Penetration Angst

Penetration Angst (2004) from Tuna

Tuna's notes

Penetration Angst, a German film shot in England in English will be released in the US on DVD next week with the title shortened to Angst. IMDb lists it as horror, and I have decided that I have no idea what horror means. In my youth, it was easy. Horror was monster pictures and sci fi films, usually very low budget, and the occasional Edgar Allan Poe story. Then came the Eurotrash horror, including cannibal films and Gialli. We also saw the nature-run-amok films, and the supernatural thriller added to the horror genre. Then came the US slashers. Obviously, horror is an already crowded genre. This film has violence and an impossible premise, but is not based on science and hence is not science fiction. If you follow the plot line, it is a dark comedy that is ultimately a love story. But then there is that pesky violence and impossible premise. Enough mental masturbation. For me, this is a dark comedy and love story.

Fiona Horsey is waiting in front of a club. A nerd of her acquaintance is trying to get a date with her, but she is waiting for her macho boyfriend to pick her up. The boyfriend shows up, takes her parking, and reaches "down there." When she keeps stopping him, but offering a blow job, he agrees provided she show him her pussy. He manages to get her to turn around with her head out the window, then rolls up the window to trap her and rapes her. He is pumping away, and disappears. She is upset, of course, and goes to a gynecologist. He puts her out to examine her, and sends his nursing staff home. She wakes up later with a used condom between her legs, and his clothes in a pile on the floor.

The mystery is solved when her pussy starts saying, Feed me." Yes, she has a man-eating snatch. She moves to London and becomes a hooker to take care of her pussy's appetite. Meanwhile, the nerd follows her. He first gets tangled up with Siamese twins, one a slut, and the other a bookworm. He falls for the bookworm, but the slut drives them nuts and he tries to separate them with an electric turkey-carving knife. The surviving twin is not happy about this, so he goes into hiding with a stripper/hooker and wannabe bank robber.

That is enough to give you the general idea.

The premise is unique, it is filled with dark humor, and Fiona Horsey is not only easy on the eyes, she is at ease in front of a camera. I thought the film ran out of energy in the last act, but still enjoyed it very much. I predict a cult following for this film.

DVD INFO to the left

NUDITY REPORT

Fiona Horsey shows breasts frequently. Jaye Macauley shows full frontal and rear nudity as the stripper/hooker/bank robber, and Beth and Amy Street show breasts as the conjoined twins.

Scoop's notes

I tried to watch this a few months back and just couldn't do it. I had read the plot summary and thought, "Funny ideas! This is my kind of movie." Alas, I couldn't connect to it. The pacing is slow and the running time is padded out with unnecessary scenes. The cinematography is clumsy and the special effects are laughable. Except for Fiona Horsey, who is competent, the acting is about as good as in Colbert's Tek Jansen cartoons. Bottom line: it's a funny, dark comic idea assembled by a team of people with no talent for dark comedy.

The Critics Vote ...

Filmcritic.com scored it 3/5

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 4.4/10

The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics, or a C- from our system. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or a D on our scale. (Possibly even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

Our own guideline:

A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre.
B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. In order to rate at least a B-, a film should be both a critical and commercial success. Exceptions: (1) We will occasionally rate a film B- with good popular acceptance and bad reviews, if we believe the critics have severely underrated a film. (2) We may also assign a B- or better to a well-reviewed film which did not do well at the box office if we feel that the fault lay in the marketing of the film, and that the film might have been a hit if people had known about it. (Like, for example, The Waterdance.)
C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by people who enjoy this kind of movie. If this is your kind of movie, a C+ and an A are indistinguishable to you.
C means it is competent, but uninspired genre fare. People who like this kind of movie will think it satisfactory. Others probably will not.
C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie, but genre addicts find it watchable. Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film, but films with this rating should be approached with caution by mainstream audiences, who may find them incompetent or repulsive or both. If this is NOT your kind of movie, a C- and an E are indistinguishable to you.
D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-. Films rated below C- generally have both bad reviews and poor popular acceptance.
E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre.
F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, Tuna likes it, scores it a solid C, and predicts a cult following. Scoop doesn't like it, scores it a low C-, and agrees with the cult aspect but says that it will be a very small cult indeed.