Larva Mental

Director - Mikel Balerdi (The Girl with the Cutter, Vore Gore)

Starring - Mikel Balerdi and Dairi Gaona 

Release Date - 2021

Genre - Horror

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I’ve been accused of hating extreme horror and I can see why many of you would assume so. Extreme horror, or shock value horror as I like to call it, is very hit or miss with me. I love a gory flick with a lot of realistic effects but if the film lacks a story then it’s wasted. It seems like most of the extreme horror flicks that I review are overflowing with gore or scenes with extreme graphic sexual acts just for shock value and the lack of a coherent story. A few weeks back my friend over at Tetrovideo sent over a couple films for me to review. I added them both to my October horror binge. After watching their release of Cross of the 7 Jewels I decided it only made sense to follow it up with Larva Mental. I want to thank Tetrovideo for sending this one over! 

      The film follows a couple who are a bit strange. The man is into severe body mutilation and recorded himself using a crucifix as a butt plug before shitting and bleeding everywhere. While he is at work she finds the video and soon attempts something similar with scissors on her sexual area. However, she is far more committed than he is and she kills herself. He returns to find her body and this opens yet another door of depravity for the man. 

      Larva Mental is going to be a lot to handle for many horror viewers especially those of you that tend to gravitate toward pop horror. The movie is relentless and well off the rails with some scenes pushing several boundaries. I’ve been reviewing genre films for a decade now and I’ve pretty much seen it all so it’s not something that made me quickly turn it off. I’m pretty much desensitized to films like this but it is a movie I didn’t really care for. It has a run time of just over 60 minutes yet the story only fills about five minutes of the film. The acting in this one is a term I use very lightly. The cast is small, rarely interacts with one another, and spends most of their time nude doing shocking sex acts. Being comfortable in their own skin and baring it all on camera should not be confused with acting. Granted, I don’t look as good as any one in this film but what they are doing isn’t acting in a traditional sense. The story for this one has potential even if it’s painfully simple. The movie could and possibly will be compared to Lucifer Valentine’s Vomit Gore Trilogy and Nekromantik. Shock value is the main focus of this story we then add some necrophilia, shit, and blood which could have been a pretty fun extreme horror flick if we actually had a little something more of a story to grab onto. Nekromantik has a strong fan base and for good reason. The story is simple but it works. Larva Mental relies too much on shock value to draw the viewers in instead of giving them a story with the shock value. Finally, this is a bloody mess of the film. The effe3cts are fairly minimal but they fucking work. Overall, Larva Mental is a film that only a select few would appreciate and I’m not one of them. It’s shocking and graphic but I need a little bit more from a movie than that. If this sounds appealing to you then check it out on blu from Tetrovideo.