Killer toilets are out for revenge in Bowels of Hell.
Toilets are inherently scary. Hear me out. When we use them, we are in a state of complete vulnerability, open to the terrors that may lurk below our bottoms. Throw in a vengeful essence taking over said toilets, bent on sucking us into their inner excrement-encrusted void, and well, you get a sense of the mayhem unleashed in the writer-director duo Gurcius Gewdner and Gustavo Vinagre‘s Bowels of Hell (Privadas de Suas Vidas). Grab onto your butts, because nowhere is safe when these toilets start to attack.
Opening with an incredibly traumatic incident, Bowels of Hell takes its time fleshing out its characters and their intense dynamics. Central to the story is Malu (Martha Nowill), a single mother plagued by an unrelenting (yet reasonable considering the circumstances) fear of toilets and grief from the loss of one of her children. The remaining child (Benjamín Damini) is now a rebellious teenager who has taken on the name Genesis, something that becomes a point of contention and struggle between mother and child.
While grappling with raising a child on her own, Malu is also struggling to run her event planning business, putting her at the mercy of a pregnant micro-influencer (who is not above using her child with a disability for clicks). If that were not enough, Malu’s refusal to use the toilet is now leading to medical complications. Something that will be put to such intensely campy and dramatic use by the end of Bowels of Hell that it will make you beg the question of whether or not such things are physically possible. I’ll leave that up to your imagination.
Bowels of Hell shows off Martha Nowill’s considerable skill.
As the central focus, Martha Nowill’s Malu makes it nigh impossible to look away. As the camera homes in on Nowill’s face, every emotion flits across, making her Malu easy to read even as she continues to deny the things that plague her. The physical demands placed on the character are no joke, particularly towards the end. And for those being introduced to her for the first time, Bowels of Hell offers a fascinating look at what Nowill can do.
This dramatic build-up ahead of the actual killer chaos grounds the story in a satisfying way, even if the pacing is uneven throughout. Once the inciting incident occurs, triggering the toilets to go awry, Gewdner and Vinagre waste no time building the ridiculousness to hilariously graphic levels. There is a brilliantly creative use of practical effects and puppets that lends a gritty, visceral quality that is positively delicious.
While some elements, like the scatology expert (Olivia Torres) side plot, distract from the storyline, these moments offer a glimpse into Gewdner’s and Vinagre’s penchant for wild swings. Some of these swings hit, creating this glorious, unhinged, chaotic feeling to explode in the viewer’s eyeballs. However, it becomes all the more noticeable when the swings miss, causing awkwardness or stagnation that disrupts the natural momentum Bowels of Hell is building up to.
Toilet-based murderous destruction.
Still, what Bowels of Hell does build up to lands in part due to the balancing act between the main conflict between Malu and Genesis and the growing threat of toilet-based murderous destruction. In the final act, Gewdner’s and Vinagre’s go full-ham on the effects and the drama, leading to the wettest, grossest party seen in some time in film. Fans of The Shining will appreciate the homage in this sequence, which feels right at home in this pipe-bursting bonanza. By the time Malu and Genesis are forced to confront everything they’ve been avoiding, the release is cathartic for both and well earned.
For a film centered around the concept of killer toilets, Bowels of Hell more than delivers on the expectations. Yet, it’s not just about that. We can try to flush away the things that grieve us, but they always find a way of resurfacing. Until we fully address the issues that plague us, whether it be our identity, our grief, or our resentments, they will find a way to manifest and make themselves hard to ignore. Or, in this case, they will manifest as toilets bent on sucking you down a pipe, which, frankly, is a horrible way to go.
The bottom line.
Much like Malu’s bowel movements, Bowels of Hell takes some time to get going, building up its characters and plot prior to letting loose. Once the chaos is firmly in gear, it’s a wild descent into nightmare fuel, with each new death delivering more reasons to side-eye the toilets in our homes. And honestly, that’s enough of a sell here to get horror fans going – a perfect showing for a Midnight horror audience.
For those who need the warning: Bowels of Hell features cruelty to animals, bodily fluids of all kinds, ableism, domestic violence, transphobia, partial nudity, and the like.
Bowels of Hell world premiered at the 2026 Rotterdam International Film Festival.
Images courtesy of the Rotterdam International Film Festival.
REVIEW RATING
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Bowels of Hell - 7/10
7/10
