Dementia Part II, the latest Bloody Disgusting x Dark Star Pictures collaboration, was born from a dare out of Chicago’s Cinepocalype Film Festival. The gauntlet was thrown; producers JD Lifshitz and Raphael Margules were challenged to produce a feature-length midnight movie from concept to finished product in one month so that it could make its World Premiere on the last night of the film festival.
The film turned out to be a tongue-in-cheek, gross-out sequel to Mike Testin’s 2015 original film. Dementia Part II was produced from conception to its world premiere screening by the writer/director team Matt Mercer (Contracted, Beyond the Gates) and Mike Testin (The Salesman, Dementia) within the scant span of a month. Alongside Mercer, it stars genre favorites Graham Skipper (Almost Human, Sequence Break, VFW) and Najarra Townsend (Contracted, The Stylist), with Suzanne Voss (The Lords of Salem).
In Dementia Part II, “Suzanne wasn’t always this confused. She wasn’t always dead either – when an ex-con takes a job as a handyman for an unstable elderly woman to avoid a parole violation, it becomes a choice he may regret.” The film channels the likes of Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson, offering nonstop mayhem and absurd humor unafraid to test your gag reflex.
Horror films evoke fear through various tactics, especially repulsion. Nothing creates a visceral reaction quite like triggering disgust, leaving viewers recoiling in their seats from the disturbing imagery on screen. Dementia Part II is now available on all VOD platforms, Digital HD and DVD. To celebrate, we look back at six of horror’s grossest moments.
City of the Living Dead – Innards
Lucio Fulci developed a reputation as the “Godfather of Gore” for a good reason. That means you could take your pick when it comes to gross moments of extreme gore from any number of his horror output, especially when it comes to eye trauma. Even among the endless selection of gore, the unforgettable moment that sees a woman regurgitate her own innards stands out and leaves a lingering impression. Even the making-of this moment will make your stomach churn; actress Daniela Doria purportedly spits out baby veal intestines from her mouth before they cut to a replica to draw out the moment. Yuck.
Slugs – Restaurant Meltdown
In this 1988 horror film by Juan Piquer Simon (Pieces), a small town gets inundated by toxic waste slugs that go on a homicidal rampage. Because this is a Simon flick, those deaths get pretty gnarly. The most memorable of which takes place at a restaurant, over a business dinner. One of the dinner guests isn’t feeling so well. Unbeknownst to him, he’d eaten slug contaminated lettuce previously, and it’s done a number on his insides. A painful meltdown, profuse bleeding, and slug larvae explosions ensue. All appetites at this restaurant are effectively destroyed.
Audition – Feeding Time
You can count on Takashi Miike to bring the stomach-churning horror moments, and this is an all-timer. Throughout Audition, Miike dupes you into thinking the film is a romantic drama devoid of horror. Slowly, subtle and not so subtle hints drop that something is seriously wrong with Asami. Her apartment is primarily unfurnished, save for a large burlap sack. It moves on its own. Eventually, it’s revealed that she’s keeping a former lover, broken and mutilated, in the bag. For his nightly feedings, she vomits into a dog bowl and serves.
Society – Shunting
Something so surreally grotesque could only come from the mind of Brian Yuzna and special effects legend Screaming Mad George. The twisted pair wait until the grand finale to reveal the full scope of madness behind the film’s social elite; it comes in the form of one ooey, gooey orgy where limbs melt and stretch into each other. This gruesome orgy, known as the Shunting, sees the rich devour the poor as they intertwine into one undulating mass of flesh and bodily fluids. The imagery sears into your skull.
Dead Alive (Braindead) – Custard
Peter Jackson’s surprisingly sweet zombie rom-com centers around a mama’s boy learning to stand up to his mum for the sake of love. But jealous mom becomes ground zero of a zombie outbreak that bears no shortage of icky and outlandish undead moments. The organs and blood flow freely here, yet none of it will test your stomach quite like mom’s slow decay that reaches peak repulsiveness in a luncheon scene. Pus and blood spurt from the wound on mom’s arm and lands in her colleague’s bowl of custard. He’s too busy savoring his spoonful to notice and eagerly scoops up more to devour. Then mom gnaws on her ear, which fell off into her bowl of dessert. Lunch is effectively ruined.
The Fly – Brundlefly Vomit
If it’s not already abundantly evident, few things test the gag reflex quite like bodily deterioration or consumption of ejected bodily fluids. Naturally, The Fly features both and often simultaneously. Seth Brundle’s aspirations to create a teleportation device become dashed when he tests it on himself, unwittingly merging his DNA with a housefly. It begins his transformation from a human into a fly humanoid thing, creating a slew of disgusting moments that include the loss of nails and teeth. It marks the start of his spewing up digestive enzymes to dissolve his food into liquid form. It’s utterly nauseating when first introduced, but Seth Brundlefly gruesomely wields this trick as a weapon in the finale, eroding his enemy’s limbs through vomit.
Dementia Part II is now available on all VOD platforms, Digital HD and DVD. Find your preferred platform here.