flick to watch due a few reasons.

First of all, the promo at the convention did state Basket Case (1982). It's always dangerous to be compared with a classic and people who know me do know that Basket Case wasn't my thing. But at the promo I saw that indeed some 'thing' is living in the flick who did refer to the creature (brother) in Basket Case.

Once I plugged in the flick it was immediately clear that the only thing referring to Basket Case was the look of the placenta in this flick. But it also remind me of Brain Damage (1988). The first minute it was clear that this was going to be something strange and the score used did confirm it. Seeing a man being dressed as a girl being in a fitness surrounded by body builders having a baby, yes, you do read this, says enough. This is not a usual flick.

The baby is being thrown away and the placenta is given mother's milk! So it do lives. From here we do see it being baptist, falling in love, being visited by a hooker (the only nudity) and becoming sick in the mind and taking it's revenge. In fact, people do react in a strange way when they see the placenta and being teased at school it's getting hurt in many ways.

For such kind of flick it was filmed rather well and the editing was also above mediocre. And they sure knew their thing adding flair with colour grading and using the depth of focus. But I can understand that some will be turned away by the story and the characters throughout this flick.

If you do hurry and buy it in special edition you get a prop of the placenta. Don't believe to see the next Basket Case, it's between horror and art-flick (the use of animation...)

Gore 0,5/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 2,5/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 0/5

I watched this whole movie and was just disappointed. It seemed kind of funny at first, but it just got boring. Nothing happens, lack of a soundtrack, and it's just overall horrible. Feels like it lasts 9 hours. I hate it. The only reason it even gets a 1 is because it was kind of funny in the beginning. I'll never get that time back.

A female bodybuilder Marianne (Pascal Maetens) gives birth in the gym to a living placenta and decides to raise it as a human, a christian, and a soldier. The placenta named Luke grows up into a teenager and attends a normal high school where he falls in love with one of his classmates, but when his date does not go as planned Luke finds himself on an emotional downward spiral that leads to a killing spree. I think that Troma are the only people to still make real grindhouse and this Belgium zero budget sleaze-fest is easily one of the weirdest titles Troma has released in recent years. Utterly crazy and not always coherent the film proudly lacks good taste on every level.

I don't even know what to say. Would probably be a good movie to watch while your high. But overall, this movie is absolutely terrible.

Only put this on because I was curious to see what a teenage placenta looks like, but boy what an unexpected treat. Took me back to years ago when I loved to get drunk, then smoke a little salvia - just enough to feel the electricity flowing through my arms out of my fingertips and get a bad case of rhyming word garble. I'd wind up passing out drunk and have freaky dreams I could barely remember the next day. This gem is like one of those dreams was captured on film so I could enjoy it in sobriety. The level of detail is amazing. I kept pausing so I could look at all the stuff in the background. Could probably watch it twenty times and keep finding things I never noticed before. The camera work is fantastic. It's well written, the characters are thoughtfully fleshed out, and the acting matches the dialog. At first it reminded me of John Waters' early films, but overall the tone is much darker. This is not really a comedy, it's just so weird and sick you may laugh in discomfort. Possibly the most bizarre film I've ever seen that still manages to have a coherent plot. Will definitely have my eye out for future works by Joel Rabijns and Yves Sondermeier.