Dir. Lukas Rinker (2022)
A man wakes up in a port-a-potty that is about to be demolished, and he finds that he must escape his toilet of doom within an hour to avoid death.
CAUTION: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Frank is having a really bad day. He’s lost consciousness, which is bad enough, but he wakes up to find himself trapped in a port-a-potty. His arm is impaled on a length of rebar, and he can’t reach the first aid box that’s plastered to the wall. Shortly thereafter, he discovers that his toilet prison is in the lot of a building set to be demolished within the hour, and he must make his escape before everything goes boom. If this isn’t enough for a very tightly-paced hour forty, he also discovers the plot that put him in this position, involving evil land developers, talking toilet seats, and a very specific kind of owl.
To be completely honest, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this one. One-location films are so rarely done well, and the limited scope felt like there’s no way it could be entertaining after the first hour. Boy was I wrong. Holy Shit! is excellent. It’s genuinely funny, completely disgusting, and with some fantastic gore effects that added a fuck of a lot to the experience of the film. Star Thomas Niehaus is awesome, having to do most of the work to really make the plot move along, and considering he did most of it with just one arm is impressive. Director Lukas Rinker managed to make the location itself a star as well, which is incredibly important when dealing with a movie with such a small scope.
Most of the movie is really just Niehaus in a port-a-potty, with most of the other character working being voice-overs from the characters that we’ll see in bit parts later. The tension builds as the timer counts down, with each extension of his fate setting up for an even more tense finale. It’s downright slapstick at some points, a welcome change from the heightened drama of the action/thriller that it often morphs into. I was genuinely surprised by this one, because I really didn’t expect to like it, and it instead became one of the most fun movies I’ve watched in a while. I highly recommend that you check it out when you get the chance.
Who this movie is for: Action thriller fans, Funny horror lovers, People looking for justification to not poop in port-a-potties
Bottom line: It’s a fun, taut action/thriller with some genuinely funny moments. Rinker has made a movie with a single location feel much bigger in scope, and star Thomas Niehaus kills it as the trapped architect Frank. If you’re not subscribed to Screambox, I highly recommend that you check it out. They’ve been almost entirely hits for me on their new releases, and while Shudder has a better selection (especially of classic movies,) the new stuff is almost 100% bangers from Screambox. Check it out streaming there when you get the chance
