The Beast in Heat

Director- Luigi Batzella

Cast- Macha Magall, Gino Turini

Country of Origin- Italy

Distributor - Severin

Number of discs –  1

Reviewed by - Scott MacDonald

Date- 07/14/2019

    Toward the end of World War II a Nazi Scientist Dr. Ellen Kratsch, begins experimenting on ways to make men stronger, and more animal-esque. She begins her testing with her Dwarf partner, who has a predilection toward raping women to death, even before the injection. At the same time, the Italians blow up a bridge that would have allowed the Nazis to escape. In response the Nazis capture the women and children of the village, and Dr. Kratsch uses her "techniques" in an attempt to extract information from them.

    The Beast in Heat is a brutal as fuck watch. Nazisploitation cinema is probably one of the harshest of the exploitation subgenres, but also the most "exploitive". The difficulty with a lot of these films is knowing as absurd the violence and situations in the films are that there is a nugget of truth and historic fact in here.  Of course, a Neanderthal dwarf raping people for information is unlikely to have happened in the real world. The film has tons of over the top nudity, and loads of violence. Also, a beast, that is in heat. 

   Severin Films presents the Beast in Heat in a splendid 1:85:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer preserving the OAR of the film. The original footage of the film looks well restored with excellent detail, and color. The archival footage used to show real life Nazi atrocities is faded and less in keeping with the one of the newer restoration, yet fits the overall film quite well. Audio is handled by a DTS-HD MA 2.0 track in English with optional subtitles. Everything sounds quite reasonable here without noticeable issues.

    Extras include a full-length Nazisploitation documentary that is almost worth the price of the disc alone.  There is also an excellent 30 minute long interview with Stephen Thrower, and a French trailer. The Beast in Heat is an over the top, and quite insane exploitation experience. Severin have predictably done amazing work restoring the film, and loading it up with a fantastic array of extras. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.