Scared Shitless (2025) Movie Review: More Than Just Toilet Humor

The concept of a B-movie featuring a tentacled monster crawling in and out of toilet bowls doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. There’s some crass humor to be expected, along with some intentional gross-out aspects that border on the ludicrous. Vivieno Caldinelli’s “Scared Shitless (2025),” however, does much more with these sub-genre trademarks. While toilet-related shenanigans abound, this 76-minute flick knows out to take advantage of its brisk runtime to make the most out of its absurd premise.

The opening sequence is as over-the-top as one would expect, with a certain Dr. Robert (Mark McKinney) arguing with a fellow scientist (Julian Richings) about the mysterious Project X. A quick cut to some scattered notes makes it clear that some sort of experimental organism is in confinement, defined as an apex predator due to its ability to adapt to any environment. Before you expect a tentacled version of a xenomorph to burst out, Robert’s colleague gets his face eaten out by a slimy creature inside a tank. Before we can discern what the heck happened, an injured Robert drives away with the creature, the lab ablaze behind him.

Cut to expert plumber Don (Steven Ogg) making dinner, while his germaphobic son Sonny (Daniel Doheny) watches a video game montage on the television. The conversation at dinner is a bit tense, as Don persuades Sonny to join him at his toilet plumbing job to help overcome his intense fear of germs, which is apparently connected to the trauma of his mom’s death. Sonny reluctantly agrees while guzzling mini bottles of liquid antacid, which his dad has already filled the truck with due to Sonny’s constant tummy issues. As the two start working on their worst job, a terrible problem rears its head (quite literally), as something huge and horrifying seems to be moving around the apartment building’s plumbing.

Scared Shitless (2025) — A still from “Scared Shitless” (2025)

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The appeal of “Scared Shitless” lies in the gore-infested mayhem that shares its DNA with ‘80s creature features, but with some amount of character sincerity thrown in. Limbs go a-flying, genitals are ripped off, and there’s an obligatory shower murder sequence that would’ve felt trite without the tongue-in-cheek undertones that accompany almost every violent death. There’s emotionality here, too, as Don and Sonny’s bond shines through this literal shitfest, where the two band together to defeat the killer monster that is hell-bent on terrorizing everyone it crosses paths with. A chunk of the heavy-lifting is done by Steven Kostanski (best known for “The Void” and “Psycho Goreman”), who worked on the creature FX to make something fairly generic feel menacing.

But then, there’s the cliche galore. Patricia (Chelsea Clark) is introduced as someone worth rooting for, but an obligatory romance angle with Sonny adds little to the rather forced conclusion. Sure, folks trapped in a tense situation can be entangled in a romance, but the lack of chemistry between the two doesn’t help matters, especially when they’re drenched in pus and goo by the end. Moreover, some of the goofs might feel a tad heavy-handed even within the confines of the genre, so you might’ve to overlook a lot of nonsense to enjoy the creature feature at the heart of this spirited little film.

In terms of performances, Ogg and Doheny are clearly the standout duo, as they bring a lot of humor and heart into this odd premise, doing their best to make things feel more lived-in. Some choice gags would’ve landed flat without convincing performances, such as the brief (but unforgettable) appearance of a kinky older couple who soon get obliterated by the tentacle monster before things can heat up. The rest is uneven, but Doheny is compelling enough while pushing events to the climax, where the final battle is not just a physical challenge, but also an emotional one.

“Scared Shitless” might not be for everyone, but if you’re okay with peurile humor and some mindless creature-focused mayhem, this will prove to be a solid pick.